Chinese diocese unveils statue of Jesuit missionary Giulio Aleni

Herald Malaysia

21-05-2025

Known as 'Confucius of the West,' Aleni reached Fuzhou in 1625 and founded the Jesuit mission in Fujian Province May 21, 2025
A sketch of Jesuit priest Giulio Aleni. (Photo: fides.org)
BEIJING: A Catholic diocese in China has unveiled a statue of an Italian Jesuit missionary to mark the 400th anniversary of his arrival and honor his legacy in the region.
The Diocese of Fuzhou unveiled the statue of Father Giulio Aleni, following a May 16- 17 seminar, the Vatican's missionary news service Fides reported on May 20.
Bishop Joseph Cai Bingrui of Fuzhou unveiled the statue installed outside the Cathedral of Saint Dominic.
Aleni, known as the 'Confucius of the West,' arrived in Fuzhou in 1625.
He is credited with founding the Jesuit mission in Fujian Province, according to the Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Christianity (BDCC).
Before reaching Fuzhou, Aleni landed in Beijing in 1613 and had started his ministry there, BDCC said.
Experts from China, Hong Kong, and Italy attended the diocese-organized seminar, recalling the missionary's contributions as astronomer, scholar, geographer, and mathematician.
The seminar included three presentations on Aleni and his work in China.
The seminar participants also took a guided tour of places where Aleni had visited or worked in the Fuzhou area.
Born in the Italian province of Brescia, Lombardy, in 1582, Aleni joined the Society of Jesus in 1610 and was sent to China three years later.
After landing in Macau, he spent 40 years in China.
Along with missionary work, Aleni also taught mathematics, which he considered a tool for connecting with the highest cultural circles of Chinese society, Fides reported.
Aleni was the provincial of the Jesuit province of Huanan (southern China) and built more than 20 churches. He is said to have baptized some 10,000 Chinese into the Catholic faith.
He died in May 1649 at Yanping, where he had taken refuge from the soldiers of the Qing court, Fides reported.
His tomb is located on the Mount of the Cross in Fuzhou.
Fides reported that Aleni adopted the ideas and practices followed by his Jesuit confrere Matteo Ricci, and published some twenty scientific, philosophical, spiritual, and doctrinal works.
After Ricci, Aleni was considered the best expert of the Chinese language among his fellow community members.
His 1628 work, The True Origin of All Things , dedicated to the question of Creation, was widely recognized and reprinted numerous times, Fides reported.
In 1635, Aleni recounted the life of Jesus through the work True Exposition of the Words and Works of the Incarnate Lord of Heaven. --ucanews.com