Giulio Alenio
Chinese missionary and scholar, b. at Brescia, in Italy, in 1582; d. at Fou-Tcheou, China, in August, 1644
Alenio, GIULIO, Chinese missionary and scholar, b. at Brescia, in Italy, in 1582; d. at Fou-Tcheou, China, in August, 1644. He became a member of the Society of Jesus in 1600, and was distinguished for his knowledge of mathematics and theology. He was sent as a missionary to China in 1610, and while waiting at Macao a favorable opportunity to enter the country he published his “Resultat de l’observation sur l’eclipse de lune du 8 Novembre, 1612, faite A Macao” (Memoires de l’Acad. des Sciences, VII, 706). After his arrival in China, he preached the Gospel in the provinces of Xan-si and Fi-Kien. He published many works in Chinese on a variety of topics. Among the most important are a controversial treatise on the Catholic Faith, in which are refuted the principal errors of the Chinese; “The True Origin of all Things”; and “The Life of God, the Savior, from the Four Gospels”. There is a complete list of Alenio’s works in Somnlervogel.
JOSEPH M. WOODS