Franciscan who translated Bible into Chinese to be beatified

September 03, 2012

The Franciscan missionary who supervised the first translation of the entire Bible into Chinese will be beatified on September 29 in his native Sicily.

Born in 1907, Father Gabriele Maria Allegra entered the Franciscan seminary at the age of 11, was ordained to the priesthood in 1930, and left for the missions in China the following year. He founded the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum in Beijing in 1945 and three years later departed for Hong Kong, where he died in 1976.

 

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Further information:

• Forthcoming beatification of Fr Gabriele Maria Allegra, the Franciscan missionary who supervised the translation of the Bible into Chinese (Fides)