The Jesuits of Macau: Gateway to China and Japan

A Gateway to China and Japan

From the mid-sixteenth century, Macau became the hub of the Catholic Jesuit mission in the Far East. Once the Portuguese had established themselves here, the Jesuits used Macau as a base, founding a college and schools where missionaries arriving from Europe could first learn Chinese and local languages before moving on to mainland China and Japan. Macau's most iconic landmark today, the Ruins of St. Paul's, is the remnant of the church of that very college.

The Visitor and St. Paul's College

Alessandro Valignano范禮安 · Alessandro ValignanoAn Italian Jesuit and Visitor of the Society's missions in the East Indies. He reached Macau in 1578 and made the city his command centre for Jesuit work across Asia. In 1594 he founded St. Paul's College in Macau, regarded as one of the earliest Western-style colleges in East Asia. Macau's role as the gateway of the Catholic China mission is largely his doing. He died and was buried in Macau in 1606.Read profile → was the Jesuit Visitor to the East, who shaped the "accommodation" strategy for the China and Japan missions, insisting that missionaries learn local languages and culture. He drove the founding of St. Paul's College in Macau — regarded as the first Western-style institution of higher learning in East Asia and the training ground for generations of missionaries before they entered China and Japan.