Missionaries and Religious Leaders

A Gateway for Mission in the Far East

From the sixteenth century, Macau served as a key gateway for Catholicism's entry into China and the Far East. A group of Jesuits used it as a base to advance both mission work and East-West cultural exchange.

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 →, as the Jesuit Visitor to the East Indies, established the policy of "accommodation" to Chinese culture; was among the first Jesuits to enter mainland China, compiling early Chinese catechisms and dictionaries; and , as a scholar, befriended the literati and introduced Western astronomy, mathematics and cartography into China, becoming a pivotal figure in the history of East-West exchange.

The Modern Diocese of Macau

In modern times the Diocese of Macau came to be led by local and Chinese bishops. Domingos Lam林家駿 · Domingos Lam Ka TseungThe first Chinese-born bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Macau. Appointed Coadjutor Bishop of Macau in 1987, he succeeded the last Portuguese bishop, Arquimínio Rodrigues da Costa, in October 1988 and retired in 2003. He led the diocese for fifteen years, including across the 1999 transition of Macau from Portuguese to Chinese administration. He died in 2009, aged 81.Read profile → was the first ethnic-Chinese Bishop of Macau; succeeded him and led the diocese around the handover; and is the current bishop. This series records, in a neutral historical register, the succession and contributions of these religious figures in Macau.