1 Letter from Alessandro Valignano to Superior General, Macau, 10/10/1589, Archivum Romanum Societatis Iesu (hereafter ARSI), Jap.Sin. 11 II, ff. 183–183v. – For a general survey of the Chinese and mestizo Jesuits, see my Jesuítas chineses e mestiços da missão da China (1589–1689) (Lisbon: Centro Científico e Cultural de Macau, 2011 – for the transcription of the aforementioned letter from Valignano, see pp. 423–424). For an earlier treatment of this subject, see, for example, Ronnie Po-chia Hsia, “La questione del clero indigeno nella missione cattolica in Cina nel sedicesimo e diciassettesimo secolo”, Studia Borromaica 20 (2006), pp. 185–194.

2 Two Luso-Chinese were admitted that year, Francisco Ferreira / Fei Cangyu 費藏玉 (1605–1652) and Luís Gonçalves/ Pang Keji 龎克巳 (1606–1630), as well as a Sino-Javanese, Manuel Gomes / Lu Youji 陸有基 (1608–1648/49).

3 Crisóstomo / Xu Fuyuan 徐復元 (c. 1593–1640), a Cantonese living with the Jesuits since he was ten, and educated by them. He died four months after being admitted.

4 Of the nineteen Macanese, thirteen were Chinese and six were mestizo (two Luso-Chinese, one Sino-Javanese, one Sino-Korean and two unidentified). For recent biographical notes on these men, see, for example, Pina, Jesuítas chineses e mestiços.

5 For an authoritative account on Manuel de Sequeira, see Francis A. Rouleau, “The First Chinese Priest of the Society of Jesus, Emmanuel de Siqueira, 1633–1673”, Archivum Historicum Societatis Iesu 28 (1959), pp. 3–50. See also Louis Pfister, Notices biographiques et bibliographiques sur les Jésuites de l'ancienne mission de Chine, 1552–1773 (San Francisco: Chinese Material Center, 1976; originally 1932–1934), p. 381, and Pasquale D'Elia, Catholic Native Episcopacy in China, Being an Outline of the Formation and Growth of the Chinese Catholic Clergy, 1300–1926 (Shanghai: Tusewei Print Pr., 1927), p. 34.

6 The most complete biographies on Sebastião Fernandes are in Pasquale M. D'Elia, S.J. (ed.), Fonti Ricciane: Storia dell'introduzione del Cristianesimo in Cina, scritta da Matteo Ricci, 3 vols. (Rome: La Libreria dello Stato, 1942–1949), I, pp. 290–291, note I, and Edward Thomas Kelly, The Anti-Christian Persecution of 1616–1617 in Nanking (Diss. Columbia Univ., 1971), pp. 225–227. Pfister, Notices, pp. 47–48, also has some data, but these are less precise and less complete. See furth Joseph Dehergne, S.J., Répertoire des Jésuites de Chine de 1552 à 1800 (Rome and Paris: Institutum Historicum – Letouzey & Ané, 1973), p. 89. For a recent account, see Pina, Jesuítas chineses e mestiços, especially pp. 297–303.

7 D'Elia, Fonti Ricciane, II, pp. 435–436, note 7, and Kelly, The Anti-Christian Persecution, pp. 239–243, provide the most complete biographies on this brother. For a recent account, see Pina, Jesuítas chineses e mestiços, especially pp. 319–329.

8 Letter from Alessandro Valignano to Superior General, Macau, 10/10/1589, Pina, Jesuítas chineses e mestiços, p. 423; Alessandro Valignano, “Primero catalogo de las imformaciones communes de los padres y hermanos de la Compañía de Jesús de la dicha Provincia de Japón”, 1/1/1593, ARSI, Jap.Sin. 25, f. 38v. D'Elia established the date as 1563, see Fonti Ricciane, I, p. 290, note I. Kelly, The Anti-Christian Persecution, p. 225, gives 1560.

9 Niccolò Longobardo, “P° Catalogus Patrum ac Fratrũ […] Missione Sinensi Anno 1621”, Hangzhou, 30/11/1621, ARSI, Jap.Sin. 134, f. 301. According to the catalogues for 1614 and 1620, he was born around 1579. However, there one reads that he became a novice in 1606, instead of 1608: “Catalogo das emformações comuãs dos Padres e Irmaons que estam dentro na China […] Dezembro de 1614”, Biblioteca da Ajuda, Jesuitas na Ásia (hereafter BAJA) 49-V-7, f. 82v; “Primr° Catalogo das informações comuaãs dos Padres e Irmãos que estam dentro na China […] Setembro de 1620”, BAJA 49-V-7, f. 189v.

10 “Cédula de doação do Irmão Sebastião Fernandes”, Nanjing, 18/1/1600, BAJA 49-V-5, f. 6. The original document is kept in Madrid, at the Real Academia de la Historia, Jesuitas, Legajo 21, ff. 407–408v. For the transcription of this document, see Pina, Jesuítas chineses e mestiços, pp. 425–426.

11 Álvaro Semedo, Annual Letter of China from 1622, Hangzhou, 23/6/1623, ARSI, Jap.Sin. 114, f. 359v.

12 Álvaro Semedo, The History of the Great and Renowned Monarchy of China (London: 1655), p. 175.

13 Álvaro Semedo, Annual Letter of China for 1622, Hangzhou, 23/6/1623, ARSI, Jap.Sin. 114, f. 359v.

14 “Cédula de doação do Irmão Sebastião Fernandes”, Nanjing, 18/1/1600, Pina, Jesuítas chineses e mestiços, pp. 425–426.

15 “Lista dos benfeitores da missão da China”, s.d., BAJA 49-IV-66, f. 102.

16 Although the first reference to him is dated 1606 (Manuel Dias Senior, Annual Letter of China from October 1607 to April 1608, Nanchang, 27/4/1608, ARSI, Jap.Sin. 113, f. 65; Manuel Dias Senior, Annual Letter of China for 1606 and 1607, Nanchang, 18/10/1607, ARSI, Jap.Sin. 113, f. 59), João would have entered mainland China shortly after his mother's death in c. 1600 (Manuel Dias Senior, “Relação da perseguição que a cristandade da China padeceu os anos de 616–617”, Macau, 14/1/1618, ARSI, Jap.Sin. 114, ff. 31–31v).

17 Homonym of Diogo Pereira's interpreter, active in Macau around the mid-1560s.

18 “Cédula de doação do Irmão Sebastião Fernandes”, Nanjing, 18/1/1600, Pina, Jesuítas chineses e mestiços, pp. 425–426. Several months later, the rector Manuel Dias Senior confirmed he had effectively given the silver to António Fernandes so that he could invest it on behalf of the children and make a profit for them. Manuel Dias Senior, Macau, 8/11/1600, BAJA 49-V-5, f. 6v.

19 Letter from Domingos Mendes to Manuel Dias Senior, Guangzhou prison, 16/9/1611, Pina, Jesuítas chineses e mestiços, pp. 426–433.

20 The last reference to Domingos Fernandes appears in a letter of November 1595: Letter from Matteo Ricci to Superior General, Nanchang, 4/11/1595, in P. Pietro Tacchi Venturi, S.J. (ed.), Opere storiche del P. Matteo Ricci, 2 vols. (Macerata: F. Giorgetti, 1911–1913), II, p. 189 (hereafter OS). In another letter Matteo Ricci complained about Domingos' “lack of talent” (Letter from Matteo Ricci to Duarte de Sande, Nanchang, 29/8/1595, OS, II, p. 151. See Pina, Jesuítas chineses e mestiços, p. 182, note 743.

21 Semedo, The History of the Great and Renowned Monarchy of China, p. 175; OS, I, p. 207.

22 According to information from Ricci and the 1621 catalogue, he finished the Philosophy course (letter from Matteo Ricci to Fabio de Fabi, Beijing, 23/8/1608, OS, II, p. 372; Niccolò Longobardo, “P° Catalogus Patrum ac Fratrum […] Missione Sinensi Anno 1621”, Hangzhou, 30/11/1621, ARSI, Jap.Sin. 134, f. 301). However, Manuel Dias Senior stated that he merely attended the course. “Relação da perseguição…”, Macau, 14/1/1618, ARSI, Jap.Sin. 114, f. 31.

23 According to Duarte de Sande, Sebastião spoke “Portuguese like us” (letter from Duarte de Sande to the Portuguese Provincial, Macau, 30/1/1591, ARSI, Jap.Sin. 11 II, f. 241). In 1613, João was described as being fluent in Portuguese. João Rodrigues Girão, Annual letter of China for 1613, Macau, 20/1/1615, ARSI, Jap.Sin. 113, f. 331; Niccolò Longobardo, “Informação dos Irmãos chinenses naturais de Macau”, Hangzhou, 4/10/1617, Pina, Jesuítas chineses e mestiços, p. 434.

24 “Cédula de doação do Irmão Sebastião Fernandes”, Nanjing, 18/1/1600, Pina, Jesuítas chineses e mestiços, pp. 425–426. There is also a letter included in Manuel Dias Senior, “Relação da perseguição…” (14/1/1618, ARSI, Jap.Sin. 114, ff. 50–50v). In August 1611, Alfonso Vagnone alluded to other missives by Sebastião (letter from Alfonso Vagnone to Manuel Dias Senior, Nanjing, 15/8/1611, ARSI, Jap.Sin. 15 I. f. 31). There are also his last vows, in Portuguese, possibly an autograph (Hangzhou, 1/4/1617, ARSI, Lus. 27, f. 1, published in D'Elia, Fonti Ricciane, I, tavola XIV). As for João, we are only aware of part of a letter allegedly written by him and addressed to Sebastião, which was also included in Manuel Dias Senior, “Relação da perseguição…”, 14/1/1618, ARSI, Jap.Sin. 114, ff. 50v–51.

25 Letter from Duarte de Sande to the Portuguese Provincial, Macau, 30/1/1591, ARSI, Jap.Sin. 11 II, f. 241. Duarte de Sande, “Copia della Anua dela China para se leer en Manilla y Mexico y mandar a China”, Macau, 28/1/1592, ARSI, Jap.Sin. 11 II, f. 272v.

26 D'Elia, Fonti Ricciane, II, N. 526, 32. In 1595, after Ricci's departure from Shaozhou, he gave Cattaneo “linguistic support” (letter from Matteo Ricci to Duarte de Sande, Nanchang, 29/8/1595, OS, II, p. 128).

27 “Catalogo 1° das informações comuãs dos Padres e Irmãos que estão dentro da China”, December 1614, BAJA 49-IV-66, f. 112v. In all likelihood he is the one mentioned in 1613 as being fluent in Chinese. João Rodrigues Girão, Annual Letter of China for 1613, Macau, 20/1/1615, ARSI, Jap.Sin. 113, f. 331.

28 António de Gouveia, S.J. (author), Horácio P. Araújo (ed) Ásia Extrema: Primeira Parte – Livros I a VI, 3 vols. ([Lisbon]: Fundação Oriente, 1995–2005), II, p. 224.

29 Alessandro Valignano, “Primero catalogo de las imformaciones communes de los padres y hermanos de la Compañía de Jesús de la dicha Provincia de Japón”, 1/1/1593, ARSI, Jap.Sin. 25, f. 38v. In that year's secret catalogue, he accused him of not being as spiritually directed as Francisco Martins. Alessandro Valignano, “Catalogo secreto — 2° Catalogo de las Imformaciones particulares de los padres y hermanos de la dicha provincia de Japón”, 1/1/1593, ARSI, Jap.Sin. 25, f. 38v.

30 ARSI, Lus. 27, fl. 1, published in D'Elia, Fonti Ricciane, I, tavola XIV.

31 Francisco de Lágea / Shi Hongji 石宏基 (1585–1647), Pascoal Mendes / Qiu Lianghou 邱良厚 (1584–1640) and Jacobe Niva / Ni Yicheng 兒一誠 (1576/79–1638).

32 The number of Macanese Jesuits within the mission was never more than eight (this “peak figure” is recorded for the years 1608 to 1611), while the number of European missionaries varied from eight individuals (in 1610) to a maximum of thirteen (1608–1609). During the 1610s and 1620s the number of Macanese Jesuits often rose to seven brothers, but the quantitative gap between them and the Europeans widened during these years.

33 Niccolò Longobardo, “Primus Catalogus Patrum ac Fratrum […] Missione Sinensi Anno 1621”, Hangzhou, 30/11/1621, ARSI, Jap.Sin. 134, f. 301v.

34 We know many details of this man and his activities; here it may be of interest to note that, among all the Chinese individuals punished during 1616–1617 affair in Nanjing, he was the one to receive the heaviest sentence, because his opponents thought he was “chief” culprit (Manuel Dias Senior, “Relação da perseguição…”, Macau, 14/1/1618, ARSI, Jap.Sin. 114, ff. 49–49v), or the “most guilty one” in terms of his belief, and one of the main “instruments” used to produce Christians (Álvaro Semedo, Annual Letter of China for 1618, ARSI, Jap.Sin. 114, Macau, 20/11/1618, ff. 166–166v). He was also held responsible for converting women, because he was one of two Jesuits in his group who openly supported such conversions (ibid., ff. 166–166v; Manuel Dias Senior, “Relação da perseguição…”, Macau, 14/1/1618 ARSI, Jap.Sin. 114, ff. 49–49v; João da Costa, Annual Letter of China for 1614, China, 15/8/1615, ARSI, Jap.Sin. 113, f. 377v).

35 João is one of the seven Macanese Jesuits, who were “excluded” from the purely religious domain, together with Jacobe Niva, Domingos Mendes, Manuel Pereira and Luís de Faria. To this one may add Luís Gonçalves and Manuel de Sequeira; both “dropped out” due to their premature death.

36 Niccolò Longobardo, Annual Letter of China for 1612, Nanxiong, 20/2/1613, ARSI, Jap.Sin. 113, ff. 260v–262.

37 Letter from Nicolas Trigault, China, 31/10/1622, ARSI, Jap.Sin. 114, f. 340v. Besides Yang Tingyun, also Xu Guangqi was involved in the silk trade, as well as in its production. See Timothy Brook, The Confusions of Pleasure. Commerce and Culture in Ming China (Berkeley, etc.: University of California Press, 1999) p. 195.

38 D'Elia, Fonti Ricciane, II, N. 506, pp. 9–10; letter from Niccolò Longobardo, Shaozhou, 18/10/1598, ARSI, Jap.Sin. 13 I, f. 174; letter from Niccolò Longobardo to João Álvares, Shaozhou, 4/11/1598, OS, II, 472; letter from Manuel Dias Senior to Superior General, Macau, 10/1/1599, ARSI, Jap.Sin. 13 II, f. 234v. Semedo states that he was in charge of several journeys to Macau (Álvaro Semedo, Annual Letter of China from 1622, Hangzhou, 23/6/1623, ARSI, Jap.Sin. 114, f. 360).

39 D'Elia, Fonti Ricciane II, N. 574, p. 100, N. 576, p. 102; Nicolas Trigault, S.J., Histoire de l'expédition chrétienne au royaume de la Chine 1582–1610 (Paris: Desclée de Brouwer, 1978), p. 441; letter from Manuel Dias Senior to Superior General, Macau, 17/1/1601, ARSI, Jap.Sin. 14 I, f. 44.

40 Letter from Matteo Ricci to Girolamo Costa, Beijing, 6/3/1608, OS, II, p. 337.

41 Manuel Dias Júnior, Annual Letter of China for 1618, Macau, 7/12/1618, BAJA 49-V-5, f. 252v; Gouveia, Ásia Extrema, III, pp. 48–49, 53–58.

42 Letter from Niccolò Longobardo to Girolamo Centimano, Shaozhou, 5/2/1598, OS, II, p. 468; Gouveia, Ásia Extrema, II, 118.

43 D'Elia, Fonti Ricciane, II, N. 571, p. 98. As is commonly known, Nanjing was an important location for the Jesuits. On the early presence of the Society in this city, see my Os Jesuítas em Nanquim (1599–1633) (Lisbon: Centro Científico e Cultural de Macau, 2008).

44 BAJA 49-V-5, f. 10; D'Elia, Fonti Ricciane, II, N. 687, p. 258; OS, I, p. 439.

45 D'Elia, Fonti Ricciane, II, N. 703, pp. 280–282; Trigault, Histoire, pp. 534–535.

46 Letter from Francesco Sambiasi, Nanjing, 18/5/1614, ARSI, Jap.Sin. 116, f. 14.

47 Letter from Matteo Ricci to Girolamo Costa, Beijing, 6/3/1608, OS, II, p. 337; letter from Matteo Ricci to D. Anton Maria Ricci, Beijing, 24/8/1608, OS, II, pp. 375–376; letter from Matteo Ricci to Superior General, Beijing, 8/3/1608, OS, II, p. 351; letter from Matteo Ricci to Superior General, Beijing, 22/8/1608, OS, II, p. 356; Trigault, Histoire, p. 615. – There are several studies on Bento de Góis; for an older work, see Henry Bernard, S.J., Le Frère Bento de Goes chez les Musulmanes de la Haute-Asie (Tianjin: Hautes études, 1934). Also see sources below.

48 Niccolò Longobardo, Annual Letter of China for 1612, Nanxiong, 20/2/1613, ARSI, Jap.Sin. 113, ff. 260v–262.

49 Letter from Niccolò Longobardo to Superior General, Nanxiong, 14/5/1613, ARSI, Jap.Sin. 15 II, f. 269; letter from Francesco Sambiasi, Nanjing, 18/5/1614, ARSI, Jap.Sin. 116, ff. 12–14; Niccolò Longobardo, Annual Letter of China for 1613, Nanxiong, 1/8/1614, ARSI, Jap.Sin. 113, ff. 336–337v; João Rodrigues Girão, Annual Letter of China for 1613, Macau, 20/2/1615, ARSI, Jap.Sin. 113, ff. 313–313v.

50 Letter from Francesco Sambiasi, Nanjing, 18/5/1614, ARSI, Jap.Sin. 116, f. 14v.

51 Ma was responsible for collecting tax at the port of Linqing.

52 D'Elia, Fonti Ricciane, II, N. 589, pp. 117–119; Trigault, Histoire, p. 453; Gouveia, Ásia Extrema, II, p. 153.

53 D'Elia, Fonti Ricciane II, NN. 846–848, pp. 441–443; letter from Matteo Ricci to Girolamo Costa, Beijing, 6/3/1608, OS, II, p. 337; letter from Matteo Ricci to Superior General, Beijing, 8/3/1608, OS, II, pp. 350–351; letter from Matteo Ricci to Superior General, Beijing, 22/8/1608, OS, II, p. 356; Trigault, Histoire, pp. 613–614. See also Hugues Didier, Fantômes d'Islam & de Chine, Le voyage de Bento de Góis S.J. (1603–1607) (Paris: Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian-Chandeigne, 2003), pp. 101–116.

54 Niccolò Longobardo, Annual Letter of China for 1612, Nanxiong, 20/2/1613, ARSI, Jap.Sin. 113, ff. 252–253.

55 Niccolò Longobardo, Annual Letter of China for 1613, Nanxiong, 1/8/1614, ARSI, Jap.Sin. 113, f. 368v. At the same time, João assisted several Portuguese Christians who had been shipwrecked near Hainan. The Chinese had imprisoned them and kept their documents, but due to João's intervention they were all sent to Macau. – The documents, we learn, had to be in Chinese, “and written by the same Chinese interpreter”; therefore “it would have been easy to mislead the members of this group” – “and even more so if the brother fluent in both languages had not guided them”. See João Rodrigues Girão, Annual Letter of China for 1613, Macau, 20/2/1615, ARSI, Jap.Sin. 113, f. 331. Gouveia, Ásia Extrema, II, p. 323.

56 See Kelly, The Anti-Christian Persecution.

57 Manuel Dias Senior, “Relação da perseguição …”, Macau, 14/1/1618, ARSI, Jap.Sin. 114, f. 25v.

58 Letter from Nicolas Trigault, China, 31/10/1622, ARSI, Jap.Sin. 114, f. 340v. Manuel Dias Senior's words seem to imply that the brothers acted wrongly because they had been left without support, all on their own. See “Copia de huã que o Padre Manoel dias Senior estando visitando a missão da China escreveo ao Padre Jerónimo Rodrigues Visitador della e de Japão”, Hangzhou, 3/4/1623, ARSI, Jap.Sin. 161 II, f. 82.

59 Letter from Alfonso Vagnone to Superior General, Macau, 1/11/1622, ARSI, Jap.Sin. 161 II, f. 67.

60 A vague reference to the Guangzhou inns, where João had ruined himself. Trigault also stated that it was impossible “to trust the Chinese in financial matters (lit.: where silver was concerned), however Christian they may be”; letter from Nicolas Trigault, China, 31/10/1622, ARSI, Jap.Sin. 114, ff. 340v–341.

61 Letter from Niccolò Longobardo to Visitor Gabriel de Matos, Hangzhou, 25/4/1622, in Elsa Penalva and Miguel Rodrigues Lourenço (eds.), Fontes para a história de Macau no séc. XVII (Lisbon: Centro Científico e Cultural de Macau, 2009), p. 334.

62 Letter from Gabriel de Matos to Superior General, Macau, 1/11/1622, ARSI, Jap.Sin. 18 I, ff. 14–14v.

63 Letter from Nicolas Trigault, China, 31/10/1622, ARSI, Jap.Sin. 114, f. 340v; letter from Alfonso Vagnone to Superior General, Macau, 1/11/1622, ARSI, Jap.Sin. 161 II, f. 67; Niccolò Longobardo, “Primus Catalogus Patrum ac Fratrum […] Missione Sinensi Anno 1621”, Hangzhou, 30/11/1621, ARSI, Jap.Sin. 134, f. 301.

64 For this argument, see Jorge dos Santos Alves, “A contenda da Ilha Verde, primeira discussão sobre a legitimidade da presença portuguesa em Macau (1621)”, in his Um porto entre dois impérios (Estudos sobre Macau e as relações luso-chinesas) (Macau: Instituto Português do Oriente, 1999), pp. 125–162.

65 Letter from Niccolò Longobardo to Visitor Gabriel de Matos, Hangzhou, 25/4/1622, in Penalva and Lourenço, Fontes para a história de Macau, p. 334.

66 From this point on there are no more traces of him, except occasionally within the context of preacautions taken vis-à-vis the Chinese Jesuits, and in later stories on the mission as such, which retain the memory of him – by repeating the edifying remarks that one also finds in the “Relação da perseguição … de 1616–1617”. The same applies, for example, to the works by Álvaro Semedo, António de Gouveia, or Daniello Bartoli (his Dell'Historia della Compagnia di Gesù: Della Cina, terza parte dell' Asia – La Cina, originally 1663).

67 Álvaro Semedo, Annual Letter of China for 1622, Hangzhou, 23/6/1623, ARSI, Jap.Sin. 114, f. 360. He was buried in the graveyard donated by Yang Tingyun, in Hangzhou.