Catholic Church in Sichuan
The presence of the Catholic Church in the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan and city of Chongqing dates back to 1640, when two missionaries, Lodovico Buglio and Gabriel de Magalhães, through Jesuit missions in China, entered the province and spent much of the 1640s evangelizing in Chengdu and its surrounding areas.
Catholic Church in Sichuan
Artus de Lionne, first Apostolic Vicar of Szechwan.
After a portrait of François Pottier painted in 1787 at Chengdu
Interior of Annunciation Church, Dengchigou, former Seminary of Muping.
The history of the missions of the Jesuits in China is part of the history of relations between China and the Western world. The missionary efforts and other work of the Society of Jesus, or Jesuits, between the 16th and 17th century played a significant role in continuing the transmission of knowledge, science, and culture between China and the West, and influenced Christian culture in Chinese society today.
The frontispiece of Athanasius Kircher's 1667 China Illustrata, depicting the Jesuit founders Francis Xavier and Ignatius of Loyola adoring the monogram of Christ in Heaven while Johann Adam Schall von Bell and Matteo Ricci labor on the China mission.
Nicolas Trigault (1577–1629) in Chinese attire, by Peter Paul Rubens.
Matteo Ricci (left) and Xu Guangqi (right) in the Chinese edition of Euclid's Elements published in 1607.
The Chinese Jesuit Michael Alphonsius Shen Fu-Tsung visited France and Britain in 1684–1685. "The Chinese Convert" by Sir Godfrey Kneller.
