A Remarkable Source on an Overlooked Missionary in China and India

Giovanni Sassi (?-?). 

Breve saggio delle apostoliche fatiche del devotissimo servo del Signore P. Giambattista da Bormio della riformata provincia di Milano, gia missionario nella Cina.

Rieti, Stamperia di Paolant Mancini e Gasp. Orsini, 1761.

4° (23 x 18 cm). 18 pp.

Later stiff decorated paper wrappers.

An extremely rare contemporary account of Franciscan missionary work in Asia during the mid-eighteenth century. Written by Giovanni Sassi of Rieti and printed in the year of Father the missionary Giambattista da Bormio’s death, the Breve Saggio provides one of the earliest Italian descriptions of a missionary’s ordeal under Qing repression of Christianity.

Sassi records Bormio’s arrest and imprisonment in a little-known Chinese prison called “Hocen” or “Hochen,” where he was chained and beaten for more than a year. Few European sources refer to this locality, giving the pamphlet distinct documentary value for the history of religious persecution in Qing-era China. After his release and expulsion, Bormio travelled through Macao, Canton, and Goa, preaching among Portuguese and Indian Christians. Sassi emphasises Bormio’s linguistic range—Italian, German, Spanish, an Indian language (likely Konkani or Tamil), and Arabic—indicating a remarkable degree of linguistic and cultural adaptation among Franciscan missionaries in Asia.

Of this remarkable provincial publication we have traced no other editions, and no copies have been located in any major digital bibliography or institutional database, underscoring the extreme rarity of this imprint.

Reference:

Padre Giambattista da Bormio (1711–1761): Missionary in Cina. Bormio: Società Storica Valtellinese, 1975.

Pedrana Proh, Cristina, ed. Giambattista Pedranzini da Bormio: un missionario francescano in Cina nel 1700. Sondrio: Società Storica Valtellinese, 2020.

cf. Biblioteca Francescana, Missionari Minori Osservanti in Asia, p. 214.

Condition: an excellent copy.