Milan (AsiaNews) – On his liturgical feast day, the Catholic Church throughout the world today commemorates the 800th anniversary of the death of St Francis of Assisi, which took place in 1226. His legacy, like a seed, spread very quickly from Italy to the whole world, leaving a profound mark in many Asian countries as well. And it continues to this day through thousands of friars, nuns and members of the Franciscan Third Order who, following in the footsteps of the saint of Assisi, live out their vocation on this vast continent.
As early as the 13th century, just a few years after Francis’s death, the Friars Minor arrived in Asia. Among the most important figures was Giovanni da Pian del Carpine, sent in 1245 by Pope Innocent IV as a legate to the Mongols. His journey to the court of the Great Khan in Karakorum produced one of the first reliable descriptions of the Mongol Empire, opening a diplomatic and informational channel between Europe and Asia. A few years later, William of Rubruck, a native of Flanders, undertook an even more in-depth journey (1253–1255), living for months amongst the peoples of Central Asia. Giovanni da Montecorvino then led the first major attempt to establish a Christian presence in China (late 13th–early 14th century): as founder of the Catholic community in Beijing and the city’s first archbishop, he translated liturgical texts and sought to build a stable local Church in the Far East. Around 1321, however, a group of friars comprising Tommaso da Tolentino, Giacomo da Padova, Demetrio da Tiflis and Pietro da Siena were martyred in Tana (Thane, near Mumbai). Yet their blood was to become the seed of a fruitful presence of the Order in India, as well as in many other Asian countries.
Many visible signs of the Franciscans’ legacy remain across the continent to this day; one of the oldest examples is the Church of St Francis of Assisi in Goa, India. It was founded in 1517, whilst the present building was completed in 1661. Built by the Portuguese Franciscans, it forms part of the monumental complex of the churches and convents of Historic Goa, recognised by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.Even older is the Church of St Francis in Kochi, in Kerala, whose foundation dates back to 1503. Originally built of wood and mud by the Portuguese Franciscans and later rebuilt in stone, it is considered one of the oldest European churches built in India. It is particularly famous for having housed the remains of Vasco da Gama, who died in Kochi in 1524: the navigator remained buried in the church for fourteen years before his remains were transferred to Lisbon.
In the Philippines, the Shrine of San Pedro Bautista, in San Francisco del Monte, in the Quezon City area, dates back to 1590: it was founded by the Spanish Franciscan Pedro Bautista, the future martyr of Nagasaki. The shrine preserves a long history of the first Franciscan missions in the archipelago and also includes an ancient underground cave used by the friars for prayer and contemplation. Also in Manila is the church of Santa’Anna, whose mission was founded in 1578, whilst the current stone building dates from between 1720 and 1725. It is significant because it was the first Franciscan mission established outside Intramuros, the historic heart of the Philippine capital and the centre of political and religious power during Spanish rule. From the mission of St Pedro Bautista in Japan, we recall the Church of St Mary of the Angels, which he built in Kyoto in 1594; it was flanked by a 50-bed hospital for the sick in need. The buildings were destroyed during the anti-Christian persecutions, but their memory lives on in the history of the Franciscan martyrs of Japan.
In China – following the first attempt by Giovanni da Montecorvino, which was forcibly interrupted by the advent of the Ming dynasty, which eradicated that community deemed ‘foreign’ – the most important site linked to the memory of the saint of Assisi today is the Cathedral of St Francis in Xi’an, the capital of Shaanxi province. An extraordinary example of the meeting between East and West, it was built in 1716, during the early Qing dynasty, by a new group of Italian Franciscan missionaries. The building combines grey bricks and traditional Chinese roofing with Western architectural elements and stained-glass windows. Converted into a factory during the dark years of the Cultural Revolution, it was reopened for worship in the 1980s. In 2016, the local Catholic community solemnly celebrated its third centenary and, to mark the occasion, Bishop Antonio Dang Mingyan asked the Friars of Assisi for a relic of St Francis; this gift was sent with great joy and is still venerated by the faithful of Xi’an. “I hope that Catholics will take the faith of St Francis as their model, living with humility and simplicity, seeking peace and loving nature,” said Bishop Dang Mingyan on that occasion.
Finally, a recent yet extremely significant example of the Franciscan influence in Asia is the Korean Catholic chapel at the Joint Security Area (JSA) in the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) along the 38th parallel, which marks the boundary between South Korea and North Korea. Inaugurated in 2019, this small chapel serves as a place of prayer for peace and reconciliation on the Korean Peninsula and is modelled on the Porziuncola, the tiny 4th-century chapel now housed within the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Assisi, where St Francis founded the Franciscan Order. Recreating the humble chapel of the ‘little portion of earth’ on one of the world’s most tense military frontiers is a message of peace and humility that conveys the values preached by the saint of Assisi.
