Franciscans and Latin Language in China: An Introduction to the Missionary Periodical Apostolicum

The presence of Christian missionaries in China has always been closely con-nected to the production of written texts to support the circulation of the doctrineand reach a wider audience of locals. At the same time, the missionaries them-selves were authors of detailed reports, diaries, and writings of various types tocommunicate with their superiors and families in the homelands and transmitnews about China and their activities there. However, despite the wide researchon the books written or translated by Catholic missionaries in China, few studiesaddress the issue of Catholic missionary periodicals in China to date. The publica-tion of periodicals had been a distinctive activity of the Protestant missionaries inChina since their arrival in the nineteenth century, while it was a secondary issueamong the Catholic ones, whose permanent presence in China dated back to thesixteenth century. In the twentieth century, however, many Catholic periodicalsspread around China and opened a new chapter of the Catholic missions there.The Franciscan friars, together with the Jesuits, were the most active in launchingtheir own periodicals and for many years published monthly or bimonthly issuesof contents directed to local converts, foreign missionaries in China, and ordermembers and families in their countries. The purpose of this chapter is to explorethe context of publication and the main features of the periodicalApostolicum,amonthly journal published in Shandong from 1930 to 1943 and the only Francis-can publication on religious and mission news in two languages, as it was pub-lished in Latin and Chinese. The analysis of the extracts of some issues will shedlight on the contents of this periodical, the languages used in it, and the intendedaudience, outlining the possibilities of its circulation and distribution in China orabroad.