Exploring Franciscan Friars Minor Archives: New Insights into the History of Chinese Christianity

century marked the beginning of the Catholic missionary presence in the area. New missionaries arrived in the seventeenth century and their evangelization activities have continued up to the present day. The twentieth century witnessed a new phase of the Franciscan presence in China that was characterized by a significant emphasis on publishing activities. Of particular interest are the periodicals published in the 1930s, and the translation project that culminated in the publication of the first complete Catholic Bible in Chinese. Despite the presence of numerous documents and accounts in convents, archives, and libraries, the specific features of the Franciscan presence in China are still relatively unexplored to date. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the Franciscan presence in China using the sources preserved in the Antonianum Library and the General Historical Archives in Rome, the Gabriele Allegra Archive in Palermo (Italy), and the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum in Hong Kong.