Alessandro Valignano, circa 1600. Alessandro Valignano, born in 1539 in Chieti, kingdom of Naples, was an Italian Jesuit missionary who helped supervise the introduction of Christianity to the Far East, and especially to Japan.
He joined the Society of Jesus in 1566 and was sent to the Far East in 1573. The nomination of an Italian to supervise Portugal-dominated Asia was at the time quite controversial, and was interpreted as an effort by Rome to reinforce its control on colonial activities.
Valignano founded the Jesuit college in Macao. He travelled from Goa and visited Japan three times, in 1579 when he stayed three years, in 1590 and in 1598.
Valignano was a great admirer of the Japanese people and envisioned a future when Japan would be one of the leading Christian countries in the world. He famously wrote that the Japanese "excell not only all the other Oriental peoples, they surpass the Europeans as well" (Alessandro Valignano, 1584, "Historia del Principo y Progresso de la Compania de Jesus en las Indias Orientales (1542-64)" ("History of the Beginnings and Progress of the Society of Jesus in the East Indies (1542-64)").
He sent to Europe four Japanese noblemen, led by Mancio Ito, who, upon their return, became the first Japanese to be ordained Jesuit fathers, thereby initiating the constitution of a native clergy, for the first time in Asia.
He died in Macau in 1606.
See also
Nanban period
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