1619: Father Longobardi (龙华民)
Successor of Father Ricci
Father Nicolas Longobardi (1559–1654) was an Italian Jesuit from the Sicilian region. In 1597, he was sent to China as a Jesuit missionary.
In 1610, following Father Matteo Ricci's death, Father Longobardi assumed the position of Superior General of the Jesuit China Mission. He held this position for 12 years but continued to preach as a missionary in China for over three more decades until he passed away at the ripe old age of 90 in 1655.
Visited Kaifeng with Brother Fernandez (钟鸣礼)
Upon the request of Wang Zheng Philippe (王征, 1571–1644), a high-level government official in Shanxi Province and a Christian convert, four Jesuits travelled from Hangzhou to Shanxi. However, they were unable to stay for long due to the poor living conditions of Shanxi.
In 1619, on their way back to Hangzhou, Father Longobardi and Macau native Brother Jean Fernandez (钟鸣礼, 1581–1620) passed through Kaifeng in search for “the worshipers of the Cross” and to convert the Kaifeng Jews; because their Jewishness was beginning to fade, and they were monotheists, they may have been receptive to conversion.
Warmly welcomed at first
When the entourage first arrived on site, they were warmly received by the Kaifeng Jewish community.
According to Father de Gouvea, Father Longobardi "spoke a few words in Persian (New Persian, the old lingua franca of Asiatic trade, which some of the Kaifeng Jews still knew). Everybody was highly delighted, believing that their guest was of their own faith. And when they learned the Father was there, they wanted to invite him immediately. So they fixed the day, the following Sabbath (安息日). And when the Father entered the synagogue, they treated him with great honour, being certain that he was of the same stock and religion as themselves."
Pushed out on discovering visitors were Christians
Thought that the Father was of their faith, they gave him a magnificent welcome and listened with great joy to the stories of the Old Testament patriarchs; but once they noticed the pictures in his Bible, abominable in their eyes, they understood he was a Christian of the Cross who worshipped Jesus, whom they called Isai (Ersa), a name taken from the Moors, and they immediately changed attitude, urging the Father to leave the synagogue, which they thought had been profaned by his presence. He would have liked to discuss the Bible with them, but it was of no use. They had suddenly grown distrustful, and conversation no longer suited them.”
Kaifeng Muslims were more respected than Jews
The visitors noted that regarding the Jews, “Their religion is mixed with paganism and they compete for literary degrees, but they are less esteemed than the Mohammedans.”
Traces of Christianity in Kaifeng
Father Diaz wrote, "a Jew stated that he had seen in the hands of a small boy among these Christians a book containing an image of the most saintly Madonna with the Infant Jesus in her arms and another image of two Saints, the one holding a sword and the other an object which he did not quite recall: doubtlessly these were the Apostles Peter and Paul. … Moreover, these Christians are so hardened in their errors into which they have fallen for lack of guidance that the Chinese are not on such a (low) level as they. Hence, our people, when they realised that they did not harvest any fruit, returned from there to Hangzhou in spite of all that hardships which they had endured in order to help them.”
Trip detail recorded by Diaz and Gouvea
Father Longobardi left no writing. The experience of this trip was captured by Father Emmanuel Diaz (阳玛诺) — published in 1624, and Father Antonio de Gouvea (何大化, 1505–1566).
1624: Father Diaz (阳玛诺)
Remembered for introducing telescope to China
Father Emmanuel Diaz the Younger (1574–1659) was a Portuguese Jesuit. He arrived in China in 1610 and in Beijing in 1613. He worked in Macau, Ningbo and Fuzhou before passing away in Hangzhou. Father Diaz was remembered for introducing the telescope to China just a few years after it was discovered in the Netherlands in 1608.
Documented Father Longobardi’s trip to Kaifeng
In 1624, Father Diaz published his Ratione delle cose piu notabili scritte ne gli anni 1619, 1620, e 1621 dalla Cina in Rome.
In this book, Father Diaz wrote that the Jesuits had found a mixture of religions in Henan Province, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. It also detailed the trip made by Father Nicolas Longobardi (龙华民, 1559–1654) and Brother Jean Fernandez (钟鸣礼, 1581–1620) to Kaifeng in 1619.
Raised profile of Kaifeng Jews in the West
This publication brought attention to the relatively unknown Kaifeng Jewish community.