ABSTRACT
There were initially three Italian Jesuits, Fathers Michele Ruggieri, Francesco Pasio and Matteo Ricci, who worked to establish the first mission at Zhaoqing in 1583. They were, however, strongly followed and aided by a series of Portuguese Jesuits, spearheaded by Fathers Antonio de Almeida and Duarte de Sande, who both arrived in Macau from Goa in 1585. Born in Portugal at Montemor-o-Velho, Father Joao Soeiro was dispatched late in 1595 by Father Duarte de Sande to join Father Ricci at the new mission at Nanchang. Father Manuel Dias devoted much time to responding to the call of the visitor, Alessandro Valignano, for financial support for the Chinese missions. Father Dias left the rectorate of Macau's Jesuit College in 1601 and toured all four Jesuit missions in China, including the new one in Beijing. He was then summoned back to Macau by Father Valignano, who made him rector of the southern residences from the second of which he ran operations.
