Zheng Manuo

At the age of twelve, Zheng left Macau with the French priest Alexandre de Rhodes in 1645 and reached Rome in 1650.

After Zheng left Europe in 1666, he worked as a missionary in India until 1668, when he was sent back to Macau due to the need of Chinese priests in China under the anti-Christian edict.

[8] In his 1988 book Biographies of Figures in Chinese Catholic History (「中國天主教史人物傳」), Fang Hao called Zheng "Manoel de Sequiera".

[2] In his 2022 book The Chinese Vogue in Europe During the Eighteenth Century, Xu Minglong claimed that Zheng's original name was "Weixin".

[13] Alexandre de Rhodes intended to travel to Europe to introduce the region of Vietnam to the Holy See.

[14] In 1645, de Rhodes suggested to the Jesuit superior at Macau that he could take children from China and Vietnam to study in Rome.

[16] Because the society had financial difficulties, the local superior only agreed to let de Rhodes depart with Zheng.

[15] Rouleau asserted that de Rhodes "almost certainly" hoped to nourish "a comprehensive program for the indigenation for the Annamite and south China missions" when he was selecting a candidate for the European studies.

[14] In his journal describing the trip, de Rhodes often referred to Zheng as mon petit Chinois ("my little Chinese").

[18] According to de Rhodes, a group of Turkish people on the way thought Zheng as a Tartar Muslim, and planned to abduct the boy as soon as he enters the Ottoman Empire.

[34][33] According to Rouleau, his departure was likely because he was recruited by Giovanni Filippo de Marini [fr], the Jesuit procurator of the Province of Japan.

[40][37] They were a part of the fleet of the newly appointed Portuguese viceroy of the Indies, João Nunes da Cunha [pt], which departed on 13 April 1666.

[43] In Goa, the local Jesuit superiors ordered Zheng to stay in India, contrary to his wishes to return to China.

[44] Zheng was dissatisfied with the decision: in a letter to the Society's Superior General, Giovanni Paolo Oliva, he complained that he had to learn the local language to serve in the province "for no reason".

[44][45] The actual reason for Zheng's stay in India was that a 1665 Chinese imperial edict [zh] proscribed Christianity in the country, and almost all missionaries in China were left in Guangzhou.

[47][45] Around this period, Luo Wenzao, a Chinese priest, managed to evade the sanctions on foreign missionaries and travelled around China to visit the Christian congregations.

[49] In a 1668 letter to Oliva, da Gama explained his decision: Last year [...] a Religious of St. Dominic, named Fr.

Gregorio Lopez [Luo] and Chinese by race, had come over from Manila to Canton [Guangzhou] [...] From there, he visited his and our christianities with great success [...] Since this Religious is Chinese and in his features and language is not distinguished from the [other] natives, he can easily come and go without being recognized [...] At sight of this example, I decided to direct Padre Manuel de Siqueira [Zheng] to come from Goa along with the other Padres.

[51][52] According to Zheng's account, he met with many local Catholics, who were restricted by the Dutch Calvinist rule at the time.

[54] Upon his return, Zheng first began to study the Chinese language at St. Paul's College, Macau, to prepare for his mission in China.

[54] The Jesuit priest Prospero Intorcetta, who escaped from Guangzhou to Macau in July 1668, also briefed Zheng about the situation of Christianity in China.

[58] A part of the letter reads: Dimodoche non vi resta altro mezzo per mantenere questi christiani et administrarli i sacramenti della Chiesa, si non mandare travestiti i sacerdoti naturali, che facilmente possono andare sconosciuti, il che non possono fare gli europei [...] adesso che tanto precisamente hanno bisogno di sacerdoti naturali per rimediar a questa si urgente necessita non li trovano [...] durando le cose in questa conformita, tutte queste missioni si perderanno.

[63] In 1671, the Kangxi Emperor issued a new imperial edict that allowed the foreign missionaries to return to their provinces.

[66][56] Regarding Zheng's role, Hsieh Chia-wen claimed that it is "improper" to identify him merely as a gentry assistant, due to "his education and missionary work in China, as well as his status as a Jesuit priest.

"[3] Rouleau suggested that Zheng was sent to Beijing not only because he could administer to the Christians there, but also because the dry, northern weather would help with his tuberculosis.

[70] Rouleau interpreted that Zheng did not present himself to the imperial court, but "remained in obscurity" and attended to the local Catholic community while affected by the disease.

[72] On 19 September 1673, Gabriel de Magalhães wrote to Jacques Le Faure about the Jesuit mission in Beijing.

[74][68] A 1708 correspondence between Gian Paolo Gozani, a Visitor of the order, and Michelangelo Tamburini, the Jesuit General in Rome, mentioned that some Christians in Beijing developed a devotion of piety towards Étienne Faber and Zheng.

[75] In 1958, the Catholic Patriotic Association donated Zhalan Cemetery and the attached chapel to the Beijing Municipal Party Committee School (北京市委党校).

Father Manuel Sequeira, Chinese from Macao, who went to Rome in his youth and entered the Society of Jesus there.