The missionary life of the Franciscan Pedro de la Piñuela (1650-1704) in China

In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, in parallel with the colonial expansion of European countries, missionaries of different orders came successively to China, both Jesuits and mendicants. Among them, the Franciscan Pedro de la Piñuela [石 铎 琭, Shi duolu] (1650-1704) is very important. He was a Creole born in New Spain and who had entered China in 1676. He dedicated 28 years to evangelization in this country and greatly promoted the Franciscan enterprise in China, especially in the provinces of Fujian [福建] and Jiangxi [江西]. He also left us ten works in the Chinese language, including nine religious and one medical, and edited the written work of the Dominican Francisco Varo [万 济 国, Wan Jiguo]: Arte de la lengua mandarina. All this means his work is marked by the footprint of the cultural exchange between China and Europe, and makes him one of the most outstanding missionaries. In this paper we try to synthetically address the missionary life of Piñuela in China and his works