The Bible in China
The Journey of Translating the Bible into Chinese
Who was Fr Gabriele Allegra?
This article serves as an overview of the life of Blessed Fr. Allegra and hopefully as a tribute to this great servant of God whose generosity had brought a great treasure to Catholics in China.
The Journey of translating the Bible into Chinese
Blessed Fr. Gabriele Allegra was an Italian Franciscan missionary and a talented Biblical scholar. Above all, the Saint-to-be was notable for his lifelong dedication to translating the Bible from its original texts into Chinese. Following in Saint Francis’s footsteps, Fr. Allegra was humble, diligent, and passionate about a life serving God.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” — John 1:1 Douay Rheims
The Chosen
Blessed Fr. Gabriele Allegra was born Giovanni Stefano Allegra on 26th December 1907 in Catania, a coastal city in Sicily, Italy. He was one of 8 children of a humble Catholic family who raised Giovanni and his siblings to be loving followers of God and the Blessed Virgin Mary. Giovanni was known for his honest and cheerful disposition. One time, while a Franciscan Priest was evangelizing at Giovanni’s hometown, he asked the Allegra family if the two boys — Giovanni and his brother — would like to become priests. While his older brother was hesitant in his response, Giovanni replied promptly, “Yes! Where? When?” This anecdote shows the confidence of an innocent, God-loving boy who had been prepared and willing to act according to the will of God (Pang, 2001). God, on the other hand, sowed an important seed of the call to priesthood through Giovanni’s family, and the Franciscan priest who visited their hometown.
At the age of 11, Giovanni entered a minor Franciscan seminary at St. Bagio in Acireale for his education, then furthered his studies at a Franciscan university named the Pontificial University Antonianum at Rome when he was 19. Giovanni’s love and passion for God grew through the years as he embarked on his journey towards the priesthood. His heart was filled with faith, sincerity, peace, and joy. He was filled with the Holy Spirit, and was in every way, proud of his vocation to be a priest. But little did Giovanni know priesthood was merely the first step towards a more profound calling that God had prepared unbeknownst to him.
“Have confidence in the Lord with all thy heart and lean not upon thy own prudence. In all thy ways think on Him, and He will direct thy steps.” — Proverbs 3:5–6 Douay Rheims
The Calling
Fr. Allegra was not the first Franciscan priest who had attempted to translate the Bible into Chinese. In the 14th century, Blessed Giovanni di Monte Corvino (“John of Montecorvino”), also an Italian Franciscan missionary, had attempted the translation during his mission in China. According to Fr. Allegra’s memoir written by his student, Rev. Paul Pang (OFM), the calling of Fr. Allegra to become a missionary in China and to translate the Bible to Chinese began already when he was 18 as a young friar. He received this calling when reading The Story of a Soul by Saint Terese of Lisieux, the patron saint of missionaries. As a response, Giovanni offered his calling and his dream to the Holy Mary. In his prayer, he implored the guidance of the Blessed Mother and solemnly promised to dedicate his life to translate the Bible into Chinese. An interesting point to note would be that Giovanni had yet to know a single Chinese character when he made that promise.
Making a promise to fulfill a certain task or mission was never easy, even for the simplest of tasks we may find it difficult to put any certainty in completing them. However, Giovanni’s leap of faith exemplified a crucial aspect in the promises or vows taken before God, and that is God never forsakes whoever is faithful to Him but protects and guides them instead. As indicated in the Bible, Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the substance of things to be hoped for, the evidence of things that appear not.” Faith is believing in things our eyes have yet to see. Action and faith are inextricably tied, as Giovanni had shown us through his response to God’s calling. Giovanni later took the name Gabriele during his novitiate in 1923 and was ordained a priest in 1930. A year after formally assuming his position as a Franciscan priest, he was assigned on a mission to Hunan, China where he embarked on his lifelong journey to translate the Bible into Chinese.
“But if any of you want wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men abundantly, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, which is moved and carried about by the wind.” — James 1: 5–6 Douay Rheims
The Mission
During his early time in China, he spent the majority of his hours studying the Chinese language and culture, which included reading the Confucius classics — the “Five Classics” (五經) and “Four Books” (四書); while being trained in translating them to and from Chinese (de Gruttola, 2015).
Time management was not Fr. Allegra’s strongest suit according to his words, he had to set a schedule which he could follow every day. The schedule mainly comprised of 5 hours of Chinese study which included the language, history, and geography, 3 hours of Bible study including Greek, Hebrew, and Exegesis; the rest is reserved for spiritual life such as praying and reading the Bible. Fr. Allegra was diligent and perseverant in life St. Francis of Assisi, whom he looked up to. In his memoir, Fr. Allegra recorded how people often compared him to a hardworking donkey. This is challenging when you have a rather poor physique, which was the case for Fr. Allegra that had frustrated him as he was discerning his dream vocation as a missionary. Having the need to work on several foreign languages simultaneously, translating the scriptures, while cultivating a strong spiritual foundation in a country completely foreign to oneself could easily wear a person down.
Fr. Allegra had fallen severely ill in the process several times. On a few occasions, it was so severe he was summoned to return to Italy to rest until full recovery. In his diary, Fr. Allegra thanked God during his illness for those were the only moments he felt content to take a break from work. The physical hardships did not prevent him, a devotional servant of God, to praise and thank God with his entire soul. One could simply admire the reliance and total obedience that Fr. Allegra had when for most people, it is much easier to just complain. We could also learn to see from the good side of things and appreciate God’s presence with us regardless of circumstances. The more we practice, the more we grow closer to God and experience His grace as Fr. Allegra did.
With an extraordinary memory and gift in language, Fr. Allegra was able to master Chinese within 8 months of his first arrival in China and began to listen to confessions in Chinese effortlessly. He also began translating the Old Testament independently in 1935, starting with the book of Genesis. In 1945, the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum was founded in Beijing to focus on the Bible translation work. They then relocated to Hong Kong three years later, continuing their work in Waterloo Road, Kowloon, the current address of the Franciscan House in Hong Kong. Whenever he finished translating a book in the Bible, he would offer a thanksgiving mass to Mother Mary for leading him closer to his fulfilling his lifelong dream.
Despite his multiple talents, the process of translation, as one could expect, was not smooth sailing. According to Fr. Allegra’s own memoir and records from his fellow Franciscan brothers, the struggles occurred not mainly because of the difficulties in the translation, per se; but was the social circumstances instead. Not too long after Fr. Allegra began his translation work, the Sino-Japanese War broke out. He led the friars to flee to a mountain overnight to shield themselves from air raids that took place ceaselessly day and night. And during the daytime, Fr. Allegra would bring the friars to help save the injured and the dead in the raided area. Although what is described here has nothing directly to do with the Bible translation work itself, but it is possible for us to put ourselves in Fr. Allegra’s shoes and imagine the sadness, frustration, tiredness he had wrestled within the war period. As an extremely hardworking person, he chose to prioritize the people crying for help in the war zone and set a great example to his successors of how a priest should act. Fr. Allegra was not just a translator, a scholar, a teacher, he was fundamentally a compassionate and loving Catholic priest who manifested the basic yet most important duty a responsible priest should deliver — humbly serving those in need. This is a strong testimony to remind us all that no matter how eager we are to reach certain goals, even if it is sufficiently a will of God, we must not forget our core as Christians is to love others as God loves us. We should pay attention to what others need and respond to them with our actions.
The first complete translation of the Chinese Catholic Bible was finally published on Christmas Day 1968. Hence, the Bible was also referred to as the “Christmas Bible” by Fr. Allegra. However, according to a fellow Franciscan Fr. Antoninus Lee who then wrote a detailed biography of Fr. Allegra, the Bible was successfully printed before Christmas Day left on the desk of Fr. Allegra but he did not see it until Christmas Day when he returned to the office. Indeed a beautiful misunderstanding. Regardless of when the Chinese Bible was exactly published, the journey has proven to be a miracle of God. Fr. Allegra battled against health, environmental, and even spiritual adversity to actualize his dream under God’s will and protection.
“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we saw his glory, the glory as it were of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” — John 1:14 Douay Rheims
Path to Sainthood
As a devout priest and lover of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, on the day before his death, Fr. Allegra requested to receive his final communion amidst severe sickness and immense pain. He also insisted on kneeling on the ground when receiving his last communion. On the next day, 26th January 1976, Fr. Gabriele Allegra pass away while listening to the “Magnificat”, Fr. Allegra’s favourite hymn, sung by fellow Franciscan brothers and sisters surrounding his bed — according to Fr. Allegra’s wish. It was Fr. Allegra’s wish to listen to this song as his soul ascended and returned to God. He seldom forgot to offer his entire self to God, and especially Holy Mary, who had been an important protector of his journey. Fr. Allegra was venerated in 1995, and officially beatified on 29th September 2012 in Catania, Sicily, the hometown of Fr. Allegra.
He was the first Blessed priest of the Catholic Diocese Hong Kong and Franciscan Missionary of the Chinese region.
Ideo multum tenemur Ei
“Therefore, we are greatly indebted to him”
This is the motto of Blessed Duns Scotus that Fr. Allegra adored so much he pinned this quote at the beginning of every chapter of his autobiography.
The list of things we can learn from Fr. Allegra is inexhaustible. Like many other saints, Fr. Allegra spent his entire life to love and serve God without reserve. Although I have never met Fr. Allegra in person, I was immensely fortunate to have heard stories about him firsthand from religious sisters who have spent time with him. He was a diligent, humble, and faithful priest loved by many.
In 2012, I was humbled to be able to participate in Fr. Allegra’s beatification in Italy as a student representative from one of the schools Fr. Allegra named. It was truly overwhelming to see his dedication to Chinese and our culture had influenced his family and townspeople; and our presence together, at the plaza on the day of beatification manifested unity, harmony, and love that transcends language and any of our differences.
Perhaps we would never be as knowledgeable in the Scriptures as Fr. Allegra or speak Latin as fluent as him. But God wants our faith first more than anything. As indicated in the famous Corinthians Chapter 13, Verse 2: “And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.”
The objective of translating the Bible to Chinese was to share the love of the Lord and His salvation to all mankind, instead of personal glory (in fact many Chinese Catholics still do not know who Fr. Allegra is). Knowing the time and effort it would take, the hardship to be endured, and the fear within an era of grave worldly instability, one simply could not rely on his own effort to accomplish such a great task.
The force that drove this Franciscan missionary was undoubtedly, and simply, divine. We are facing a whole new era of social turmoil in all parts of the world. Every stone has been flipped and it seems that there is just no place to hide. But God does not want us to hide. Pray and ask God, today, what is the Lord’s will for me? Even more, who would the Lord assign to help you? Fr. Allegra was blessed with a supportive family, fellow Franciscan brothers, and friends in his journey to do the work of God.
How would you serve God today, fellow saint-to-be?
May we continue to imitate the humility and selflessness Fr. Allegra exemplified, and share his love for the scriptures, the liturgy, and our heavenly Father who reigns with eternal power and infinite grace. Blessed Fr. Allegra, pray for us.
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