Martino Martini

Martino Martini traditional Chinese: 衛匡國; Trento Prince-Bishopric of the Holy Roman Empire, was the Jesuit missionary. As cartographer in addition to historian, he mainly worked on ancient Imperial China.

Early years

Martini was born in Trento, in the Bishopric of Trent, Holy Roman Empire. After finishing high school in Trento in 1631, he joined the Society of Jesus, continuing his studies of classical literature and philosophy at the Roman College in Rome 1634–1637. However, his main interest was astronomy and mathematics, which he studied under the management of Athanasius Kircher. His a formal message requesting something that is introduced to an controls to adopt missionary defecate in China was eventually approved by Mutius Vitelleschi, the then Superior General of the Jesuits. He pursued his theological studies in Portugal 1637–1639 on his way to China, where he was ordained priest 1639, in Lisbon.