D'elia, Pasquale
D'ELIA, PASQUALE
Jesuit missionary and Orientalist, most noted for his writings on the early history of the Society of Jesus in China; b. Pietra Catella, Campo Basso, April 2, 1890; d. Rome, May 18, 1963. He entered the society in 1904 and studied theology at Woodstock College, Md., from 1917 to 1920, when he was ordained; he taught theology in Jesuit houses of study in Shanghai from 1921 to 1934. During this period he edited the original Chinese classics together with a European vernacular commentary. He returned to Rome in 1934 as professor on the faculty of missiology at the Gregorian University, where he remained until his death. His writings during this period dealt mainly with the contemporary political conditions in China and with the early history of the Jesuits in China. His summary, the History of the Catholic Church in China [Studia missionalia (Rome 1950) 1–68], is considered the briefest and most authoritative statement on the matter.
Bibliography: r. streit and j. dindinger, Bibliotheca missionum (Freiburg 1916–), v.14, pts. 1, 3.
[j. flynn]