During February and March of 2025, the book “China – The Missionary Dawn” was presented and gifted to the friars during the proceedings of four Provincial Chapters. This book was published to mark the 100th anniversary of the opening of the mission in China (1925–2025).
The book features a preface by His Eminence Cardinal Pietro PAROLIN and an introduction by the Minister General, Friar Carlos A. TROVARELLI. It was edited by the Franciscan Missionary Center of the Federazione Intermediterranea Ministri Provinciali (FIMP) and was co-authored by Friars Paolo FIASCONARO, (historical section), and Matteo LUO. It recounts the life and activities of the friars during their twenty-seven-year presence in China (1925–1952).
The book serves as a remembrance of what was a grace-filled event for the Order of Friars Minor Conventuals, marking a century of mission history that began in China in 1925, and is ongoing today.
It was, in fact, July 31, 1925, when eight friars from Italy (six from Sardinia, one from Sicily, and one from Tuscany) departed for the Far East to plant the Order in those distant lands. This seed was sown a hundred years ago thanks to the prophetic vision of two Conventual Franciscan Ministers General: Friars Domenico TAVANI and Alfonso ORLINI, during the General Chapter held in Rome in 1924. That decision marked a turning point in the missionary journey of the Order, which continued to expand throughout the 20th century. Today, Conventual Franciscan missions are present in forty countries worldwide.
This 100th anniversary celebration is meant to inspire the friars to rekindle the missionary spirit that must permeate all pastoral action “among and with the people” and within the fraternities, following the example of Seraphic St. Francis and guided by the Magisterium of Pope Francis, who “dreams of a missionary Church” that permeates her structures and in all her pastoral work.
The book also recalls a difficult historical period that preceded the opening of the mission in China; namely, some tragic events in the 19th century, including the two suppressions of ecclesiastical property, the First World War, and the near disappearance of the Conventual friars. Despite these hardships, the Order rebounded, fostering a vocational resurgence that bore fruit, with the mission in China remaining a cornerstone of the Order’s 20th century mission expansion.
The Director of the Missionary Center has already engaged with friars during their Provincial Chapters: the Italian Province of St. Anthony of Padua (Northern Italy), on February 20, 2025; the Italian Province of St. Francis of Assisi (Central Italy), on March 5; the Italian Province of the Immaculate Conception (Sicily-Calabria), on March 11; and the General Custody of the Sacred Convent of St. Francis in Assisi, on March 26. Additional meetings will be held with the Italian Province of the Seraphic Father St. Francis (Naples), the Italian Province of St. Joseph of Cupertino (Abruzzo-Molise–Puglia), and at the 203rd General Chapter in June of 2025.
In April and May of 2025, meetings will also be held at the FIMP formation houses in Osimo and Nocera Inferiore (Italy), the General Houses in Rome, and the Seraphicum community.
Finally, on Tuesday, March 25, 2025, the Director of the Missionary Center visited the Secretariat of State (Vatican City) to present the book to Cardinal Pietro PAROLIN. During the audience, the Cardinal praised the commemoration and urged the friars, as stated in his preface, “to experience this centenary, not as a remembrance of the past, but as a spiritual rebirth of the Conventual Franciscan Order.”
Friar Paolo FIASCONARO,
Director of the FIMP Franciscan Missionary Center
