Blessed
Blessed Gabriele Maria Allegra
Franciscan priest and missionary, translator of the Bible into Chinese, Hong Kong, 1907-1976
Early life
Gabriele Maria Allegra was born at S. Giovanni La Punta (Catania) on 26 December 1907 to Rosario Allegra and Giovanna Guglielmino, and was baptised on 5 January 1908.[1] In December 1918 he entered the seraphic seminary of the convent of S. Biagio at Acireale; on 13 October 1923 he took the Franciscan habit and his religious name, and on 19 October 1924 he made his first profession.[1] He was ordained a priest in Rome, in the chapel of the Collegio Leoniano, by Mons. I. Dubowski on 20 July 1930.[1]
Vocation
In 1924, during the pilgrimage through Sicily of the relic of the arm of S. Francesco Saverio, he asked for and obtained the grace of a missionary vocation.[1] Sent to Rome in 1926 to the Collegio Internazionale S. Antonio of the Friars Minor to continue his theological studies, in 1928 he heard a lecture on Giovanni da Montecorvino, missionary in China from 1294 to 1328 and first Archbishop of Pechino, which convinced him that he was called to be a missionary in China.[1] Learning that no Catholic translation of the whole Bible existed in China, he decided to go there to translate Scripture into Chinese, a vow he entrusted to the Immaculate Virgin at his first Mass in his native town, in the sanctuary of the Ravanusa, on 15 August 1930.[1]
Mission
He arrived in China in 1931 and devoted himself above all to the biblical project, which he completed in 1968 and which the Chinese Cardinal Paolo Yupin called the greatest literary undertaking of the Catholic Church in China.[1] He began the translation of the entire Bible into Chinese on 11 April 1935.[1] In 1945 he founded a Studio Biblico at Pechino.[1]
Death and recognition
He died on 26 January 1976 in the Canossa Hospital of Hong Kong, mourned in particular by the poor and the lepers of Coloane.[1] The decree on his heroic virtues was issued on 15 December 1994, followed on 23 April 2002 by the decree recognising as miraculous a healing obtained through his intercession.[1] He was beatified on 29 September 2012 by Pope Benedict XVI.[1]
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Sources and notes
- Gabriele Maria Allegra
Dicastery for the Causes of Saints · Italian
Accessed 2026-09-05
Editorial notes
Translated and condensed from the Dicastery's official Italian profile by an automated pass on 2026-09-09; identity matched on the death date and name; editorial review pending.
This is an AI-assisted draft prepared from the sources above. Its citations identify its evidence; they do not replace a historical review.
The inherited biography
The earlier biography for this record, kept unchanged while the sourced draft is reviewed.
Read the inherited biography
Giovanni Stefano Allegra was born at San Giovanni La Punta near Catania in 1907. He entered the Seraphic Seminary at Acireale in 1918, received the Franciscan habit in 1923 with the name Gabriele Maria, made his first profession in 1924 and was ordained priest in Rome in 1930. In 1924, during the passage through Sicily of the relic of Saint Francis Xavier's arm, he asked and obtained the grace of a missionary vocation. Sent to Rome in 1926 for theology, he heard in 1928 a lecture on John of Montecorvino, missionary in China and first archbishop of Peking; it fell, in his own words, like a lighted fuse thrown at a powder magazine. Learning that no Catholic translation of the whole Bible existed in Chinese, he resolved to go and make one, and vowed it to the Immaculate Virgin at his first Mass in 1930.
He reached China in 1931, began the translation on 11 April 1935 and completed it in 1968, a work a Chinese cardinal called the greatest literary undertaking of the Catholic Church in China. In 1945 he also founded a Biblical Studium at Peking.
Heraldry & Devotional Emblems
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