Alenio, Giulio, Chinese missionary and scholar, b. at Brescia, in Italy, in 1582; d. at Fou-Tcheou, China, in August, 1644. He became a member of the Society of Jesus in 1600, and was distinguished for his knowledge of mathematics and theology. He was sent as a missionary to China in 1610, and while waiting at Macao a favourable opportunity to enter the country he published his “Résultat de Observation sur l’éclipse de lune du 8 Novembre, 1612, faite &4 Macao’? (Mémoires de l’Acad. des Sciences, VII, 706). After his arrival in China, he preached the Gospel in the provinces of Xan-si and Fi-Kien. He published many works in Chinese on a variety of topics. Among the most important are a controversial treatise on the Catholic Faith, in which are refuted the principal errors of the Chinese; “The True Origin of all Things’; and “The Life of God, the Saviour, from the Four Gospels’. There is a complete list of Alenio’s works in Sommervogel.
Sommervogel, Bibliotheque de la Compagnie de Jésus, I, 157 sq.; Pfister, S.J., Bibliogr. des Jésuites Chinois miss.; Cordier, Essai d’une bibliogr. des ouvr, publ, en Chine par les Eurpeens (Paris, 1883).
Joseph M. Woods.