In Barbaras Gentilium Terras. Epistolario del gesuita Carlo Giovanni Turcotti (1643-1706)

[Machine translation] In 1671 Carlo Giovanni Turcotti embarked for the East, determined to dedicate his life to the evangelization of the Gentiles, a choice that would have permanently removed him from Varallo Sesia, his native land. From that experience, a corpus of letters remains that the Valessian Jesuit composed during his stay in the Eastern missions: from his arrival in the Philippines to the final stages of his life, which he died on Chinese soil in 1706. After being active in the Moluccas and having spent three years in prison with the Dutch, Turcotti spent the rest of his life in China, carrying out apostolate work in the ancient province of Quantum (Guangdong). As was customary, over the years the Jesuit remained in contact with the European world, writing letters to Roman superiors and leaders and establishing a communication network with confreres and other religious missionaries. The edition of his letters allows us to grasp the most pressing issues through the pen of those who spent twenty-five years in China, holding roles of responsibility that allowed him to observe from a privileged position the situation of the Eastern missions during one of the most critical and complicated phases for Catholic missionaries in China, against the background of the growing rivalry between European powers for the domination and control of rich Eastern trafficking.