Blessed Odoric of Pordenone
Friulian Franciscan who travelled through Persia and India to Khanbaliq
- Rank
- Blessed
- Kind
- Missionary, Religious
- Life
- d. 1331
- Era
- 14th century
- Feast
- 14 January
- Countries
- Italy, China, India
Life story
Odoric was born between about 1280 and 1286 (sources differ) at Villanova near Pordenone in Friuli. Around 1300 he entered the Franciscan order at Udine. From about 1318 he set out for Asia, travelling through Trebizond and Persia to Hormuz and on to India. At Tana, near Bombay, he gathered the remains of Franciscans who had been killed there, intending to take them to China.
From India he went on through Sumatra, Java, Borneo and Champa to Canton. He then visited Hangzhou, Nanjing and Yangzhou and travelled by river and canal to Khanbaliq (Beijing), the capital of the Great Khan, where he stayed about three years. He came home overland through Central Asia and Persia; some writers say he passed through Tibet, but many modern scholars dispute this.
In May 1330 he dictated an account of his journey to Brother William of Solagna, at the friary of Saint Anthony in Padua. The text was copied widely, and many passages in the so-called Mandeville's Travels are thought to be borrowed from it. He fell ill and died at Udine on 14 January 1331. His cult was confirmed by Pope Benedict XIV, who beatified him on 2 July 1755.
Works and witness
- Entered the Franciscans at Udine around 1300
- Travelled in Asia from about 1318: Persia, India, Southeast Asia and China
- Spent about three years at Khanbaliq (Beijing)
- Dictated his account to Brother William of Solagna in May 1330
- Died on 14 January 1331; beatified in 1755
Saints from the same country
References
- Catholic Encyclopedia (New Advent), 'Odoric of Pordenone', 1911
- GCatholic, beatifications of Pope Benedict XIV (2 July 1755, equipollent)
Written by Anawim from documented history. Some details about ancient saints rest on tradition and are marked as such.