page_title: Gabriele Allegra
section_title: The Bible in Chinese
hierarchical_section_title: Gabriele Allegra / The Bible in Chinese
caption_attribution_description: Chinese depiction of Jesus and the rich man (Mark 10) - 1879, Beijing, China
context_page_description: Gabriele Allegra was a Franciscan Friar and Biblical scholar. He is best known for accomplishing the first complete translation of the Catholic Bible into the Chinese language. His Studium Biblicum Translation is often considered the definitive Chinese Bible among Catholics. He awaits canonization.
context_section_description: Allegra organized a team of Chinese Franciscan friars to work with him on the translation of the Bible and inaugurated the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum in Beijing in 1945, dedicating it to Duns Scotus. But as the Chinese Civil War ended, the Chinese Communist Party took over China and Allegra and his team had to leave for Kowloon, Hong Kong in 1948.
  In 1948 the first three volumes of the Old Testament were published by the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum in Chinese and over the next 12 years eight more volumes with explanatory notes were produced by the team, including the New Testament. In 1954 along with four Chinese friars he went to the Studium Biblicum in Jerusalem to study original biblical texts for about a year. He lived mostly in Hong Kong thereafter, and he organized the 1st Ecumenical Bible Exhibition in Hong Kong in 1965.
  Christmas day in 1968 witnessed the culmination of his 40-year effort with the first publication of the one-volume Chinese Bible. In 1975 the Chinese Bible Dictionary was published.
  Allegra died in Hong Kong on 26 January 1976.
caption: Chinese depiction of Jesus in Mark:10, Beijing, 1879.
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