beatified_place death_date death_place birth_place feast_day nationality notableworks venerated_in name birth_date titles image article_title education birth_name beatified_date occupation beatified_by
catania , sicily , italy , january 26 , 1976 british hong kong , british empire san giovanni la punta , catania , italy 26 january italian '' studium biblicum translation '' roman catholic church -lrb- order of friars minor -rrb- blessed gabriele allegra , o.f.m. december 26 , 1907 biblical scholar allegra gabriele.jpg gabriele allegra
 franciscan international college of st anthony giovanni stefano allegra 29 september 2012 priest , translator , theologian cardinal xvi angelo amato , s.d.b. , representing pope benedict
gabriele allegra

the blessed gabriele allegra , o.f.m. , was a franciscan friar and biblical scholar .
he is best known for performing 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 .
he was born giovanni stefano allegra in san giovanni la punta in the province of catania , italy .
he entered the franciscan minor seminary at s. biagio in acireale in 1918 and the novitiate in bronte in 1923 .
he then studied at the franciscan international college of st. anthony in rome as of 1926 , now known as the pontifical university antonianum .
the future course of his life was determined in 1928 when he attended the celebrations of the 6th centenary of another franciscan , giovanni di monte corvino , who had attempted a first translation of the bible in beijing in the 14th century .
on that day , at the age of 21 , allegra was inspired to translate the bible into chinese ; a task that took the next 40 years of his life .
he was ordained a priest in 1930 and soon thereafter sailed for mainland china .
