The Servant of God John of Montecorvino and the History of Ketchup

Chinese Franciscan Friars ca. 1900

I love ketchup! A meditation on ketchup takes us from Imperial China of the 6th century to the Papal Court of the 13th to American commercial kitchens of the 19th. Ketchup roots us in the local as it invites us to the global.

"If you want to act globally, you must be rooted locally."
(Nikolai Frederik Severin Grundtvig)

Last Sunday, I mentioned three Franciscan Friars who were early Roman Catholic Missionaries to China. They were the first of about 1000 Franciscans who have journeyed to China over the centuries.

• Giovanni (John) of Montecorvino
• Wilhelm (William) Rubruck
• Giovanni (John) Plano Carpini

Our main sources for these early missionaries are the Reports (Littera) of John da Montecorvino and the Travel Diary (Itinerarium) of William of Rubruck. Both were disseminated by that great Franciscan publisher Luke Wadding in his monumental work Annales Minorum (1625-1654).

• Here is Franciscan friar George Corrigan's blog entry from November 29, 2013 commemorating the three friars.
• Here is a report from a Study Day held in January, 2010 at the Pontifical University Antonianum in Rome about the Franciscans in China.
• The economist Douglas A. Galbi has written an article about William of Rubrock's great debate, wherein he summarizes William's attitudes very cogently, even though in the end I disagree with Galbi's own attitudes and convictions.
• A better book, in my opinion, is the brand new work by Shirin A. Khanmohamadi, In Light of Another's Word: European Ethnography in the Middle Ages (2014 University of Pennsylvania Press).
• Here is a wonderful article about John of Montecorvino and his writings.

Finally - here is an important article about ketchup and world politics! Enjoy your meal!

Fr. Bob

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