It is a delightful spot, with an excellent climate, not very far from Canton, and was for some time the residence of the renowned poet Camoens.

Not far from Macao lies the island of Sancian, where St.Francois Xavier died.

He was the first Roman Catholic missionary of more modern times to China, but he never set foot on the mainland.

Native maps mark the existence of "Saint's Grave" upon the island, though he was actually buried at Goa.

There had previously been a Roman Catholic bishop in Peking so far back as the thirteenth century, from which date it seems likely that Catholic converts have had a continuous footing in the empire.
In 1583, Matteo Ricci, the most famous of all missionaries who have ever reached China, came upon the scene at Canton, and finally, in 1601, after years of strenuous effort succeeded in installing himself at Peking, with the warm support of the emperor himself, dying there in 1610.