MONTE COKVINO ARCHBISHOP OF PEKIN. 355 Corvino, archbishop of Pekin, and made the seven missionaries, whose names we have just enumerated, his suffragans. Before their departure they received the episcopal consecration, and were invested with numerous privileges, to facilitate the performance of their duties in such remote countries. Clement V. sent a letter to Jean de Monte Corvino, by which he placed him at the head of all the Catholic missions in the extreme East, on the condition of always submitting to the Roman pontiff, and of receiving the Pallium from him. He wrote at the same time to Timour, the great Khan of the Tartars, exhorting him to become a Christian, and thanking him for the protection he had accorded to the Catholics.* Of the seven Franciscan monks appointed for the journey into Tartary, three only succeeded, in 1308, in reaching their destination, and in consecrating Jean de Monte Corvino Archbishop of Pekin ; these were Gerard, Peregrin, and Andre de Perouse ; of the others, Nicolas de Bautra, Peter of Castile, and Andrutius d'Assise, died of fatigue soon after entering the Indies, while the remaining one, William of Villeneuve, returned to Italy, and was appointed Bishop of Sagona, in Corsica, in the year 1325.f That must have been a moment of indescribable delight which united the venerable missionary of Khan- balik with the three children of Saint Francis, who had
- Wadding, Annales Minorum, vol.vii. p. 228., &c
f At the time of his election, Pope Jean XXII. stated that William had been consecrated a bishop by Clement V., and had been sent to preach the Gospel to the nations of Tartary. (Wadding, vol. vi. p. 147.) In 1328 Bishop William was translated to the episcopal see of Tergeste, where he died in 1331, and there his tomb may still be seen. — Ferdugellus, Italice Sacrce, vol. v. p. 582. A A 2
