Did you know that Marco Polo was not the first western European to reach China? The Franciscan monk Giovanni da Pian del Carpini reached China in the 1240s (more than 20 years before Polo) He had an audience with the Great Khan of the Mongol empire. Other Catholic emissaries followed later. These included including William of Rubruck, who traveled east in the 1250s on a quest to convert the Mongols to Christianity.
Another Franciscan by the name of Odoric of Pordenone also travelled to China starting in 1318. He also made it to the Philippines where he celebrated the first mass at Bolinao, Pangasinan around 1324. That predated the reputed first Catholic mass held by Ferdinand Magellan in 1521 by almost 200 years! He also traveled through Tibet reaching Lhasa. Little is known about this, but he probably made some contact with Buddhist monks. He traveled through India and Persia, as well
Odoric of Pordenone
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