Blessed Odoric Mattiuzzi, OFM
(also known as Odericus of Pordenone)
Feast day: February 3
1286 - 1331
Beatified 1775 by Benedict XIV
Born 1286 Pordenone
Died January 14, 1331 Udine
Franciscan missionary and traveler. Born Odoric Mattiussi at Villanova, near Pordenone, Italy, he entered the Franciscans in 1300 and became a hermit. After several years, he took to preaching in the region of Udine, northern Italy, attracting huge crowds through his eloquence. In 1316 he set out for the Far East, journeying through China and finally reaching the court of the Mongol Great Khan in Peking. From 1322 to 1328 he wandered throughout China and Tibet, finally returning to the West in 1330 where he made a report to the pope at Avignon and dictated an account of his travels. He died before he could find missionaries to return with him to the East. His cult was approved in 1755 owing to the reports of miracles he performed while preaching among the Chinese.
Born in Villanova near Pordenone, Friuli, Italy, in 1285; died at Udine in 1331; cultus confirmed in 1775. Odoric Mattiuzzi became a Franciscan hermit, who made one of the most remarkable journeys of the middle ages. He became a missionary about 1317 and penetrated into Tibet by travelling through Armenia, Baghdad, Malabar, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia. He was in Beijing for three years and returned home via Lhasa. Some believed he reached Japan. Odoric dictated an account of his adventures but does not recount much of his evangelical activities, though they were considerable. After 16 years in the mission fields, he returned to Europe to report to the pope at Avignon, but died en route
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