From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Caspar Castner
Caspar Castner
Kastner,
Rev. Caspar Castner or Kastner SJ was a missionary, born rare little work called "Relatio Sepulturæ Magno Orientis
in Munich, Bavaria, October 7, 1655; died in Peking, Chi- Apostolo S. Francisco Xaviero erectæ in Insula Sanciano
na, November 9, 1709. MDCC." It is an exact description of the island where
He entered the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits), Septem- from March 19 to June 2, 1700, he had been engaged in
ber 17, 1681, and studied theology at Ingolstadt where erecting, at the command of his superiors, a memorial
he finished his studies, 22 March 1694. For a short time over the grave of St. Francis Xavier. The book was ac-
he taught logic at the Gymnasium in Ratisbon; after this companied by a good map. One of the few copies printed
he devoted himself to the work of missions and sailed in in China is in the so-called "Orban’sche Sammlung" of
1696 for China at the head of a company of brother Je- the library of the University of Munich. A translation was
suits from Portugal and Genoa. In China he laboured with published by Father Joseph Stöcklein in his "Welt-Bott"
great success on the island of Shang-chuen (St. John) and (Augsburg, 1729), No. 309. The title-page and map are
in the city of Fatshan, then a competitor of Canton. In reproduced in the work of Henri Cordier, "L’imprimerie
1702 he went with Father Franciscus Noel to Lisbon and sino-européenne en chine" (Paris, 1901), 11-15.
Rome in order, as representative of the bishops of Nank-
ing and Macau, to obtain some settlement of the ques-
tion of Chinese Rites. In 1706 he returned to China, taking
References
with him a number of missionaries. This article incorporates text from a publication now
Besides his apostolic work, Father Castner worked in in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed (1913).
the sciences of navigation, astronomy, and cartography. Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company.
He called the attention of the Portuguese Government to Persondata
the fact that the voyage to Macau would be much short- Name Castner, Caspar
er if the vessels followed a direct course from the Cape
of Good Hope by the way of the Sunda Islands, avoiding Alternative names
Mozambique and Goa, and the result showed that he was Short description
right. He did excellent work in the mapping of the Chi- Date of birth 1655
nese Empire, and had so great a reputation as a mathe-
Place of birth
matician that he was made president of the mathemati-
cal tribunal and instructor of the heir to the throne. Date of death 1709
Besides a number of elaborate reports on the ques- Place of death
tion of Chinese Rites which he drew up with the aid of
Father Noel, Father Castner also wrote an interesting but
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Categories:
• 1655 births
• German Jesuits
• Jesuit China missions
• Roman Catholic missionaries in China
• 1709 deaths
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