George Candidius
Georgius Candidius (1597 – 30 April 1647) was a Dutch Reformed Church missionary to Dutch Formosa from 1627 to 1637.[1] He was the first missionary to be stationed on the island.
Name
Candidius's
is Gān Zhìshì.Biography
Candidius was born in 1597 at
In 1632 he married
After a year in residence in the region of Tayouan (present-day
"I have used great diligence to learn their language, and from the outset to instruct them in the Christian faith; and I have succeeded so far that a fortnight before Christmas of the year 1628 there were a hundred and twenty-eight persons who knew the prayers and were able to answer in the most satisfactory manner with regard to the principal articles of our Christian faith; but for certain reasons none of these have been baptized."[6]
Candidius returned to the Netherlands in 1639 and went to Batavia (Jakarta) in the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) in 1643. There, he served as rector of the Latin school until his death[2] on 30 April 1647.
Published works
- Georgius Candidus. Discours ende Cort verhaal, van't Eylant Formosa, ondersocht ende beschreven, door den Eerwaardingen (A Short Account of the Island of Formosa in the Indies) (in Dutch).
- Candidius, Georgius, Ides, Evert Ysbrandszoon, Roe, Thomas. An Entertaining account of all the countries of the known world : describing the different religions, habits, tempers, customs, traffick, and manufactures, of their inhabitants.
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: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
References