Angelo Zottoli

Who was Angelo Zottoli?

Angelo Zottoli was an Italian Catholic priest and missionary in China and a sinologist. He was born in Acerno. In 1843, he joined the Jesuits. In 1848, he passed an Imperial examination as one of the first Europeans. From 1853 he taught, and was headmaster, in St. Ignatius College for Chinese Christian students founded in 1849. He wrote a Latin textbook of Chinese Language Cursus litterae sinicae neo-missionariis accommodatus in five volumes in octavo. He translated very well, to Latin, some classic works of Chinese literature; he wrote a Chinese-Latin dictionary and also many theological texts in Chinese.

In 1884 he was awarded the Prix Stanislas Julien by the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres of Paris for his Cursus litterae sinicae neo-missionariis accommodatus.