John of Montecorvino

John of Montecorvino or Giovanni da Montecorvino in Italian (1247 – 1328) was an Italian Franciscan missionary, traveller and statesman, founder of the earliest Latin Catholic missions in India and China, and archbishop of Peking. He converted many people during his missionary work and established several churches in Yuan dynasty-held Beijing. John of Montecorvino wrote a letter intending to convert the Great Khan to Catholicism. He was a contemporary of Marco Polo.