Carmelo Elorduy

Who was Carmelo Elorduy?

Carmelo Elorduy, S.J. was a Spanish Sinologist. Elorduy was born in Mungia and his first trip to China was in 1926, where he worked at the Jesuit mission located in Wuhu City, Anhui. He returned to Spain in 1932 to finish his degree in Theology and Philosophy and to become a priest with the Society of Jesus. He returned to China in 1934 and remained there until 1951 when he moved to Macao and the following year to Taichung. For health reasons he moved back to Spain in 1959 and while resting in Oña and encouraged by his brother Eleuterio, he began translating some of the Chinese Classics. Most of his translations of the Chinese Classics became the first to be done directly from Classical Chinese into the Spanish language.