With its "Society of Jesus" issue of 4 stamps and a souvenir sheet containing a fifth, Macao marked several anniversaries, among them the 400th anniversary of the death of Alessandro Valignano, provincial (1583-1587) and Jesuit visitor of the East Indies, who defined a strategy to be followed by the Society of Jesus in China and Japan. He was the originator of the Tensho Embassy of 1582. The issued also commemorated the Jesuits Matteo Ricci, Francis Xavier, Ignatius Loyola, and Melchior Carneiro. Macao was awarded for this issue the 2007 St. Gabriel Award for the Best Religious Stamps. More

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