Among them are six 16th–17th century books written by Jesuits in Chinese.
At a restitution ceremony in New York, the Manhattan Prosecutor's Office returned 17 illegally exported items — antiquities and rare books valued at over $1.5 million — to Italy and the Vatican. The returned treasures belong to different periods and cultures. Among them is a letter from 1525 written by Duke Alfonso I d'Este to poet, playwright, and governor of the province of Garfagnana Ludovico Ariosto. Some items were seized from the Metropolitan Museum, including two Greek ceramic drinking cups from around 500 BC.
Of particular interest are six rare books in Chinese, written by Jesuit priests in the 16th and 17th centuries. Like another 36 similar books, they were stolen from the Vatican archives of the Society of Jesus between 1999 and 2002. These books were created as part of the Jesuit missionary program: starting with Matteo Ricci, who was sent to China in 1582, they translated Gospel texts as well as treatises on astronomy, mathematics, and cartography into Chinese. The originals were intended for the imperial library of China, while copies were sent back to Rome.
Investigators from the Manhattan Prosecutor's Office's Antiquities Trafficking Unit were able to trace the fate of the six books by examining past auctions. In 2000, they appeared on the antique book market in London. The books were purchased by a private collector and loaned to the University of Notre Dame, where they were seized by the prosecutor's office in late 2025.
