In 1682 the Flemish Jesuit Philippe Couplet returned from a twenty-two-year stay in China. He arrived in Holland with heavy lug-gage. Among his many objects were several gifts donated by Candida Xu (1607–1680), an eminent Catholic lady of Songjiang (today part of Shang-hai city). The gifts included textiles, such as Mass vestments and altar cloths embroidered by Candida and her daughters; richly ornamented altar ves-sels made from precious material; and “four hundred volumes in Chinese written by the Jesuit missionaries, the purchase of which was financed by Candida Xu.”1 These gifts were destined for the pope and well-known Euro -pean churches. Couplet’s luggage likely also contained a first draft of a book on the pious life of the China mission’s female patron: The Story of a Chris-tian Lady of China, Candida Xu (Historia Nobilis Feminae Candida Hiu, Christianae Sinensis).