This is a photograph of Fr. Anthony J. Cotta [left] and Fr. Lebbe [right] sitting on a stone bench, smoking a pipe and talking. Both wear traditional Chinese clothing. Rev. Cotta was born in Cairo, Egypt. He studied in Beirut at St. Joseph's University and at the Vincentian College of Antoura, returning to Cairo to study with the Christian Brothers. After working a few years for the Egyptian government he entered the Vincentian Fathers seminary in Paris and was ordained in 1898. It was here he formed a lifelong friendship with noted China missioner Fr. Vincent Lebbe. Fr. Cotta was assigned to Madagascar, returning to France in 1905 and was assigned to China in 1906, joining Fr. Lebbe in Peking and Tientsin. In 1919 he returned to France. In 1922 he was assigned to the Vincentian seminary in Germantown, PA. During a leave of absence teaching Chinese at Maryknoll, he decided to join, taking Perpetual Oath to Maryknoll in 1930. He remained at Maryknoll for the rest of his life. Fr. Cotta wrote extensively on the defense of native clergy, and some of his arguments were incorporated into Pope Benedict XV's missionary encyclical "Maximum Illud."
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