The missionary expansion of the Church in 16th/early 17th-century Asia is a story of ebb and flow, a recounting of pioneering adventure coupled with complexity and setback. In the slow burning glow of Tridentine reforms which were seeping their way throughout the Church, the Jesuit missions in Asia and elsewhere are often represented as a vigorous and renewed Catholicism establishing an ecclesiastical infrastructure in countries and cultures far removed from the dominant Eurocentrism which often characterized the faith. Names like Francis Xavier (d.1552; ‘the Apostle of the Indies’/‘the Apostle of Japan’), Matteo Ricci (d.1610), and Roberto de Nobili (d.1656) are known as leading figures in this missionary thrust. However, a nuanced understanding as well as a more comprehensive view of missionary historiography in Asia must look beyond the leading figures and their contributions.