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RICCI, MATTEO (1552-1610)
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See also:RICCI, MATTEO (1552-1610) , See also:Italian missionary to See also:China, was See also:born of a See also:noble See also:family at See also:Macerata in the See also: Their proceedings were very cautious and tentative; they excited the curiosity and See also:interest of even the more intelligent See also:Chinese by their clocks, their globes and maps, their books of See also:European engravings, and by Ricci's knowledge of See also:mathematics,' including dialling and the See also:projection of maps. They conciliated some influential See also:friends, and their reputation spread widely in China. This was facilitated by the Chinese See also:system of See also:transfer of public See also:officers from one See also:province of the See also:empire to another, and in the later movements of the missionaries they frequently met with one and another of their old acquaintances in See also:office, who were more or less well disposed. Eventually troubles at Chow-king compelled them to seek a new See also:home; and in 1589, with the viceroy's See also:sanction, they migrated to Chang-chow in the See also:northern See also:part of Kwang-tung, not far from the well-known Meiling Pass. During his stay here Ricci was convinced that a See also:mistake had been made in adopting a See also:dress resembling that of the bonzes, a class who were the See also:objects either of superstition or of contempt. With the sanction of the visitor it was ordered that in future the missionaries should adopt the costumes of Chinese literates, and, in fact, they before See also:long adopted'Chinese See also:manners altogether. Chang-chow, as a station, did not prove a happy selection, but it was not till 1595 that an opportunity occurred of travelling northward. For some See also:time Ricci's residence was at Nan-changfu, the See also:capital of Kiang-si; but in 1598 he was able to proceed under favourable conditions to Nan-king, and thence for the first time to See also:Peking, which had all along been the See also:goal of his missionary ambition. But circumstances were not then propitious, and the party had to return to Nan-king. The fame of the presents which they carried had, however, reached the See also:court, and the Jesuits were summoned See also:north again, and on the 24th of See also:January 16o1 they entered the capital. Wan-li, the See also:emperor of the Ming See also:dynasty, in those days lived in seclusion, and saw no one but his See also:women and the eunuchs. But the missionaries were summoned to the See also:palace; their presents were immensely ad-mired, and the emperor had the curiosity to send for portraits of the fathers themselves. They obtained a See also:settlement, with an See also:allowance for subsistence, in Peking, and from this time to the end of his See also:life Ricci's estimation among the Chinese was constantly increasing, as was at the same time the amount of his labours. Visitors thronged the See also:mission house incessantly; and inquiries came to him from all parts of the empire respecting the doctrines which he taught, or the numerous Chinese publications which he issued. This in itself was a See also:great See also:burden, as Chinese See also:composition, if wrong impressions are to be avoided, demands extreme care and accuracy. As See also:head of the mission, which now had four stations 1 The See also:island (properly Chang-chuen) on which the Portuguese had a temporary settlement before they got Macao, and on which F. Xavier died in 1552. in China, he also devoted much time to answering the letters of the priests under him, a See also:matter on which he spared no pains or detail. New converts had to be attended to—always welcomed, and never hustled away. Besides these came the composition of his Chinese books, the teaching of his See also:people and the See also:maintenance of the See also:record of the mission See also:history which had been enjoined upon him by the See also:general of the See also:order, and which he kept well up to date. Thus his labours were wearing and incessant. In May 16xo he See also:broke down, and after an illness of eight days died on the 11th of that See also:month. His colleague Pantoja applied to the emperor for a burying-See also:place outside the See also:city. This was granted, with the most See also:honourable See also:official testimonies to the reputation and See also:character of Ricci; and a large See also:building in the neighbourhood of the city was at the same time bestowed upon the mission for their residence. Ricci's work was the See also:foundation of the subsequent success attained by the See also:Roman See also:Catholic Church in China. When the missionaries of other Roman Catholic orders made',their way into China, twenty years later, they found great See also:fault with the manner in which certain Chinese practices had been dealt with by the Jesuits, a matter in which Ricci's See also:action and policy had given the See also:tone to the mission in China—though in fact that tone was rather inherent in the Jesuit system than the outcome of individual character, for controversies of an exactly parallel nature arose two generations later in See also:southern India, between the Jesuits and See also:Capuchins, regarding what were called " See also:Malabar See also:rites." The controversy thus kindled in China burned for considerably more than a See also:century with great fierceness). The See also:chief points were (t) the lawfulness and expediency of certain terms employed by the Jesuits in naming See also:God Almighty, such as Tien, " See also:Heaven," and Shang-ti, " Supreme Ruler " or " Emperor," instead of Tien-Chu, " See also:Lord of Heaven," and in particular the erection of inscribed tablets in the churches, on which these terms were made use of; 2 (2) in respect to the ceremonial offerings made in See also:honour of See also:Confucius, and of See also:personal ancestors, which Ricci had recognized as merely " See also:civil " observances; (3) the erection of tablets in honour of ancestors in private houses; and (4), more generally, sanction and favour accorded to See also:ancient Chinese sacred books and philosophical See also:doctrine, as not really trespassing on See also:Christian faith.
Probably no European name of past centuries is so well known in China as that of Li-ma-teu, the See also:form in which the name of Ricci (Ri-cci See also:Mat-See also: Maigrot), ' To See also:express their See also:desire for your See also:Majesty's long life.' Emp. ' See also:Good. You see, then, Chinese words are not always to be taken literally. We pay cult to Confucius and to the dead to express our respect for them. How is that inconsistent with your See also:religion? When did it begin to be so? Is it since .Ly-Mattheu's time? Hast See also:thou ever read Ly-Mattheu ? ' The Most Reverend, turning to P. Parenin, whispers, ' Who's he? ' and learning that it was P. Matteo Ricci, ... answered the emperor: ' I have not read that book.' Emp. Ly-Mattheu and his See also:fellows came hither some two centuries ago; and before their time China never heard anything of the Incarnation, anything of Tien-chu, who had not become incarnate in this part of the See also:world. Why then, if it was lawful to call God Tien before Ly-Mattheu's time, should it be improper now?' "—Epistola de Eventu Apostolicae Legationis, scribta a PP. Missionariis . . . ad Praepositum Generalem S. J., An. Iyo6, I Novembris. EZnn toattention and reputation' among Chinese readers was a.See also:Treatise upon Friendship, in the form of a dialogue containing See also:short and pithy paragraphs; this is stated in the De Expeditione to have been suggested during Ricci's stay at Nan-chang by a conversation with the See also:prince of Kien-ngan, who asked questions regardir g the See also:laws of friendship in the West. In the See also:early part of his residence at Peking, when enjoying See also:constant intercourse with scholars of high position, Ricci brought. out the T'ien-chu shih-i, or " Veritable Doctrine of the Lord of Heaven," which deals with the divine character and attributes under eight heads. " This work," says A. See also:Wylie, "contains some acute reasoning in support of the propositions laid down, but the doctrine of faith in`See also:Christ is very slightly touched upon. The teachings of See also:Buddhism are vigorously attacked, whilst the author tries to draw a parallel between See also:Christianity and the teachings of the Chinese literati." In 1604 Ricci completed the Erh-shih-wu yen, a See also:series of short articles of moral bearing, but exhibiting little of the essential doctrines of Christianity. Chi je"n shih pien is another of his productions, completed in x6o8, and consisting of a record of ten conversations held with Chinese of high position. The subjects are: ('1) Years past no'Aonger ours; (2) Mat a sojourner on See also:earth; (3) See also:Advantage of frequent contemplation of eternity; (4) Preparation for See also:judgment by such contemplation; (5) The good See also:man not desirous of talking; (6) See also:Abstinence, and its distinction from the See also:prohibition to take life; (7) Self-examination and self-reproof inconsistent with inaction;: (8) Future See also:reward and See also:punishment; (9) Prying into futurity hastens calamity; (to) See also:Wealth with covetousness more wretched than poverty with contentment. To this work is appended a See also:translation of eight European See also:hymns, with elucidations, written in 1609. Some of the characteristics thus indicated may have suggested the bitterness of attacks afterwards made upon Ricci's See also:theology. An example of these is found in the work called Anecdotes sur l'etat de religion clans la Chine (See also:Paris, 1733-35), the author of which (See also:Abbe Villers) speaks of the T'ien-chu shih-i in this See also:fashion: " The Jesuit was also so See also:ill versed in the particulars of the faith that, as the See also:holy See also:bishop of See also:Conon, Monsgr. Maigrot, says of him, one need merely read his book on the true religion to convince oneself that he had never imbibed the first elements of theology." .. . Ricci's pointed attacks on Buddhism, and the wide circulation. of his books, called forth the opposition of the Buddhist See also:clergy. One of the ablest who took their part was Chu-hang, a See also:priest of Hang-chow, who had abandoned the See also:literary status for the Buddhist See also:cloister. He wrote three articles against the doctrine of the missionaries. These were brought to Ricci's See also:notice in an ostensible tone of candour by Yu-chun-he, a high See also:mandarin at the capital. This See also:letter, with Ricci's reply, the three Buddhist declamations and Ricci's confutation, were published in a collected form by the Christian Sen-Kwang-K'e. Another work of Ricci's which attracted attention was the Hsi-kuo fa, or "See also:Art of Memory as practised in the West." Ricci was himself a great See also:expert in memoria technica, and astonished the Chinese by his performances in this See also:line. Ile also wrote or edited various Chinese works on See also:geography, the See also:celestial and terrestrial See also:spheres, See also:geometry and See also:arithmetic. And the detailed history of the mission was See also:drawn out by him, which after his death was brought home by P. Nicolas Trigault, and published at See also:Augsburg, and later in a complete form at See also:Lyons under the lame De Expeditione Christiana apud Sines Suseepta, ab See also:Soc. Jesu, Ex P. Mat. Ricci ejusdem SocietatisCommentariis, Trigault himself adding many interesting notes on China and the Chinese. Among the scientific works which Ricci took into China was a set of maps, which at first created great interest, but afterwards disgust when the Chinese came to perceive the insignificant place assigned to the " See also:Middle See also:Kingdom," thrust, as it seemed, into a corner, instead of being set in the centre of the world like the See also:gem in a ring. Ricci, seeing their dissatisfaction, set about constructing a magi of the hemisphere on a great See also:scale, sa adjusted that China, with its subject states, filled the central II See also:area, and, without deviating from truth of projection, occupied a large space in proportion to the other kingdoms gathered See also:round it. All the names were then entered in Chinese calligraphy. This See also:map obtained immense favour, and was immediately engraved at the expense of the viceroy and widely circulated. In the accompanying cut we have endeavoured to portray this map. The projection adopted is a See also:perspective of the hemisphere' as viewed from a point at the distance of one See also:diameter from the See also:surface, and situated on the See also:production of the See also:radius which passes through the intersection of 115° E. long. (See also:Greenwich) with 30° N. See also:lat. Something near this, must have been See also:Lima-teu's projection.. With a vertex much more distant the de-sired effect would be impaired, and with one nearer neither of the poles would be seen, whilst the exaggeration of China would have been too See also:gross for a professed See also:representation of the hemisphere. The chief facts of Ricci's career are derived from Trigault; some contemporary works on the rites controversy have also been consulted; in the notice of Ricci's Chinese writings valuable matter has been derived from Notes on Chinese Literature by A. Wylie (See also:London and See also:Shanghai, 1867). A number of Ricci's letters are extant in the See also:possession of the family, and access to them was afforded to Giuseppe La See also:Farina, author of the work called La China, considerata nella sua Storia, &c. (See also:Florence, 1843), by the Marchese Amico Ricci of Macerata, living at See also:Bologna. La Farina's quotations contain nothing of interest. There is a curious Chinese See also:account of Ricci published by Dr Breitschneider in the China See also:Review, iv. 391 sq. (H. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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