Padre matteo ricci biography

After over a decade of roaming between Chinese cities, Matteo Ricci was invited by the Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty to come to the Forbidden City in Beijing, for recognition of his skills in astronomy. Famously, Ricci utilized astronomy and mathematics to predict when the next solar eclipse would be. Matteo Ricci began his service in the royal Chinese court, advising government officials while converting them to his Christian faith.

Although Matteo Ricci never met the Wanli Emperor, his direct service to the Chinese ruler from to was undoubtedly recognized. Upon Matteo Ricci's death inthe Jesuit missionary was buried with honor in Beijing near a Buddhist monastery.

Padre matteo ricci biography: Matteo Ricci SJ was

The Society of Jesus was founded in Proposed by Ignatius of Loyola and six other men, and approved by Pope Paul III, the Jesuits based their ideas on modernization of the faith, flexibility in following strict Catholic rules including the removal of mandatory fastingand obedience to the Catholic Pope. The ideas proved successful in missionary work, easing the integration of Catholic ideas into rich foreign cultures.

What separated Matteo Ricci from many of his contemporaries was his knowledge and understanding of the Chinese language and cultural traditions. Matteo Ricci tried to explain that Christianity was closely intertwined with Confucianism, the dominant school of thought in Ming Dynasty China, and that conversion to Catholicism was only a natural progression from what many Chinese people already practiced.

Ricci's veneration of Chinese dress, customs, and language certainly assisted in this endeavor. Confucian ideology permeated through Chinese tradition, and Ricci saw these values as being in part consistent with the philosophies he was trying to bring to these people. In order to explain Christian concepts, he began presenting them in a light consistent with Confucianism, drawing on the parallels between teachings.

Ricci travelled to Nanchang and finally to Beijing, where he presented gifts of a clock and a harpsichord to the Emperor. When the clock wound down, Ricci was called upon to come and demonstrate how to make it work again. For this he was called into the Forbidden Palace, the first European to be given the honour. In Beijing Ricci continued his teaching, interpreting Confucian wisdom.

Padre matteo ricci biography: Italian Jesuit missionary who introduced Christian

He wrote a book, The True Meaning of the Lord of Heavenwhich examines and argues for common fundamentals between Christian and Confucian teachings. Widely regarded as his most important work, it has however been criticised for altering and omitting Christian ideals to fit with eastern thinking. Ricci remained in Beijing for the rest of his life, working tirelessly in his efforts to convert.

While there Ricci produced the first edition of his map of the world Great Map of Ten Thousand Countries which is a remarkable achievement showing China's geographical position in the world. In Ricci moved to Shao-chou and began to teach Chinese scholars the mathematical ideas that he had learnt from his teacher Clavius. This is perhaps the first time that European mathematics and Chinese mathematics had interacted and it must be seen as an important event.

Ricci attempted to visit Peking in but found the city closed to foreigners. He went instead to Nanking where he lived fromworking on mathematics, astronomy and geography. Ricci was well received in Nanking and this encouraged him to try again to visit Peking which he did in This time he was allowed to live in the city and he made this his home from that time until his death nine years later.

There was at that time a problem with the European's understanding of whether the country which Marco Polo had visited by an overland route, and called Cathay, was the same country as China which had been visited by sea. Marco Polo, also an Italian, had travelled from Europe through Asia beginning his journey in and living in Cathay for 17 years before returning to Italy.

New York: Routledge. Columbia Chronologies of Asian history and Culture. Columbia University Press. Matteo Ricci". Retrieved 17 August Archived from the original on 21 December Retrieved 11 November Archived from the original on 31 May Archived from the original on 11 September Retrieved 6 July Archived from the original on 12 May Retrieved 11 June Archived from the original on 10 April Archived from the original on 8 September Archived from the original on 18 January Orbis Books.

Retrieved 1 February Note: Phan offers a concise summary of the contents of True Meaning as well. Journal of Early Modern History. Leiden: Koninklijke Brill : Archived from the original on 18 August Paulum V. Retrieved 17 August — via Google Books. MacLehose and Sons.

Padre matteo ricci biography: Matteo Ricci SJ was an Italian

Retrieved 17 August — via Internet Archive. Archived from the original on 11 June On Friendship. One Hundred Maxims for a Chinese Prince. Translation and introduction by Timothy Billings. New York: Columbia University Press. Sources [ edit ]. Dehergne, Joseph, S. Rome: Institutum Historicum S. Po-chia Hsia, eds. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci. New York: Viking. Further reading [ edit ]. External links [ edit ]. Wikimedia Commons has media related to Matteo Ricci. Notable foreigners who visited pre-Qing China. Narsieh 7th c. Ono no Imoko 7th c. Takamuko no Kuromaro 7th c. Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas 7th c. Awata no Mahito 8th c. Kibi no Makibi 8th c.