Matteo Ricci
Page 42
Ricci’s tomb in Beijing continued to attract visitors during the seventeenth century. Around 1650, when Johann Adam Schall von Bell was still alive, it was embellished with a large stone adorned with the symbols of the dragon and the cross as well as eight Chinese characters meaning “Tomb of Mr. Ricci of the Society of Jesus” and two inscriptions in Latin and Chinese recalling the most significant events in the missionary’s life.44 Under the Jesuits until the suppression of the order, and then the Lazarists, the cemetery became part of a great complex of Catholic buildings. In 1900, during the Boxer Rebellion, the burial ground was destroyed, and the bones of the missionaries were scattered.45 Ricci’s tombstone was later salvaged and set in a new structure on a new base between the graves of Schall von Bell, on the right, and Verbiest, on the left.
In 1954, when plans were made for the construction of a Chinese Communist Party training school on the property at Zhala, Zhou Enlai decided that the graves of Ricci, Schall, and Verbiest were to be left in their place and the remains of the other missionaries moved to another cemetery. The Red Guards destroyed the cemetery in 1966 during the Cultural Revolution, damaging all the gravestones and defacing the inscriptions. These were successfully restored in the early 1980s, and the graves of Ricci, Schall, Verbiest, and sixty other missionaries were returned to their original location in the grounds of the former school, now an administrative college.
Surrounded by cypresses and a stone wall with a gate, the cemetery is today a small, timeless oasis of peace, totally isolated from the frenetic life of the Chinese capital encircling it with its fifteen million inhabitants. This secluded spot evocative of a past of heroism and hardship is still visited by many figures passing through Beijing and wishing to pay homage to the memory of Matteo Ricci, the pioneer of dialogue between China and the West. It is also possible to visit the church of the Immaculate Conception south of Tiananmen Square, built on the place where Li Madou once lived.46
Notes
1. J. Needham, op. cit., p. 556.
2. As recalled by the Jesuit Giulio Aleni in Daxi Xitai Li xiansheng xingji (“The Life of Matteo Ricci from the Great West”), a biography of Ricci published in Chinese in 1630 and now in the Vatican Library.
3. P. D’Elia, “Echi delle scoperte galileiane in Cina,” cit., pp. 154–55.
4. Letter dated November 23; P. D’Elia, “Echi delle scoperte galileiane in Cina,” p. 155.
5. See H. Bernard, op. cit., p. 69.
6. See H. Bernard, op. cit.
7. P. D’Elia, “Echi delle scoperte galileiane in Cina,” cit., pp. 155–56.
8. The painting was hung in the Jesuit headquarters in Rome together with the portraits of Ignatius Loyola Francis Xavier in 1617.
9. Book IV, chapters XVII and XVIII in Portuguese; book V, chapters XVIII, XIX, and XX in Portuguese and XXI and XXII in Latin.
10. The Latin title is De Christiana Expeditione apud Sinas suscepta ab Societate Iesu. Ex P. Matthaei Ricij eiusdem Societatis Comentarijs Libri V.
11. Matteo Ricci and Nicolas Trigault, Entrata nella Cina de’ Padri della Compagnia del Gesù (1582–1610) (Naples: printed by Lazzaro Scoriggio, 1622).
12. There is no agreement as to the number of volumes. Some scholars say six hundred, others seven hundred, and the seventeenth-century Chinese sources say seven thousand.
13. Considered one of the “three pillars of Christianity in China” together with Li Zhizao and Xu Guangqi.
14. The vice minister Shen Que was appointed grand secretary in Beijing in 1621. The rebellion of the White Lotus sect unleashed further persecution of foreigners, and hence Christians, in 1622. The situation began to return to normal in 1622, when Shen Que left his post.
15. P. M. Engelfriet, Euclid in China, cit., pp. 335 ff.
16. Schall mentioned the moons of Jupiter and the phases of Venus, a phenomenon first predicted by Copernicus and observed by Galileo. He also described two stars apparently flanking Saturn, which were actually effects of optical distortion caused by the planet’s rings, and spoke about sunspots, observed by Galileo thirteen years earlier and described by the same in his Istoria e dimostrazioni intorno alle macchie solari.
17. Cf. Isaia Iannaccone, “Scienziati gesuiti nella Cina del XVII secolo,” in Scienze tradizionali in Asia. Principi ed applicazioni, Atti del convegno, Perugia 26–28 ottobre 1995 (Perugia: Fornari Editore, 1996).
18. The work illustrated the trigonometric functions of sine, cosine, and tangent.
19. Cf. Isaia Iannaccone, “Le fasi della divulgazione della scienza europea nella Cina del XVII secolo,” in La missione cattolica in Cina tra i secoli XVII–XVIII, Emiliano Palladini . . . , Atti del convegno, Lauria 8–9 ottobre 1993, ed. Francesco D’Arelli and Adolfo Tamburello (Naples: Istituto Universitario Orientale, 1995).
20. Dennis Twitchett and Frederich W. Mote, eds., The Cambridge History of China, vol. 8, part 2: The Ming Dynasty 1368–1644 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998), p. 833.
21. D. Twitchett and F. W. Mote, op. cit., p. 789.
22. D. Twitchett and F. W. Mote, op. cit., p. 833.
23. The Jesuit Manuel Dias the Younger published a commentary on the discovery a few years later in 1644.
24. Named in honor of the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II, the Rudolphine Tables were published by Kepler in 1622 on the basis of data drawn from Tycho Brahe’s observations.
25. D. Twitchett and F. W. Mote, op. cit., p. 834.
26. D. Twitchett and F. W. Mote, op. cit., p. 836.
27. J. Needham, op. cit., pp. 542–43.
28. Some imperial princes fled to the south and sought to maintain their power but were defeated. Zhou Yulang, who adopted the era name of Yonglu, held out the longest, and some Jesuit missionaries moved with his court to Guilin and then into the Yunan province. One of these was the German Andreas Wolfgang (later Xavier) Koffler, who was able to convert a number of women including the empress mother. Baptized with the name of Helena, she sent a letter to Pope Innocent X, now in the Vatican archives, seeking aid and support for the Ming dynasty.
29. George H. Dunne, Generation of Giants (London: Burns & Oates, 1962), p. 325.
30. George H. Dunne, Generation of Giants, p. 174.
31. J. Gernet, Chine et christianisme, cit., p. 84.
32. Adrian Dudink, “Sympathising Literati and Officials,” in The Handbook of Christianity in China, ed., N. Standaert, cit., pp. 479–80.
33. For information about Schall, see G. H. Dunne, op. cit., or Roman Malek, ed., Western Learning and Christianity in China: The Contribution and Impact of Johann Adam Schall von Bell, 1592–1666, 2 vols. (Sankt Augustin, China-Zentrum, Monumenta Serica Institute, 1998).
34. See Ferdinand Verbiest, Jesuit, Missionary Scientist, Engineer and Diplomat 1623–1688, ed. John Witek (Steyler Verlag, Nettatal, 1994). See also N. Cameron, op. cit., ch. XI.
35. Verbiest used the system of coordinates based on the ecliptic whereas the Chinese used the equatorial coordinates.
36. Guo Shoujing’s instruments reflected the Chinese conception of the universe better than the Jesuit’s and used the system of equatorial coordinates, which was soon to be adopted also in the West. See chapter 10 (“The Forgotten Astronomical Observatory”).
37. N. Standaert, ed., The Handbook of Christianity, cit., p. 516.
38. See chapter 7 (“Confucius, ‘Another Seneca’: The Translation of the Confucian Classics”). See also L. M. Jensen, op. cit., pp. 122, 325.
39. The literature of the “Chinese rites controversy” or the “Chinese rites question” is endless, and the dispute is also discussed in nonspecialized works such as P. Rule, op. cit.; Giorgio Borsa, La nascita del moderno in Asia Orientale (Milan: Rizzoli, 1977); G. H. Dunne, op. cit.; Davide Mungello, Curious Land (Honolulu: University of Haway Press, 1985); J. Waley-Cohen, op. cit.
40. The ban on Chinese rites was lifted by Pope Pi
us XII in 1939.
41. G. H. Dunne, op. cit., p. 211.
42. The reconstitution of the Society of Jesus was officially sanctioned by Pius VII in 1814 with the bull Sollicitudo omnium Ecclesiarum. The order, which had about twenty-three thousand members in 1773, was reborn as a group of six hundred brethren.
43. Having arrived in China in 1715, he remained at the court for fifty-one years.
44. FR, book V, ch. XXII, p. 626, no. 2.
45. Some bones found near Ricci’s grave are kept in an urn at the Jesuit archives in Rome, but their authenticity has yet to be established. See Angelo Lazzarotto, “Le onoranze cinesi a Matteo Ricci,” in Atti del convegno internazionale di Studi Ricciani, Macerata-Roma, 22–25 ottobre 1982 (Macerata: Centro Studi Ricciani, 1984), p. 123. For the history of the Jesuit cemetery, see also Edward J. Malatesta, Departed, Yet Present: Zhalan, the Oldest Christian Cemetery in Beijing (San Francisco: The Ricci Institute, University of San Francisco, 1995).
46. This was the “southern church” built in 1650, during Schall’s lifetime, reconstructed in the twentieth century.
v
Chronology
1552
October 6. Birth of Matteo Ricci in Macerata, Italy.
1571
August 15. Begins novitiate to enter the Society of Jesus in Rome.
1572
September 17. Start of attendance at the Roman College.
1578
March 24. Departure from Lisbon for India.
September 13. Arrival in Goa.
1582
April 26. Leaves Goa for Macao.
August 7. Arrival in Macao.
September 10. Arrival in Zhaoqing.
1583–1588
Compilation of a Portuguese-Chinese dictionary together with Ruggieri.
1584
Translation of the Ten Commandments, Hail Mary, and Credo, Zhaoqing.
First edition of the Ricci map of the world, Zhaoqing.
1589
Translation of the Gregorian calendar.
August 15. Expulsion from Zhaoqing.
August 26. Arrival in Shaozhou.
1591–1594
Translates the Four Books of Confucianism into Latin.
1595
May 18. Departure from Shaozhou for Beijing with the vice minister of war.
May 31. Stop in Nanjing.
June 28. Arrival in Nanchang.
Writes the Treatise on Friendship.
1596
Writes the Treatise on Mnemonic Arts.
1597
August. Appointed superior of the China mission and instructed to move to Beijing.
1598
June 25. Departure from Nanchang with minister Wang.
July. Stop in Nanjing.
September 7. Arrival in Beijing.
November. Leaves Beijing for Nanjing.
December. Stop in Linqing.
1599
January. Arrival in Danyang.
February 6. Arrival in Nanjing and decision to move there.
Writes the Twenty-five Discourses, published in Beijing in 1605.
1599–1600
Writes the Treatise on the Four Elements.
1600
Second edition of the Ricci map of the world.
May 19. Departure for Beijing on a eunuch’s junk.
July. Arrives in Linqing and is taken prisoner by Ma Tang.
August. Transferred to Tianjin.
1601
January. The emperor gives orders for Ricci to be brought to Beijing.
24 January. Entry into Beijing.
27 January. Presentation of gifts and a memorial to Emperor Wanli.
Writes Eight Songs for the Western Harpsichord.
Writes the Treatise on the Constellations and translates it with Li Zhizao.
1602
Third edition of the map of the world.
1603
Fourth edition of the map of the world.
Publication of the True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven (Ricci’s “Catechism”).
1605
Publication of the Christian Doctrine.
1607
Writes the Elementary Treatise on Geometry with Xu Guangqi.
Writes Diagrams and Explanations regarding the Sphere and the Astrolabe with Li Zhizao.
Writes Explanations of the Methods of Measurement with Xu Guangqi.
1608
Writes the Ten Chapters of an Extraordinary Man.
Writes the Treatise on Arithmetic, published in 1613, together with Li Zhizao.
Starts work on his history of the mission (Della entrata della Compagnia di Giesù e Christianità nella Cina).
Printing of the “imperial edition” of the Ricci map of the world.
1609
Writes Principles of the Differences between Figures Inscribed in Round together with Li Zhizao.
1610
May 11. Dies after nine days of illness.
June 19. Wanli grants the Jesuits a burial plot for Ricci.
1611
22 April. Ricci’s remains are transported to Zhala.
November 1. Ricci’s burial.
1613
February 9. Nicolas Trigault leaves for Rome with Ricci’s manuscript.
1615
September–October. First edition of Ricci’s manuscript expanded and translated into Latin by Nicolas Trigault.
1622
Publication of the Ricci-Trigault history in Italian as Entrata nella China de’ Padri della Compagnia del Gesù.
1629
September 1. Emperor Chongzhen gives orders for the calendar to be reformed with the Jesuits’ help.
1644
The Jesuit Adam Schall von Bell is appointed director of the office of astronomical observations.
1692
Kangxi issues an edict of tolerance toward the Christian religion.
1724
Catholicism is banned in China.
1773
Pope Clement XIV orders the suppression of the Jesuit order.
1774
Death of the last director of the astronomical office, a member of the suppressed Jesuit order.
v
Chinese Dynasties[1]
Xia
3rd millennium–18th century bc
Shang
18th–16th century bc
Zhou
11th century–256 bc
Western Zhou (11th century–771 bc)
Eastern Zhou (770–256 bc)
Spring and Autumn (722–481 bc)
Warring States (403–256 bc)
Qin (first emperor)
221–207 bc
Han
206 bc– ad 220
Western Han (206 bc– ad 9)
Xin (reign of Wang Mang) (9–23)
Eastern Han (25–220)
Wei (Three Kingdoms)
220–265
WESTERN JIN
265–316
Northern and southern dynasties
317–589
North
Tuoba Wei
Eastern and Western Wei
Northern Qi
Northern Zhou
South
Eastern Jin