Matteo Ricci

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Image:Matteo Ricci Far East 1602 Larger.jpg

Image:Ricciportrait.jpg Matteo Ricci (Macerata, October 6 1552 - Peking, May 11 1610) (Chinese: 利瑪竇, pinyin: Lì Mǎdòu, courtesy name:西泰 Xītài) was an Italian Jesuit priest whose missionary activity in China during the Ming Dynasty marked the beginning of modern Chinese Christianity. He is still recognized as one of the greatest missionaries to China. The church he built remains the largest Catholic church to survive the Cultural Revolution.

Ricci arrived in south China in 1582, and at Beijing in 1601, where he presented himself at the Imperial court of Wanli. Not only could he write in difficult ancient Chinese, he was also renowned for his great understanding of Chinese culture. Unlike missionaries in South Asia, he found that Chinese culture was strongly tied to Confucian values and concluded that Christianity had to be adapted to Chinese culture in order to take root. Ricci was the first to translate the Confucian Classics into a western language, Latin; in fact "Confucius" was Ricci's own Latinisation. He called himself a "Western Confucian" (西儒). With the introduction of Western science and state-of-the-art gadgets like an automatic clock and a world atlas, he attracted the attention of some traditional Confucian literati and officials. In 1607 he and Chinese Catholic mathematician Xu Guangqi translated the first parts of Euclid's Elements into Chinese. Ricci's work on a Chinese-language atlas of the world included coining Chinese names for European countries, many of which are still in use in Chinese today.

In a debate, he argued that Confucian ancestor worship was nothing more than the demonstration of remembrance and respect to ancestors: it was not a matter of paganism. His view was praised by Chinese scholars but disapproved of by other competing churches. Others argued that ancestor worship was a cult and had to be prohibited. Ironically, the long debate finally resulted in all Catholics being banned after Ricci's death. All missionary work went underground until the Opium War in 1841.

Ricci also met a Korean emissary to China, Yi Su-gwang. Ricci taught Yi Su-gwang the basic tenets of Catholicism and transmitted western knowledge to him. Ricci gave Yi Su-gwang several books from the west, which became the basis of Yi Su-gwang's later works. Ricci's transmittance of western knowledge to Yi Su-gwang influenced and helped shape the foundation of Silhak movement in Korea.

Ricci introduced many aspects of China to Europe, generally in a favorable light.

He died in Beijing and his contribution was fully recognized by the Emperor Wanli. He is buried in what is now the School of Beijing Municipal Committee. Life magazine named Ricci one of the 100 most important people of the last millennium.

Riccius crater on the Moon is named in his honor. One of the residential halls of Hong Kong University, Ricci Hall, is named after Matteo Ricci. Matteo Ricci College at Seattle Preparatory School and Seattle University is also named after him. Sekolah Katolik Ricci in Indonesia (located in Pancoran, China Town of Jakarta) is also named by Matteo Ricci.

Ricci's cause of beatification has been completed at the diocesan level.

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