27 Facts About Matteo Ricci

Matteo Ricci, was an Italian Jesuit priest and one of the founding figures of the Jesuit China missions.

Matteo Ricci created the, a 1602 map of the world written in Chinese characters.

Matteo Ricci arrived at the Portuguese settlement of Macau in 1582 where he began his missionary work in China.

Matteo Ricci became the first European to enter the Forbidden City of Beijing in 1601 when invited by the Wanli Emperor, who sought his services in matters such as court astronomy and calendrical science.

Matteo Ricci worked with several Chinese elites, such as Xu Guangqi, in translating Euclid's Elements into Chinese as well as the Confucian classics into Latin for the first time in history.

Matteo Ricci studied the classics in his native hometown and studied law at Rome for two years.

Matteo Ricci remained employed in teaching and the ministry there until the end of Lent 1582, when he was summoned to Macau to prepare to enter China.

Once in Macau, Matteo Ricci studied the Chinese language and customs.

Matteo Ricci stayed in Zhaoqing from 1583 to 1589, when he was expelled by a new viceroy.

In 1601, Matteo Ricci was invited to become an adviser to the imperial court of the Wanli Emperor, the first Westerner to be invited into the Forbidden City.

Matteo Ricci established the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Beijing, the oldest Catholic church in the city.

Matteo Ricci was given free access to the Forbidden City but never met the reclusive Wanli Emperor, who granted him patronage, with a generous stipend and supported Matteo Ricci's completion of the Zhifang Waiji, China's first global atlas.

Once established in Beijing, Matteo Ricci was able to meet important officials and leading members of the Beijing cultural scene and convert a number of them to Christianity.

Matteo Ricci was the first European to learn about the Kaifeng Jews, being contacted by a member of that community who was visiting Beijing in 1605.

Matteo Ricci never visited Kaifeng, Henan Province, but he sent a junior missionary there in 1608, the first of many such missions.

Matteo Ricci was succeeded as Provincial Superior of the China mission by Nicolo Longobardo in 1610.

Matteo Ricci could speak Chinese as well as read and write classical Chinese, the literary language of scholars and officials.

Matteo Ricci was known for his appreciation of Chinese culture in general but condemned the prostitution which was widespread in Beijing at the time.

Matteo Ricci called the Chinese "barbarians" in letters back home to his friends, and opposed what he considered to be anti-Black prejudice among the populace.

Matteo Ricci noted this in the context of his function as a slave catcher for the Portuguese.

Matteo Ricci did not explain the Catholic faith as entirely foreign or new; instead, he said that the Chinese culture and people always believed in God and that Christianity is simply the completion of their faith.

Matteo Ricci borrowed an unusual Chinese term, Tianzhu to describe the God of Abraham, despite the term's origin in traditional Chinese worship of Heaven.

Xu Guangqi and Matteo Ricci become the first two to translate some of the Confucian classics into a western language, Latin.

Matteo Ricci met a Korean emissary to China, teaching the basic tenets of Catholicism and donating several books.

Matteo Ricci had lived a life of heroic virtue, thus conferring on him the title of Venerable.

The True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven is a book written by Matteo Ricci, which argues that Confucianism and Christianity are not opposed and in fact are remarkably similar in key respects.

Matteo Ricci used the treatise in his missionary effort to convert Chinese literati, men who were educated in Confucianism and the Chinese classics.