Michele Ruggieri
Encyclopedia
Michele Ruggieri is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
-11 May 1607, Salerno
Salerno
Salerno is a city and comune in Campania and is the capital of the province of the same name. It is located on the Gulf of Salerno on the Tyrrhenian Sea....
, Italy; Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
: 羅明堅; pinyin
Pinyin
Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into...
: Luó Míngjiān) was an Italian Jesuit priest. One of the founding fathers of the Jesuit China missions
Jesuit China missions
The history of the missions of the Jesuits in China is part of the history of relations between China and the Western world. The missionary efforts and other work of the Society of Jesus, or Jesuits, between the 16th and 17th century played a significant role in continuing the transmission of...
, and a co-author of the first Portuguese-Chinese dictionary, he can be described as the first European sinologist.
Formation years in Europe
Before entering the Society of JesusSociety of Jesus
The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...
(27 October 1572, in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
) Ruggieri had obtained, in Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
, a doctorate in utroque iure, that is: in civil and canon law. After completing the Jesuit usual spiritual and intellectual formation Ruggieri left for Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
, the gateway of all missionaries to the Far-East. In Lisbon, while waiting for the ship to take him to Goa
Goa
Goa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...
, he was ordained priest (March 1578).
Missionary in India and China
Soon after ordination (1578) Ruggieri left the shores of Europe with a group of 12 missionaries, among whom Rudolph Acquaviva and Matteo RicciMatteo Ricci
Matteo Ricci, SJ was an Italian Jesuit priest, and one of the founding figures of the Jesuit China Mission, as it existed in the 17th-18th centuries. His current title is Servant of God....
. Arrived in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
(September 1578), he promptly started to study the language used on the Malabar coast
Malabar Coast
The Malabar Coast is a long and narrow coastline on the south-western shore line of the mainland Indian subcontinent. Geographically, it comprises the wettest regions of southern India, as the Western Ghats intercept the moisture-laden monsoon rains, especially on their westward-facing mountain...
and in 6 months reached such proficiency that he could hear confession
Confession
This article is for the religious practice of confessing one's sins.Confession is the acknowledgment of sin or wrongs...
. It is probably this gift for language that made him an ideal choice for the beginning of the Chinese mission
Jesuit China missions
The history of the missions of the Jesuits in China is part of the history of relations between China and the Western world. The missionary efforts and other work of the Society of Jesus, or Jesuits, between the 16th and 17th century played a significant role in continuing the transmission of...
.
With a few companions, Ruggieri sailed to Macau
Macau
Macau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China...
, on the coast of the Celestial Empire. He landed at the Portuguese
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
trade centre on the 20 July 1579 and started at once to learn how to read and write Chinese. In the process, and aware that several will be following him, he set up Shengma'erding Jingyuan (St Martin House'’), the first school for teaching Chinese to foreigners.
Ruggieri's and Ricci's intent all along was to settle somewhere in "real" China - not just Macao, and to that end Ruggieri made a number of trips to Canton (Guangzhou) and Zhaoqing
Zhaoqing
Zhaoqing is a prefecture-level city of Guangdong province in southern China.-Geography:Zhaoqing is located 110 km northwest of Guangzhou, in the west Pearl River Delta. It lies on the north shores of the Xijiang River, which is flows from west to east, and opposite of Gaoyao...
(the residence of the Governor General of Guangdong and Guangxi),
making useful contacts with the local authorities. As such he is one of the very first Christian missionaries to have entered the Ming Dynasty
Ming Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
Mainland China
Mainland China
Mainland China, the Chinese mainland or simply the mainland, is a geopolitical term that refers to the area under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China . According to the Taipei-based Mainland Affairs Council, the term excludes the PRC Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and...
. After a number of failed attempts to obtain a permission to establish a permanent mission within China, such a permission was finally obtained in 1582, and in 1583 Ricci and Ruggieri finally settled in Zhaoqing
Zhaoqing
Zhaoqing is a prefecture-level city of Guangdong province in southern China.-Geography:Zhaoqing is located 110 km northwest of Guangzhou, in the west Pearl River Delta. It lies on the north shores of the Xijiang River, which is flows from west to east, and opposite of Gaoyao...
, the first stage on the Jesuits' "long ascent" to Peking.
In 1584 Ruggieri published a Chinese catechism, the first book in Chinese written by a European. Visiting villages in the region he baptized several families that formed the nucleus of the first Christian communities in mainland China.
It is thought that during 1583-88 Michele Ruggieri collaborated with Matteo Ricci
Matteo Ricci
Matteo Ricci, SJ was an Italian Jesuit priest, and one of the founding figures of the Jesuit China Mission, as it existed in the 17th-18th centuries. His current title is Servant of God....
in creating a Portuguese-Chinese dictionary - the first ever European-Chinese dictionary, for which they developed a consistent system for transcribing Chinese words in Latin alphabet. A Chinese Jesuit Lay Brother Sebastiano Fernandez, who had grown up and been trained in Macau
Macau
Macau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China...
, assisted in this work. Unfortunately, the manuscript was misplaced in the Jesuit Archives in Rome, and re-discovered only in 1934, by Pasquale d'Elia. This dictionary was finally published in 2001.
Return to Europe
In November 1588, Ruggieri left China for RomeRome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
in order to get the Pope to send an embassy to the Chinese Emperor
Wanli Emperor
The Wanli Emperor was emperor of China between 1572 and 1620. His era name means "Ten thousand calendars". Born Zhu Yijun, he was the Longqing Emperor's third son...
. This plan had been proposed as a means to allow Jesuits to reach Beijing and to be received by the emperor. But nothing came out of it: the Popes kept dying on him, his own health deteriorated, and eventually the weary Jesuit retired to Salerno
Salerno
Salerno is a city and comune in Campania and is the capital of the province of the same name. It is located on the Gulf of Salerno on the Tyrrhenian Sea....
, where he died in 1607 without ever going to China again.
In Salerno
Salerno
Salerno is a city and comune in Campania and is the capital of the province of the same name. It is located on the Gulf of Salerno on the Tyrrhenian Sea....
, the retired Jesuit carried on intellectual work that would make China better known in Europe. He completed the Latin translation of the Four Books (the classic Chinese introduction to Confucius
Confucius
Confucius , literally "Master Kong", was a Chinese thinker and social philosopher of the Spring and Autumn Period....
’ philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
), wrote poetry
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
in Chinese, and circulated copies of Chinese maps he had brought along with him from Zhaoqing. Ruggieri was also a much sought after spiritual guide and confessor in the school of Salerno. He died on 11 May 1607.