Nicolas Trigault
Encyclopedia
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
to China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. He was also known by his latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
ised name Trigautius or Trigaultius, and his Chinese name Jīn Nígé (金尼阁).
Life and work
Born in DouaiDouai
-Main sights:Douai's ornate Gothic style belfry was begun in 1380, on the site of an earlier tower. The 80 m high structure includes an impressive carillon, consisting of 62 bells spanning 5 octaves. The originals, some dating from 1391 were removed in 1917 during World War I by the occupying...
(then part of the Spanish Netherlands, now part of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
), he became a Jesuit in 1594. Trigault left Europe to do missionary work in Asia around 1610, eventually arriving at Nanjing
Nanjing
' is the capital of Jiangsu province in China and has a prominent place in Chinese history and culture, having been the capital of China on several occasions...
, China in 1611. He was later brought by the Chinese Catholic Li Zhizao to his hometown of Hangzhou
Hangzhou
Hangzhou , formerly transliterated as Hangchow, is the capital and largest city of Zhejiang Province in Eastern China. Governed as a sub-provincial city, and as of 2010, its entire administrative division or prefecture had a registered population of 8.7 million people...
where he worked as one of the first missionaries ever to reach that city and was eventually to die there in 1629.
In late 1612 Trigault was appointed by the China Mission's Superior, Niccolo Longobardi as the China Mission's procurator (recruitment and PR
Public relations
Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....
representative) in Europe. He sailed from Macau on February 9, 1613, and arrived to Rome on October 11, 1614, by the way of India, Persian Gulf
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf, in Southwest Asia, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.The Persian Gulf was the focus of the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, in which each side attacked the other's oil tankers...
, and Egypt. His tasks involved reporting on the mission's progress to Pope Paul V
Pope Paul V
-Theology:Paul met with Galileo Galilei in 1616 after Cardinal Bellarmine had, on his orders, warned Galileo not to hold or defend the heliocentric ideas of Copernicus. Whether there was also an order not to teach those ideas in any way has been a matter for controversy...
, successfully negotiating with the Jesuit Order's General
Superior General of the Society of Jesus
The Superior General of the Society of Jesus is the official title of the leader of the Society of Jesus—the Roman Catholic religious order, also known as the Jesuits. He is generally addressed as Father General. The position carries the nickname of Black Pope, after his simple black priest's...
Claudio Acquaviva
Claudio Acquaviva
Claudio Acquaviva was an Italian Jesuit priest elected in 1581 the 5th Superior General of the Society of Jesus...
the independence of the China Mission from the Japan Misson, and traveling around Europe to raise money and publicize the work of the Jesuit missions. Peter Paul Rubens did a portrait of Trigault when the latter stopped there in 1617 (at right).
It was during this trip to Europe that Trigault edited and translated (from Italian to Latin) 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....
's "China Journal", or De Christiana expeditione apud Sinas
De Christiana expeditione apud Sinas
De Christiana expeditione apud Sinas suscepta ab Societate Jesu is a book based on an Italian manuscript written by the most important founding figure of the Jesuit China mission, Matteo Ricci , expanded and translated into Latin by his colleague Nicolas Trigault...
. (He, in fact, started the work aboard the ship when sailing from Macau to India). The work was published in 1615 in Augsburg
Augsburg
Augsburg is a city in the south-west of Bavaria, Germany. It is a university town and home of the Regierungsbezirk Schwaben and the Bezirk Schwaben. Augsburg is an urban district and home to the institutions of the Landkreis Augsburg. It is, as of 2008, the third-largest city in Bavaria with a...
; it was later translated into many European languages and widely read. The French translation, which appeared in 1616, was translated from Latin by Trigault's own nephew, David-Floris de Riquebourg-Trigault.
In April 1618, Trigault sailed from Lisbon with over 20 newly recruited Jesuit missionaries, and arrived in Macau in April 1619.
Trigault produced one of the first systems of Chinese Romanisation (based mostly on Ricci's earlier work) in 1626, in his work Xiru Ermu Zi (西儒耳目資 "Aid to the Eyes and Ears of Western Literati"). Trigault wrote his book in Shanxi province.
Aided by a converted Chinese, he also produced the first Chinese version of Aesop's Fables
Aesop's Fables
Aesop's Fables or the Aesopica are a collection of fables credited to Aesop, a slave and story-teller believed to have lived in ancient Greece between 620 and 560 BCE. The fables remain a popular choice for moral education of children today...
(況義 "Analogy"), published in 1625.
In the 1620s Trigault became involved in a dispute over the correct Chinese terminology for the Christian God and defended the use of the term Shangdi
Shangdi
Shangdi , also known as Di in Oracle Bone Inscription and Thirteen Classics, refers to the supreme god or a divine power regarded as the spiritual ultimate by the Chinese people from the Shang Dynasty. He controlled victory in battle, harvest, the fate of the kingdom, and the weather...
that had been prohibited in 1625 by the Jesuit Superior General Muzio Vitelleschi. Another fellow Jesuit, André Palmeiro stated that a mentally instable Trigault had become deeply depressed after failing to defend the use of the term, and had committed suicide in 1628.
Publications
- De Christiana expeditione apud SinasDe Christiana expeditione apud SinasDe Christiana expeditione apud Sinas suscepta ab Societate Jesu is a book based on an Italian manuscript written by the most important founding figure of the Jesuit China mission, Matteo Ricci , expanded and translated into Latin by his colleague Nicolas Trigault...
, Nicolas Trigault and Matteo RicciMatteo RicciMatteo 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.... - Xiru Ermu Zi (西儒耳目資 "Aid to the Eyes and Ears of Western Literati")
See also
- Jesuit China missionsJesuit China missionsThe 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...
- Immaculate Conception Cathedral of HangzhouImmaculate Conception Cathedral of HangzhouThe Cathedral of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception is a Roman Catholic cathedral, located at 415 Zhongshan Road North not far from Wulin Square in downtown Hangzhou, China...
- Three Pillars of Chinese CatholicismThree Pillars of Chinese CatholicismXǔ Guāngqǐ of Shanghai, and Lǐ Zhīzǎo and Yáng Tíngyún both of Hangzhou, are known as the Three Great Pillars of Chinese Catholicism . It is due to their combined efforts that Hangzhou and Shanghai became the centre of missionary activity in late Ming China...
- Francisco VaroFrancisco VaroFrancisco Varo was a Domincan monk, missionary in China, and author of the first grammar of Mandarin Chinese, "Arte de la lengua mandarina" . His Chinese names were Wan Fangjige 萬方濟 and Wan Jiguo 萬濟國.-Life:...
Further reading
- Liam M. Brockney, Journey to the East: The Jesuit mission to China, 1579-1724, Harvard University Press, 2007.
- C. Dehaisnes, Vie du Père Nicolas Trigault, Tournai, 1861.
- P.M. D’Elia, "Daniele Bartoli e Nicola Trigault", Rivista Storica Italiana, ser. V, III, 1938, pp. 77-92.
- G.H. Dunne, Generation of Giants, Notre Dame (Indiana), 1962, pp. 162-182.
- L. Fezzi, "Osservazioni sul De Christiana Expeditione apud Sinas Suscepta ab Societate Iesu di Nicolas Trigault", Rivista di Storia e Letteratura Religiosa 1999, pp. 541-566.
- T.N. Foss, "Nicholas Trigault, S.J. – Amanuensis or Propagandist? The Rôle of the Editor of Della entrata della Compagnia di Giesù e Christianità nella Cina", in Lo Kuang (ed.), International Symposium on Chinese-Western Cultural Interchange in Commemoration of the 400th Anniversary of the Arrival of Matteo Ricci, S.J. in China. Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China. September 11–16, 1983, II, Taipei, 1983, pp. 1-94.
- J. Gernet, "Della Entrata della Compagnia di Giesù e Cristianità nella Cina de Matteo Ricci (1609) et les remaniements de sa traduction latine (1615)", Académie des Inscriptions & Belles Lettres. Comptes Rendus 2003, pp. 61-84.
- E. Lamalle, "La propagande du P. Nicolas Trigault en faveur des missions de Chine (1616)", Archivum Historicum Societatis Iesu IX, 1940, pp. 49-120.
External links
- Bibliographical information of Xiru Ermu Zi at the Ricci 21st Century Roundtable database, supported only by 5.0 or later versions of Internet Explorer
- Facsimile of Xiru Ermu Zi at Gallica