Michele Ruggieri
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Michele Ruggieri (1543-1607) was an Italian Jesuit, and a missionary to China. Born in Spinazzola, he became a Jesuit in 1572. His missionary work began in India. In September 1578, along with Matteo Ricci, he arrived at Goa. He came to Malabar in November of the same year. He went to Macao in July, 1579. There he mastered the Chinese language, and set up Shengma'erding Jingyuan (聖瑪爾定經院 "St. Martin Monastery"), the first school for teaching foreigners Chinese. He left for Zhaoqing in 1582, and began to set up churches in the mainland. He returned to Lisbon in 1589, and died at Salerno in 1607.
As a sinologist, he translated part of the Great Learning into Latin, the first translation of a Confucius classic in any European language. His religious tract Tianzhu Shengjiao Shilu (天主聖教實錄 "A True Account of the Lord and Christianity") is also the first Chinese book written by a Westerner.
[edit] References
- Biography in French at the Ricci 21st Century Roundtable database, supported only by 5.0 or later versions of Internet Explorer
- Biography in Chinese at the National Digital Library of China
- About Ruggieri and Ricci at the Vatican Radio (in Chinese)
