Matteo Ripa
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Matteo Ripa (29 March 1682 – 29 March 1746) was an Italian priest born at Eboli.
He was sent to China by Propaganda Fide, and between 1711 to 1723 worked as a painter and copper-engraver at the Manchu court of the well-known Kangxi Emperor.
In 1723 Matteo Ripa returned to Naples from China with four young Chinese Christians, in order to let them become priests and go back to China as missionaries; this was the foundation of the "Collegio dei Cinesi", sanctioned by Pope Clement XII to help the propagation of Christianity in China.
