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ON August 15th 1571, 19-year-old Matteo Ricci, arrived at the door of the St. Andrea novitiate at the Quirinale in Rome and was welcomed by Alessandro Valignano. Valignano had come to St. Andrea’s as a one-month replacement for the master of novices, Fr. Fabio de Fabii. Thus, the two future founders of the China mission met for the first time.
A strong bond of mutual esteem, friendship and solidarity was formed. They had a common vision and plan for the evangelization of China, and a human, religious and intellectual accord that is quite uncommon in modern missionary history. To them we owe the definitive foundation of the Catholic Church in China.
Matteo Ricci has been praised by J. Needham as “one of the most remarkable and brilliant men in history”, “the most outstanding cultural mediator between China and the West of all time” (W. Frankle) and a “a monumental figure” (D. E. Mungello).
Macerata
Matteo Ricci was born on October 6th 1552. In the same year Francis Xavier died on the island of Shangchuan, before he was able to fulfil his task of evangelizing China. Ricci would realize Francis Xavier’s dream.
Matteo was born in the Papal States in Macerata, a city of about 13,000 inhabitants, located on top of a hill between the parallel valleys of the rivers Potenza and Chienti, in what is now the central region of Le Marche.
Matteo’s father, Giovanni Battista Ricci, was a herbal pharmacist (speziale) and a member of the civic judiciary board. In 1596, when Matteo was in China, his father became a member of the city council, a body comprised of the noblemen of the city.
For centuries the Ricci family belonged to the nobility and was the third oldest family in Macerata. Its noble coat of arms portrayed a blue hedgehog (riccio) on a purple background. At the end of the seventeenth century, the family was awarded the title of Marquis of Castel Vecchio (today a locality near Monteporzio, in the same region of Le Marche).
His mother, Giovanna Angiolelli, was also of noble birth.
Matteo was the firstborn of a large family. He had four sisters and eight brothers. One of his brothers, Antonio Maria, became canon in Macerata and another, Orazio, filled important positions in the city government.
Matteo was placed in the care of his grandmother, Laria, and studied until he was seven years old under the guidance of Nicolò Serangeli (alias Bencivegni), a priest from Siena. These studies ended when Serangeli entered the Society of Jesus. Many years later, in 1608, when he was in Beijing, Matteo asked about his teacher, revealing that Fr. Serangeli had a deep influence on the young Matteo and a reference to Fr. Serangeli in one of Ricci’s letters (1599) suggests that Matteo’s desire to enter the Society of Jesus was motivated by a wish to follow in the footsteps of his first teacher.
In 1540, Pope Paul III officially founded a university, through the conversion of a law school which dated back to 1290. This university, which is still in existence, had the same rights as Bologna and Padua Universities.
Today the university includes the Matteo Ricci Institute for the Relations with the East, which is very active in promoting the knowledge of Matteo Ricci in collaboration with other local institutions.
The Jesuits in Macerata
In 1561, 13 Jesuit fathers arrived in Macerata and opened the Jesuit Boarding School. Ignatius of Loyola himself had wished to open a Jesuit house in Macerata. On January 29th 1556, Ignatius (who died later that year) gave the order that outstanding priests should be sent to Macerata to make it “to be a city of fortune as it is”.
At first the Jesuits stayed in the Church of Saint Maria of the Vergini, outside the city walls. Then, after four years, they moved into the city and settled in the Church of Saint Giovanni, as the Chapter (Council of priests) of the cathedral assigned them.
Nine year old Matteo was one of the first students of the Jesuit School. Soon the school had 140 pupils from the most important families in the city.
Later, at different times, the Blessed Rodolfo Acquaviva, Alessandro Valignano and Saint Roberto Bellarmino, were received as guests at the college.
After the 1773 suppression of the Society of Jesus, the premises of the College were turned into the ‘Mozzi Borgetti’ Library, which is still in existence. The library is one of the largest in Le Marche, with 350,000 volumes, 10,000 manuscripts, 300 incunabula and over 4,000 sixteenth-century documents, mostly inherited from the college where the young Ricci had studied.
Matteo studied at the college from 1561-1566 and at fourteen ended his humanities studies. According to Ricci’s first biographer, Sabatino de Ursis, Matteo distinguished himself as one of the best students, showing, even then, an inclination for a religious vocation. But, it seems that his father had other aspirations for him.
What Matteo did from 1566 to 1568 is not clear. He certainly must have continued his education at home.
Matteo in Rome
In 1568, Giovanni Battista sent his 16 year old son Matteo to study law at the “La Sapienza” University of Rome. His father made this decision for two reasons. The University of Macerata had economic difficulties leading to an unstable situation. He also had high hopes for his son’s future. Giovanni Battista probably hoped that Matteo could make a career in the administration of the Papal States.
Rome had almost one hundred thousand inhabitants and was one of the major artistic centres of the world. At that time, the construction of the Saint Peter Basilica, a symbol of the greatness of the Church, helped some of the greatest artists of the Renaissance. The Romans regarded Saint Peter as a never-ending factory. The work lasted for 176 years through the rotation of 28 popes. Ricci could not have been able to admire the famous dome designed by Michelangelo, as it was completed in 1588, after he left Rome. Michelangelo died in 1564, four years before Matteo’s arrival in the capital.
When Ricci arrived in Rome, Pope Pius V (1556-1572) had reigned for two years. He was a severe and austere pope and would be canonized by Clement XI in 1712. The Dominican friar Antonio Michele Ghislieri was an inquisitor. Italy was a patchwork of states in large part administered by Spain, among which only the Serenissima Republic of Venice and the Papal States retained effective autonomy.
The two maritime Catholic powers, Spain and Portugal, dominated the seas. Their exploration of the globe changed the image of the world, altered the maps and also changed the theological understanding of non-Christian peoples. A renewed missionary spirit animated the Catholic world. Franciscan, Augustinian, Dominican and Jesuit missionaries travelled along the routes opened by explorers and merchants. Often the method and purpose of the missionaries coincided with those of the conquistadores, but there were many and noteworthy exceptions to this rule. Among them we have prominent Jesuit missionaries such as Francis Xavier, Matteo Ricci, Alessandro Valignano, Roberto de Nobili and Alexander De Rodhes. But there were also members of other orders including the Augustinian, Martin De Rada and the Dominican, Bartolomé de Las Casas in Latin America.
The world was changing fast and becoming more complex and contradictory. New ideas mixed with old visions and philosophies. Modern science made its first steps. Mathematics acquired a central role as a tool to investigate and understand the natural phenomena. Technology earned new strength and relevance.
La Sapienza
La Sapienza was founded in 1303 by Pope Boniface VIII and was named Studium Urbis, the University of Rome. The university was located outside the Vatican walls and consequently had some academic independence. It became very prestigious, with scholars from all over the then-known world. In 1431 Pope Eugene IV had to provide the university with new and more spacious buildings which were built in the district of Sant’ Eustachio, between Piazza Navona and the Pantheon (now State Archives).
It was there that Matteo Ricci studied law. In the early sixteenth century, Pope Leo X, who was the son of Lorenzo de’ Medici, drew famous scholars from all over Europe to Rome enhancing the prestige of the university. It was one of the most advanced scientific centres in Europe, especially in the field of medicine and anatomy. Other prominent subjects included history, humanities and archaeology.
“Sapientia”, the popular name for the Studium Urbis, first appeared in 1568 documents.(1)
Unfortunately we have very scarce historical data for the three years during which Matteo Ricci attended the Law Faculty at La Sapienza (1568-1571).
Sant’Andrea al Quirinale
In 1569, Matteo began to attend the Marian congregation (of Annunciata) of the Roman College. He also used to go for confession to the Jesuits and soon he became convinced that a secular career was not for him. Before completing three years of university, he made the decision to leave law studies and enter the Jesuits.
On August 15th 1571 Matteo was admitted to the Novitiate of the Society of Jesus at the Church of Saint Andrea al Quirinale.
On the same day Father Alessandro Valignano signed his first extant document that referred to Ricci, as “Riccio Mattheo from Macerata”. According to sources, besides the role played by Valignano, Ricci was formally accepted into the Society by Fr. Jeronimo Nadal, one of Ignatius’s most important colleagues. From 1571 to 1572, Nadal acted as vicar general of Francisco de Borja, the General Superior of the Society.
The Society of Jesus preserved the document prepared by Valignano. It records the successful admission of Matteo, who made the promise of:
Observing, with the help of the divine grace, all the constitutions and rules and the way of life of the Society of Jesus. And to be indifferent and resigned to accept any position and office from the Society. And to be obedient to all the orders.
(From the report of the examination for the admission of Matteo Ricci into the Society of Jesus).
According to Ricci’s biographers, his father set out for Rome to withdraw Matteo from the novitiate. When he was in Tolentino, 18 kilometres from Macerata, he was struck by a high fever, which he interpreted as an indication of God’s will to stop him from standing in the way of his son’s choice.
The master of the novitiate was Fr. Fabio de Fabii, a Roman nobleman who entered the Society of Jesus against the wishes of his family. Ricci maintained a close and warm correspondence with him during his whole life.
In January 1572 Matteo was sent to the Professa House, at the Gesu’, in order to practise humble house services.
On May 25th, he made his first religious vows. Then he was sent to a boarding school in Tuscany, probably Florence. In his later letters, he sometimes compares some Chinese cities like Nanjing to Florence.
The Ratio Studiorum
On September 17th 1572, Ricci entered the Roman College. In the same year Ugo Boncompagni was elected pope. He took the name Gregory XIII and was to play a remarkable role in Jesuits’ history.
The members of the Society of Jesus in Europe were especially dedicated to teaching. Their cultural background was very extensive, and some of them were advisers and confessors of princes and sovereigns. Education was offered in schools of all levels, colleges and universities. At the end of the sixteenth century, there were more than 500 houses and Jesuit colleges throughout Europe.
The study programme followed the directions of Ignatius himself, who wanted the students to be provided with a wide range of disciplines including grammar, poetry, rhetoric, logic, natural and moral philosophy, metaphysics and mathematics.
The teaching method followed the guidelines developed by Ignatius and early collaborators, and was subsequently illustrated in the Ratio studiorum. An early version of it appeared in 1566 and then in its final form in 1599, promulgated by Claudio Acquaviva, Superior General of the Society since 1581. Acquaviva held the post for more than three decades, covering the time when Ricci lived in China.
The Ratio’s progenitors were Father Jerome Nadal’s 1551 plan for the college at Messina in Sicily; his later plan called Ordo Studiorum (1566); the Fourth Part of the Jesuit Constitutions, written by Ignatius of Loyola; and the De Ratio et Ordine Studiorum Collegii Romani of Father James Ledesma (the dean of studies when Ricci was at the Roman College).
The Ratio studiorum was the result of many years of planning and experimentation by a group of talented administrators and teachers. The manifold influence of Renaissance theory and practice, particularly the influence of the University of Paris, and the practical wisdom gained from prolonged tests in a hundred Jesuit colleges in many countries also contributed.
The Ratio differed significantly from previous study plans. It was intended for lay students as well as Jesuits. It incorporated the humanities: literature, history and drama, as well as the traditional clerical subjects of theology and philosophy. Thus it combined the humanistic programme of the Renaissance with the scholastic programme of the Middle Ages. According to Jesuit Scholar John O’Malley, the Ratio “had impact far beyond Jesuit institutions because it was seen as a coherent and lucid statement of ideals, methods and objectives shared broadly by educators in early modern Europe. Jesuit schools became their city’s cultural centers, producing plays and ballets and maintaining astronomical observatories”.
The Collegio Romano
The Roman College was the most important Jesuit university and was considered a model for all others. It was founded by Sant’ Ignatius as “Scuola di grammatica, umanità e dottrina cristiana, gratis” in 1551. It was located in a building no longer in existence, at the foot of the Campidoglio hill, in “Via Capitolina” (today piazza d’Aracoeli, near Piazza del Campidoglio). As the number of students increased, the location of the college had to be changed four times.
According to a letter that Ignatius wrote, the professors of the college had to be only of exceptional quality. The students, in order to be accepted, had to be well prepared and experienced, intelligent and virtuous. The Roman College was supposed to prepare the best among the Jesuits. Organized on the model university in Paris, it was approved by Pope Paul IV as a centre of higher education in 1556.
There were more than a thousand young people from across Europe studying at the Roman College at the time of Matteo Ricci. Attendance was free of charge at the University of Nations as the college was called.
The residence of the Roman College where Ricci studied was the fourth since its founding and the last to host the University before the building of the final residence. The college was then located in an area near the present day church of Saint Ignatius. It was a solemn Renaissance palace built with a donation by the marquise of Tolfa, widow of Camillo Orsini and niece of Pope Paul IV. The palace, which is no longer in existence, consisted of two separate buildings, harmoniously arranged around two large courtyards with quadrilateral arcades. One courtyard was devoted to classrooms and students...
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1. About a century later, the University had its church, Sant’ Ivo alla Sapienza, one of the greatest masterpieces by Francesco Borromini, the rival of Gian Lorenzo Bernini. The latter built the church of the Jesuit seminary on Quirinal Hill in Rome, Sant’ Andrea al Quirinale, about 80 years after Ricci was there. It is considered one of the finest examples of Roman Baroque architecture. Bernini considered it his only perfect work. In his later years, his son recalls, he spent hours sitting in the interior and looking at it. The shape of the interior of the church is oval, with the entrance and high altar on the short axis of the ellipse. The church of Sant’ Andrea might have been taken as the prototype of a number of chapels of Jesuit novitiates in Asia, including Goa, Manila, Beijing and the Saint Joseph Chapel here in Macau.
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Gianni Criveller currently based in Hong Kong, has spent 18 years in Greater China: Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau and the Mainland. He researches, teaches and writes on China and Christianity, with special attention to the reception of Christianity and missionary work and strategies. He is also engaged in observing and commenting on the current situation of Catholicism and religious policy in China. Fr. Criveller also teaches Missionary Theology. He has authored various books and more than 50 academic studies. He is a priest in the Pontifical Institute of Foreign Missions (PIME). |
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| Issue 6.4 |
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World Mutation or
Epochal Challenge?
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