Matteo Ricci
Italian Catholic missionary (1552-1610) · Italy · Historical Figures · Died at 57
Matteo Ricci is read about 534 times a day, in 55 languages.
A typical day, 30 days to 15 October 2026
The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 390 days, one point a day.
Something wrong?He walked into the Forbidden City in 1601 - the first European the emperor let through - carrying clocks, maps, and a wager that Confucius and Christ could share a table.
Also in Deutsch
Photos 8
Ricciportrait.jpg?width=1200)
10.12 「聖德專案」副總統於利瑪竇像前合影 (48884531668)_%22Frontispicio%22_(22629197626).jpg?width=1200)
Athanasii Kircheri... China monumentis (1667) "Frontispicio" (22629197626)
Atlas général de la Chine, de la Tartarie chinoise, et du Tibet - pour servir aux différentes descriptions et histoires de cet empire LOC 00552972-4
Beijing - Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception - 5
Beijing - Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception - 6
Beijing Xicheng Catholic Church, Beijing, China - panoramio
BML Le Lointain partie 2 38 105296 p114-115About this person
Matteo Ricci landed at Macau in 1582, a Jesuit with a brief to crack China. He learned the language down to the characters, then spent two decades working his way inland. The Wanli Emperor summoned him to Beijing to fix the imperial calendar and explain the stars. Ricci didn't preach conquest; he translated Euclid into Chinese with scholar Xu Guangqi, rendered the Confucian classics into Latin, and argued that Catholicism and Confucian thought weren't enemies. He converted high officials, built a foothold for the faith, and died in Beijing in 1610. In 2022 the Vatican named him Venerable for heroic virtue.
Historical Figures from Italy 6
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