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Michele Ruggieri

Type Figure Region Italy Time 1543–1607 Also known as Luo Mingjian, style name Fuchu

Michele Ruggieri (1543–1607) was an early Italian Jesuit in China who learned Chinese in Macau, settled in Zhaoqing with Matteo Ricci, printed the Ti…

Timeline

  1. 1572–1582Macau · MacauOriginally named Pompilio and once a legal official in the Kingdom of Naples, he took the name Michele after entering the order in 1572. Ordained in Lisbon in 1578 and sent to Goa, he arrived in Macau in 1579 on Valignano's orders to study Chinese and ritual, entering Guangzhou several times to befriend officials in preparation for settling inland.
  2. 1583–1588Zhaoqing · ZhaoqingHe and Matteo Ricci were permitted to build a church and reside in Zhaoqing, the first stable Catholic residence in inland China since the Middle Ages. In 1584 he printed the Chinese catechism Tianzhu Shilu, co-compiled a Portuguese-Chinese dictionary with Ricci, and attempted a translation of the Four Books. He also worked in Zhejiang and Huguang during this period, his health already declining.
  3. 1588–1607Salerno · SalernoValignano sent him back to Rome to seek a papal legation to win the Ming emperor's permission for open preaching. Successive papal successions doomed the plan; too frail to return to China, he directed spiritual exercises at the Jesuit college in Salerno and continued compiling a Latin translation of the Four Books and maps of China, dying on 11 May 1607.

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