“A Matter of

Great Importance”
Leaning from Matteo Ricci for the Mission to
the Chinese in the Third Millennium

Cebu - September 11, 2010

By Gianni Criveller
Memorial Antoine Thomas (1695):
 This is about the conversion of a whole new
world, so enormous and populated, that its
emperor can claim more people under his
authority than the all the faithful of the Roman
Church together on the entire planet. There
are more: even the salvation of the
neighboring nations depends upon the
conversion of the Tartar-Chinese Empire. (…)
 Since the beginning of the Church of
Christ, there was never a matter of greater
importance.
 To promote such a grave matter we have
spared no efforts, and have we approached,
suppliantly, the common father of the
universal Church: may he kindly concede
what he can concede for the expansion of the
Chinese church.
Thomas first request:
Chinese clergy

 Thomas argues that the Church

of China needs Chinese priests
and bishops to convert China
and save the Church in time of
persecution.
Second petition of Thomas
Liturgy in Chinese language.
 Thomas goes back to the practice of the first
millennium, when Mass was celebrated in
various national languages, for the sake of the
evangelization. This rule, notices Thomas,
applies to China even more stringently and
urgently.
Historical thorny issues in China Mission
 Liturgy in Chinese; Chinese liturgy
 Inculturation
 Promotion of Chinese clergy
 Chinese Rites Controversy
A foreign religion?
 Was Christianity to look like a
foreign religion or a Chinese
religion?

 Since the beginning, and for many

years to come, it appears as a
foreign, western religion (see the
books of Aleni)
Learning from Matteo Ricci
 The missionary must be foreign: the faith is a
gift from above, from outside, and
unexpected.

 The pastors and the cultural expressions of

the faith must be local.
Portrait by Yu Wenhui
游文辉 Manuel Pereira (1610)
Learning from Matteo Ricci
 Inculturation: first with Buddhism, then with
Confucianism.
 Promotion of Chinese to the priesthood
 Use of Chinese classical terms to name God:
Shangti 上帝 Sovereign from Above,
Tian 天 Heaven , Da Fumu 大父母 Great
Father Mother, Wanwu Zhenyuan 萬物真源
True Origin of All Things .
Zhaoqing: Ricci lived near the Xianhua Temple
(the temple of Fairy Flower 仙花寺 )
Science as way of evangelization
 Faith and science are in reciprocal relationship
and not in contradiction.
 The concept of Tianxue 天學 , Heavenly Studies.
 Ricci’s formation at Roman College.
 Galileo and the language of mathematics.
 Ricci’s World Map (description of the Creation)
 This is much important in contemporary China,
were formal education is still imbued of atheist
scientism.
The map of 1602 (later reproduction)
Culture as way of evangelization
 How easy it will be to propagate our holy Christian
religion through books. They reach everywhere
without impediment and talk to more people.

 I do everything possible so that all our fathers

diligently study the Chinese books and strive to
learn to write in Chinese. Because, indeed in China
one can do more with books than with speech.

 Knowing our own things but not knowing theirs,

does not help much, and You, Father, will clearly
see how important this point is.
The Light of Reason
 By carefully examining all these books, we
shall find very few matters against the light of
reason and very many conformable to it. …
And we can very much hope in the divine
mercy that many of their ancestors have
been saved by observing the natural law with
the help that God shall grant for his
goodness.
In China today

 The phenomena of Christianity Fever and

Cultural Christians in contemporary China
academic institutions.

 The role of the internet and media, so popular

among young people.
Matteo and Paul
 Matteo, like Paul, did not baptize everyone he
happened to meet.
 He created small but strong communities in
main cities, on the direction of Beijing (Like
Paul toward Rome).
 These communities were centers of witness
for the society.
The way of Friendship
 Alessandro Valignano “modo soave” sweet
way. The only serious alternative to the
method of tabula rasa and oppression.

 1595 “On Friendship” the first book of Ricci in

Chinese 交友論 Jiaoyou lun. This is really a
sort of manifesto for Ricci’s mission
On Friendship 1595
Ricci’s martyr for friendship
 Confucian value
 Late Ming China especially valued friendship
 Humanistic value
 Evangelical value
 The is no greater love than offer one’s life for
friends: Matteo died of fatigue in receiving
guests in May 1610, during Imperial
examinations.
What friends can do…
 Matteo learned almost everything from his
Chinese friends and collaborators. All major
decisions were made on their suggestions.
 Books were written together.
 Friendship was not only a values, but
missionary experience.
Matteo’s Friends
 Paolo Xu Guangqi 徐光啟
 Leone Li Zhizao 李之藻
 Qu Taisu 瞿太素
 Feng Yingjing 馮應京
 “May God count as baptism and grant him
the salvation of his soul the good he did to
us, the great desire he showed to participate
in the propagation of our Holy Faith and
actually to follow it”.
Matteo Ricci and Paul Xu Guangqi 徐光啟
Athanasius Kircher’s China Illustrata (Amsterdam, 1667).
Post modern China
 Postmodernity is the age when people do not
believe in ideologies and doctrines; when
traditional social, religious, political and
psychological structures had collapsed and
been refuted.
 But people do look for space of acceptance;
of aggregation; where they can experience
belonging.
 The Christian groups fast developing
in China offer participation and
emotional support.

 We might need to offer space and

experience of friendship, make people
feel accepted for what they are.
The Gospel of Friendship
 Friendship is often present in the teaching of
Benedict XVI
 Being friends of Jesus: personal experience
and credibility matter.
 Offer the experience of friendship to other.
 This was the style, the method, the
experience and the life of Matteo Ricci, and is
still very meaningful for us today.
 The end
 Thank you for your attention
 Your questions, please
The dialogue of Jesus and Matteo
 Then I threw myself at his feet, and weeping
bitterly, I said: “So, Lord, since you know this,
why you did not help me until now?” He
answered: “You will go in that city -and it
seems that he showed me Beijing- and I will
help you there.
 Ricci to Costa, Nanchang 28 October 1595,
in Ricci, Lettere, 290.