Matteo Ricci by Michela Fontana Read Free Book Online Page B

Jesus at twenty-seven, four years after being imprisoned for wounding a courtier. Having held important posts such as rector of the College of Macerata, he assumed responsibility for the missions in the East at the age of thirty-four. Of imposing physique and feared for his fiery temper, he was a man of acknowledged ability and charisma. Valignano arrived in Goa four years before Ricci and traveled a great deal through India. He reached Macao in August 1578 and stayed there for nearly a year. It was on the basis of his appraisal of the situation in the East that the Visitor devised a long-term strategy to increase the number of conversions. He was convinced that the missionaries should learn the language of the country in which they were to work, study its way of life, adapt to the local customs, and respect the local traditions unless they proved repugnant to Christian morality. Generally referred to as cultural accommodation, this missionary policy was considered innovative at the time. The Jesuit sinologist Pasquale D’Elia describes it as follows:
    It was certainly not his intention to “Europeanize” the peoples of the Far East. What he wanted, and very strongly, was instead that in all things compatible with dogma and evangelical morality the missionaries should become Indian in India, Chinese in China, and Japanese in Japan. This held for food, clothing, and social customs; in short, for everything that was not sinful. 21
    During Valignano’s stay in Macao, his attention focused on China, the empire impervious to all foreign penetration that had already closed its doors on Francis Xavier and to all the Jesuit, Franciscan, and Dominican missionaries seeking entry after him. Anecdotal evidence of how much China occupied the Visitor’s thoughts is provided by the Jesuit historian and missionary Alvaro Semedo, who describes him as gazing from a window of the Macao College one day in the direction of the Chinese empire and murmuring, “Fortress, O Fortress, when will you finally open your gates?” 22
    Valignano knew that past failures had convinced most priests that the project of evangelizing China was impracticable, and that the bishop of Manila had reported to the Portuguese sovereign and the pope that only a miracle would make conversion of the Chinese possible. 23 Even though he was the only one to think otherwise, Valignano was determined to attempt the undertaking once again, not least because he was convinced on the basis of evidence gathered over a long period that China was “a great and noble” country inhabited by “people of lively intellect given to study” and governed “with peace and prudence.” 24 If it was to be won over to the Christian faith, it would be necessary to find missionaries prepared to adapt to the local culture and become “Chinese in China.”
    On arriving in Macao at the end of July 1579, Ruggieri found detailed written notes recommending the study of Chinese that had been left by Valignano before setting off for Japan. It would be his task to open the way to China while Ricci was still in Cochin, as we have seen, reluctantly teaching Latin and Greek grammar.
    Macao, the Gateway to China
    The Portuguese colony of Macao on the Chinese border was situated on a peninsula in the midst of lush subtropical vegetation on the estuary of the Zhujiang, or Pearl River, in the Guangdong province on the South China Sea. The Portuguese name Amacao, from which Macao derives, was a compound of Ama, a local divinity, and gau, meaning “port.” The Portuguese had built up a rich settlement of about ten thousand inhabitants with a large hospital and some churches. There were about five hundred families of Portuguese merchants married to Indian or Chinese women as well as missionaries of various nationalities and Indian slaves. The numerous Chinese residents were mainly small shopkeepers and craftsmen or were employed as interpreters for commercial transactions and relations with the local