Who was Matteo Ricci?
Because Ricci went by water from Italy to Portugal around Africa to India to China, he was not sure that he found the same place Marco Polo had called Cathay. His reports gave the first reliable glimpse of the geography and history of China and its society. Not until 1607 when De Goes, another Jesuit, retraced Marco Polo’s route and made contact with Ricci did they knew for sure.
Matteo Ricci was an Italian Jesuit priest and missionary, scientist, humanist, and educator a Renaissance Man. He ranks as the most cultivated man of his time and “one of the most remarkable and brilliant men of history.” The founder of the modern Chinese Church, Matteo Ricci is respected as a national figure even by the Chinese Communist Party. For Ricci, learning and academic excellence in the Jesuit way served as a magnet that could draw people to God. As with all things, learning comes from God, and finally, nothing is really secular. An authority on mathematics, astronomy, apologetics, literature, popular catechesis, poetry, and a lover of art and music, Ricci fascinated and attracted the Chinese intelligentsia. He approached evangelization primarily, but not solely, through the scientific apostolate. Ricci also used music to further his missionary goal. He did not much care for Chinese music with its five-tone scale. He missed the sweet four-part harmonies of his native Italy and
