RICCI
34
RICCI
to request officially of the pope the total suppression
of the society. This was the death-blow of Clement
XIII, who died some days later (2 Feb., 1769) of an
apoplectic attack. His successor, the conventual
Ganganelli, little resembled him. Whatever may
have been his sympathies for the order prior to his
elevation to the sovereign pontificate, and his in-
debtedness to Ricci, who had used his powerful in-
fluence to secure for him the cardinal's hat, it is
indisputable that once he became pope he assumed
at least in appearance a hostile attitude. "Sepalam
Jesuitis infensum praebere atque ita quidem, ut ne
generalem quidem prtepositum in conspectum ad-
mitteret" (Cordara, 43). There is no necessity of
repeating even briefly the histor>' of the pontificate
of Clement XIV (18 May, 1769-22 Sept., 1774),
which was absorbed by his measures to bring about
the suppression of the Society of Jesus (see Clement
XIV). Despite the exactions and outrageous in-
justices which the Jesuit houses had to undergo even
at Rome, the general did not give up hope of a speedy
dehverance, as is testified by the letter he wTote to
Cordara the day after the feast of St. Ignatius, 1773
(Cordara, loc. cit., 53). Although the Brief of aboli-
tion had been signed by the pope ten days previously,
Father Ricci was suddenly notified on the evening
of 16 August. The next day he was assigned the
EngUsh College as residence, until 23 Sept., 1773, when
he was removed to the Castle of Sant' Angelo, where
he was held in strict captivity for the remaining two
years of his life. The surveillance was so severe
that he did not learn of the death of his secretary
Cornolli, imprisoned with him and in his vicinity,
until six months after the event. To satisfy the
hatred of his enemies his trial and that of his com-
panions was hastened, but the judge ended by recog-
nizing "nunquam objectos sibi reos his innocen-
tiores; Riccium etiam ut hominem vere sanctum di-
laudabat" (Cordara, op. cit., 62); and Cardinal de
Bemis dared to vsTite (5 July): "There are not,
p>erhaps, sufficient proofs for judges, but there are
enough for upright and reasonable men" (Masson,
op. cit., 324).
Justice required that the ex-general be at once set at hberty, but nothing was done, apparently through fear lest the scattered Jesuits should gather about their old head, to reconstruct their society at the centre of Catholicism. At the end of August, 1775, Ricci sent an appeal to the new pope, Pius VI, to obtain his rolease. But while his claims were being considered by the circle of the Sovereign Pontiff, death came to summon the venerable old man to the tribunal of the supreme Judge. Five days pre- viously, when about to receive Holy Viaticum, he mafle this double protest: (1) "I declare and protest that the suppressed Society of Jesus has not given any caase for its suppression; this I declare and pro- test with all that moral certainty that a superior well-informed of his order can have. (2) I declare and protest that I have not given any cause, even the slightest, for my imprisonment; this I declare and protept with that supreme certainty and evidence that each one has of his own actions. I make this second protest only becaase it is necessary for the reputation of the suppressed Society of Jesus, of which I was the general. (Murr, "Journal zur Kunstgeschichte", IX, 281.) To do honour to his memory thf pope cau.sed the celebration of elaborate funeral services in the church of St. John of the Florentines near the Castle of Sant' Angelo. As is customary with prol- atfjH, the body was placed on a bed of state. It was carried in the evenmg to the Church of the Gesd, where it was buried in the vault reserved for the burial of his predecessors in the government of the order.
Cordara, DenkwHrdigkeiten in D6llinoer, BeilTOge zur polititchen, kirchlichen und Ctdturgeieh., Ill (1882), 1-74.
These memoira carry much weight, inasmuch as Cordara speaks
with severity of his former brothers in arms, and of the Society
of Jesus. Carayon, Documents inedits concemant la Compagnie
de JSsus, XVII, Le Pkre Ricci et la suppression de la Compagnie
de Jisus en 1773, CLXXIV (Poitiers, 1869); Episloloe prceposi-
torum generalium Societalis Jesu, H (Ghent, 1847) ; Smith, The
Suppression of the Society of Jesus in The Month (1902-03);
Murr, Journal zur Kunstgesch. u, zur allgemeinen Litleratur,
IX (Nuremberg, 1780), 254-309; Masson, Le Cardinal de Bernis
depuis son ministire, 1758-1794 (Paris, 1903), a good collection of
documents, but the author does not know the historj' of the
Jesuits; 'RAyionKS^CUmentXIII etClhnentXIV, supplementary
volume, historical and critical documents (Paris, 1854); Boero,
Osservazioni sopra I'istoria del pontificato di Clemente XIV
scritta dal P. A. Theiner (2nd ed., Monza, 1854), useful for docu-
ments.
Francis Van Ortroy.
Ricci, Matted, founder of the Catholic missions of China, b. at Macerata in the Papal States, 6 Oct., 1552; d. at Peking, 11 May, 1610. Ricci made his classical studies in his native town, studied law at Rome for two years, and on 15 Aug., 1571, entered the Society of Jesus at the Roman College, where he made his novitiate, and philosophical and theological studies. While there he also devoted his attention to mathematics, cosmology, and astronomy under the direction of the celebrated Father Christopher Clavius. In 1577 he asked to be sent on the missions in Farthest Asia, and his request being granted he embarked at Lisbon, 24 March, 1578. Arriving at Goa, the capital of the Portuguese Indies, on 13 Sept. of this year, he was employed there and at Cochin in teaching and the ministry until the end of Lent, 1582, w^hen Father Alessandro Valignani (who had been his novice- master at Rome but who since August, 1573, was in charge of all the Jesuit missions in the East Indies) summoned him to Macao to prepare to enter China. Father Ricci arrived at Macao on 7 August, 1582.
Beginning of the Mission. — In the sixteenth century nothing remained of the Christian communities founded in China by the Nestorian missionaries in the seventh century and by the Catholic monks in the thirteenth and fourteenth (see China). Moreover it is doubtful whether the native Chinese population was ever seriously affected by this ancient evangeliza- tion. For those desiring to resume the work every- thing therefore remained to be done, and the obstaclee were greater than formerly. After the death of St. Francis Xavier (27 November, 1552) many fruitless attempts had been made. The first missionary to whom Chinese barriers were temporarily lowered was the Jesuit, Melchior Nunez Barreto, who twice went as far as Canton, where he spent a month each time (1555). A Dominican, Father Caspar da Cruz, was also admitted to Canton for a month, but he also had to refrain from "forming a (Christian Christianity". Still others, Jesuits, Augustinians, and Franciscans in 1568, 1575, 1579, and 1582 touched on Chinese soil, only to be forced, sometimes with ill treatment, to withdraw. To Father Valignani is due the credit of having seen what prevented all these undertakings from having lasting results. The attcmjjts had hitherto been made haphazard, with men insufficiently prepared and incapable of profiting by favourable circumstances had they encountered them. Father Valignani substituted the methodical attack with pre- vious careful selection of the missionaries w'ho, the field once open, would implant Christianity there. To this encf he first summoned to Macao Father Michele de Ruggieri, who had also come to India from Italy in 1578. Only twenty years had elapsed since the Portuguese had succeeded in establishing their colony at the portals of China, and the Chinese, at- tracted by opportunities for gain, were flocking thither. Ruggieri reached Macao in July, 1579, and, following the given orders applied himsc'lf wholly to the study of the Mandarin language, that is, Chinese as it is spoken throughout the empire by the officials and the educated. His progress, though very slow, permitted him to labour with more fruit than his
