Christian Wolfgang Herdtrich (25 June 1625– 18 July 1684) was an

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...

to the

Qing Empire The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

. As he wrote his works in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

, he is also known as

Life

Paradigma XV Provinciarum et CLV Urbium Capitalium Sinensis Imperij

Christian Wolfgang Herdtrich was born at

Graz Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popul ...

Styria Styria (german: Steiermark ; Serbo-Croatian and sl, ; hu, Stájerország) is a state (''Bundesland'') in the southeast of Austria. With an area of , Styria is the second largest state of Austria, after Lower Austria. Styria is bordered to ...

, in the

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on 25 June 1625. Herdtrich entered the Austrian province of the

Society of Jesus , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

on 27 October 1641, and in 1656 was chosen for the Chinese mission. For two years he laboured on the island of

Sulawesi Sulawesi (), also known as Celebes (), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the world's eleventh-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Mindanao and the Sulu Ar ...

("Celebes"). After 1660, he moved to the

Chinese provinces The provincial level administrative divisions () are the highest-level administrative divisions of China. There are 34 such divisions claimed by the People's Republic of China, classified as 23 provinces (), five autonomous regions, four munic ...

Shanxi Shanxi (; ; formerly romanised as Shansi) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the North China region. The capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-lev ...

and

Henan Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...

. In 1671, he was called to the imperial court in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

as a mathematician; there, he joined a group of scholarly Jesuits with whom the

Kangxi Emperor The Kangxi Emperor (4 May 1654– 20 December 1722), also known by his temple name Emperor Shengzu of Qing, born Xuanye, was the third emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the second Qing emperor to rule over China proper, reigning from 1661 to 1 ...

surrounded himself. The last nine years of his life were spent as superior of the mission of "Kiang-tcheon" in Shanxi. He died on 18 July 1684. The Kangxi Emperor himself wrote on Herdtrich's epitaph."Welt-Bott", Augsburg, 1726, Nos. 16, 49.

Works

Herdtrich professed a profound knowledge of the

Chinese language Chinese (, especially when referring to written Chinese) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and many minority ethnic groups in Greater China. About 1.3 billion people (or approximately 16% of the wor ...

and

literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

. He collaborated with Philippe Couplet, Prospero Intorcetta, and François de Rougemont in compiling ''Confucius, the Philosopher of the Chinese'' ( la, Confucius Sinarum Philosophus), a major introduction to Chinese history and thought that was published in Paris in 1687. Herdtrich was also the author of a large Chinese-Latin dictionary (''Wentse-Ko''), probably one of the first of its kind.

Notes

References

Citations

Bibliography

* Huonder, ''Deutsche Jesuitenmissionäire'' (Freiburg im Br., 1899), 188; * Dahlmann, ''Die Sprachenkunde und de Missionen'' (Freiburg im Br., 1891), 32-37; * Hazart-Sontermann, ''Kirchengesch.'', I (Vienna and Munich, 1707), 706 sqq. * . Letters of Herdritch may be found in: * Intorcetta, ''Compendiosa Narratione della Missione Cinense'' (Rome, 1672), 115-128; * Adrien Greslon, ''Histoire de la Chine sous la domination des Tartares'' (Partis, 1670), 56; * ''Kathol. Missionen'' (Freiburg im Br.) for 1901-02, pp. 25 sqq.; 1905-05, pp. 4 sqq.

External links

''Catholic Encyclopedia'' article
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Herdtrich, Christian Wolfgang 1625 births 1684 deaths 17th-century Austrian Jesuits Roman Catholic missionaries in China Austrian Roman Catholic missionaries Austrian expatriates in China Writers from Graz Clergy from Graz