Diego de Pantoja or Diego Pantoja ( Chinese: 龐迪我, ''Pang Diwo''; April 1571,

Valdemoro Valdemoro is a municipal district, located in the Southern zone of the autonomous community of Madrid, Spain. Located 27 kilometers from the capital, Valdemoro is officially part of the comarca of La Sagra, though it is generally also included ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

– January 1618,

Portuguese Macau Portuguese Macau (officially the Province of Macau until 1976, and then the Autonomous Region of Macau from 1976 to 1999) was a Portuguese colony that existed from the first official Portuguese settlement in 1557 to the end of colonial rul ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

) was a Spanish

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

and missionary to China who is best known for having accompanied

Matteo Ricci Matteo Ricci, SJ (; la, Mattheus Riccius; 6 October 1552 – 11 May 1610), was an Italian Jesuit priest and one of the founding figures of the Jesuit China missions. He created the , a 1602 map of the world written in Chinese characters. ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...

. His name also appears in some sources as Didaco Pantoia.

Biography

He arrived in

on 20 July 1597, where he received his final instructions for his work in China at St. Paul's College.Huang Qichen: ''"The First University in Macau: The Colégio de São Paulo"'', in John W. Witek (ed.): ''Religion and Culture: An International Symposium Commemorating The Fourth Centenary of the University College of St. Paul - Macau, 28 November to 1 December 1994'', Macau: Instituto Cultural de Macau, 1999, s. 257-260 He was then sent to the

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

's southern capital,

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Map Romanization, alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu Provinces of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and t ...

, where he stayed from March 1600. He worked with

, who later completed his work on the '' Zhifang waiji'', China's first global atlas. Together, they left Nanjing on 19 May 1600, and arrived at the Ming dynasty's Northern and overall capital, Beijing, on 24 January 1601. He worked in Beijing for many years, including as a musician,

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, moons, comets and galaxies – in either ...

(with calendar corrections) and as a

geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" a ...

(working with latitude). On 18 March 1617 he was tried as an enemy of the Chinese astronomers and was expelled from China, along with his colleague

Sabatino de Ursis Sabatino de Ursis (1575–1620, Chinese name: 熊三拔; pinyin: Xióng Sānbá) was an Italian Jesuit who was active in 17th-century China, during the Jesuit China missions. Career Born in Lecce, Apulia, Sabatino de Ursis arrived in 1607 in B ...

, and settled in Macao, where he lived for the short time remaining before his death.

References

Literature

*Ignacio Ramos Riera: ''Diego de Pantoja. Dalla Spagna alla Cina'': La Civiltà Cattolica 4067/4 (2019), 484–492. ISSN 0009-816

* L. Carrington Goodrich & Chao-Ying Fang (ed.): ''Dictionary of Ming Biography'', 2 ed., New York/London: Columbia University Press 1976 *Gianni Criveller: ''Preaching Christ in Late Ming China: The Jesuits' Presentation of Christ from Matteo Ricci to Giulio Aleni'', Taipei:Taipei Ricci Institute 1997 * Trigault, Nicolas S. J. "China in the Sixteenth Century: The Journals of Mathew Ricci: 1583-1610". English translation by

Louis J. Gallagher Louis J. Gallagher, SJ (July 22, 1885 – August 1972) was an American Jesuit, known for his educational and literary work. Biography Born in Boston, Louis J. Gallagher entered the Society of Jesus on August 15, 1905, was ordained as a priest in 1 ...

, S.J. (New York: Random House, Inc. 1953). This is an English translation of the Latin work, ''

De Christiana expeditione apud Sinas ''De Christiana expeditione apud Sinas suscepta ab Societate Jesu ... '' (Latin for "On the Christian Mission among the Chinese by the Society of Jesus...") is a book based on an Italian manuscript written by the most important founding figure ...

'' based on

's journals completed by

Nicolas Trigault Nicolas Trigault (1577–1628) was a Jesuit, and a missionary in China. He was also known by his latinised name Nicolaus Trigautius or Trigaultius, and his Chinese name Jin Nige (). Life and work Born in Douai (then part of the County of Flanders ...

. Ricci and Pantoja's trip to Beijing is described on pp. 354–399. There is als
full Latin text
available on

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical ...

Biography

References

Literature

See also