![Lazzaro Cattaneo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/Lazzaro_Cattaneo.JPG)
Lazzaro Cattaneo (Sarzana, Italy, 1560 - Hangzhou, China, 19 January 1640), (), was an Italian
Jesuit
, image = Ihs-logo.svg
, image_size = 175px
, caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits
, abbreviation = SJ
, nickname = Jesuits
, formation =
, founders ...
missionary who invented the first tone markings for Chinese transcription.
Early life
Cattaneo was born into a noble family at
Sarzana
Sarzana (, ; lij, Sarzann-a) is a town, ''comune'' (municipality) and former short-lived Catholic bishopric in the Province of La Spezia, Liguria, Italy. It is east of Spezia, on the railway to Pisa, at the point where the railway to Parma diver ...
, near
Genoa
Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...
, Italy. In 1581, he entered the Collegio di S Andrea of the
Society of Jesus
, image = Ihs-logo.svg
, image_size = 175px
, caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits
, abbreviation = SJ
, nickname = Jesuits
, formation =
, founders ...
in
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
. He removed to Portugal in 1585 where he completed his training and was ordained in 1587. He sailed for the Portuguese colony of
Goa
Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...
, in India, on 1 April 1588, and, by 1589, became superior of the mission at
Fishery Coast.
Chinese mission
Cattaneo joined
Matteo Ricci
Matteo Ricci, SJ (; la, Mattheus Riccius; 6 October 1552 – 11 May 1610), was an Italians, Italian Society of Jesus, Jesuit Priesthood in the Catholic Church, priest and one of the founding figures of the Jesuit China missions. He create ...
in
Shaoguan
Shaoguan (; Hakka: Seukoan) is a prefecture-level city in northern Guangdong Province (Yuebei), South China, bordering Hunan to the northwest and Jiangxi to the northeast. It is home to the mummified remains of the sixth Zen Buddhist patriarch H ...
(formerly Shaozhou), Guangdong, in 1594, after first having spent a year in
Macao
Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...
. He had originally been headed for Japan but was redirected to Macao by the Society of Jesus' Visitor in the Indies,
Alessandro Valignano
Alessandro Valignano, S.J., sometimes Valignani (Chinese: 范禮安 ''Fàn Lǐ’ān''; February 1539 – January 20, 1606), was an Italian Jesuit priest and missionary born in Chieti, part of the Kingdom of Naples, who helped supervise the i ...
.
He accompanied Ricci on his first trip to Peking, arriving on 7 September 1598 in hopes of establishing a mission there, but failed to gain an imperial audience and left two months later. He returned to Nanking where he stayed until falling ill and leaving for Macao in 1603. He travelled to
Malacca
Malacca ( ms, Melaka) is a state in Malaysia located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, next to the Strait of Malacca. Its capital is Malacca City, dubbed the Historic City, which has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site si ...
in 1604.
Having returned to Macao, word spread, in 1606, that Cattaneo was plotting to lead a Portuguese invasion and install himself Emperor of China resulting in enslavement of the population. The rumour was sparked by a belief that a large fortification was under construction in Macao, a belief arising from the secretive method and large number of Japanese labourers employed in construction of
St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London and is a Grad ...
. After a short period of intense conflict in which at least one Portuguese Jesuit, Francisco Martinez, died in imprisonment accused of spying for Cattaneo, the rumour was dispelled when Cattaneo hosted a Chinese military investigator on a tour of
St Paul's College where only books and humble students were to be seen.
Cattaneo was in
Nanchang
Nanchang (, ; ) is the capital of Jiangxi Province, People's Republic of China. Located in the north-central part of the province and in the hinterland of Poyang Lake Plain, it is bounded on the west by the Jiuling Mountains, and on the east ...
in 1606, then established the mission in Shanghai, living there from 1608 to 1610, and finally settling in Hangzhou in 1622 where in 1628 he was to become
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 ...
's confessor.
Chinese orthography
On arrival in Macao, Cattaneo attended the Society of Jesus-operated school, established in 1572 and whose first principal had been Antonio Vaz, for Chinese studies. He was probably studying there when it was incorporated into the famed centre of Chinese studies, St Paul's College, in 1594.
He continued Chinese studies in Shaozhou.
In 1598-99, Cattaneo collaborated with Ricci and Sebastian Fernandes on Ricci's second Chinese dictionary in a Western language. Ricci's first such dictionary had given no indication at all of the tones essential to meaning in Mandarin and it was Cattaneo who invented the system of five tone markings in this dictionary, now lost, known as ''Vocabulario sinico-europeo''.
Works
*
* ''Ling-hsing i-chu'' (''Introduction of the soul to God'')
* ''Hui-tsui yao-chi'' (''On contrition and sorrow for sin'')
* ''Shenhou pien''
* ''Memoria'' (1606)
Death
Cattaneo died in
Hangzhou
Hangzhou ( or , ; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), also romanized as Hangchow, is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang, China. It is located in the northwestern part of the province, sitting at the head of Hangzhou Bay, whi ...
, China, on 19 January 1640, after a long period of paralysis, at the age of 79.
Legacy
Though the dictionary containing his invention was ultimately lost, Cattaneo's tonal system was used in one of the earliest Romanisation systems, that of
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 ...
, in 1626, and adopted in 1656 by
Martino Martini
Martino Martini () (20 September 1614 – 6 June 1661), born and raised in Trento (Prince-Bishopric of the Holy Roman Empire), was a Jesuit missionary. As cartographer and historian, he mainly worked on ancient Imperial China.
Early years
Mart ...
in his, the earliest surviving, Western grammar of Chinese. It appeared again in
Michal Boym's 1667 translation of Kircher's ''China Illustrata'' and it was Cattaneo's work that formed the basis for
Étienne Fourmont
Étienne Fourmont (23 June 1683 – 8 December 1745) was a French scholar and Orientalist who served as professor of Arabic at the Collège de France and published grammars on the Arabic, Hebrew, and Chinese languages.
Although Fourmont is r ...
's 1737 work, ''Linguae Sinarum mandarinicae hieroglyphicae grammatical duplex patine et cum characteribus Sinensium''.
Cattaneo was a capable musician and taught
Diego de Pantoja
Diego de Pantoja or Diego Pantoja ( Chinese: 龐迪我, ''Pang Diwo''; April 1571, Valdemoro, Spain – January 1618, Portuguese Macau, China) was a Spanish Jesuit and missionary to China who is best known for having accompanied Matteo Ricci in Be ...
clavichord in Nanjing. Pantoja, on orders of
Emperor Wanli
The Wanli Emperor (; 4 September 1563 – 18 August 1620), personal name Zhu Yijun (), was the 14th Emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigned from 1572 to 1620. "Wanli", the era name of his reign, literally means "ten thousand calendars". He was th ...
, subsequently passed on this skill to four eunuchs who were the first members of the imperial court to learn Western music.
The Via Lazzaro Cattaneo, Dragona, Vitinia, near Rome is named for him.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cattaneo, Lorenzo
1560 births
1640 deaths
Jesuit missionaries in China
Italian Roman Catholic missionaries
Italian emigrants to China
Missionary linguists