Lodovico Buglio (1606–1682), Chinese name Li Leisi ( zh, t=利類思), was an Italian Jesuit mathematician and theologian. He was the first Catholic missionary to reach

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

, the then westernmost province in China.

Life

Buglio was born at

Mineo Mineo ( scn, Minìu, Greek: ''Menaion'' and ''Μεναί'', Latin: ''Menaeum'' and ''Menaenum'') is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Catania, part of Sicily. It lies southwest of Catania, from Ragusa, from Gela, and from ...

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

, 26 January 1606. He entered the Society of Jesus, 29 January 1622, and, after a career as a professor of the humanities and rhetoric in the

Roman College The Roman College ( la, Collegium Romanum, it, Collegio Romano) was a school established by St. Ignatius of Loyola in 1551, just 11 years after he founded the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). It quickly grew to include classes from elementary school t ...

, asked to be sent to the Chinese mission. Buglio preached the Gospel in the provinces of

Fujian Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its cap ...

, and

Jiangxi Jiangxi (; ; formerly romanized as Kiangsi or Chianghsi) is a landlocked province in the east of the People's Republic of China. Its major cities include Nanchang and Jiujiang. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze river in the north int ...

. He and fellow Jesuit

Gabriel de Magalhães Gabriel de Magalhães (; 1610 – 6 May 1677), or gallicized as Gabriel Magaillans, was an early Portuguese Jesuit missionary to China who was one of the first Catholic missionaries to reach Sichuan and founded the original St. Joseph's Church in ...

were pressed to serve the rebel leader

Zhang Xianzhong Zhang Xianzhong (张献忠 or Chang Hsien-chung; 18 September 1606 – 2 January 1647), nickname Huanghu (literally 'Yellow Tiger'), was a Chinese peasant leader who led a peasant revolt from Yan'an wei, Shaanxi (today Yulin, Shaanxi province) ...

who had conquered Sichuan in 1644. After Zhang was killed by Hooge, he was taken to

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 ...

in 1648. Here, after a short captivity, he was left free to exercise his ministry. He suffered in the persecution which was carried on during the reign of 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 ...

. Buglio collaborated with Fathers

Johann Adam Schall von Bell Johann Adam Schall von Bell (1 May 1591 – 15 August 1666) was a German Jesuit, astronomer and instrument-maker. He spent most of his life as a missionary in China (where he is remembered as "Tang Ruowang") and became an adviser to the Shunz ...

Ferdinand Verbiest Father Ferdinand Verbiest (9 October 1623 – 28 January 1688) was a Flemish Jesuit missionary in China during the Qing dynasty. He was born in Pittem near Tielt in the County of Flanders (now part of Belgium). He is known as Nan Huairen () in C ...

and Gabriel de Magalhães in reforming the Chinese calendar, and shared with them the confidence of the emperor. He died at Beijing, 7 October 1682, and was given a state funeral. He was buried in the Jesuits'

Zhalan Cemetery Zhalan Cemetery ( zh, 滕公栅栏; zh, p=ténggōng zhàlan) is a former Jesuit burial ground in Beijing. It was initially established in the late Ming Dynasty for the burial of Matteo Ricci. The current setup is a restoration using origin ...

in Beijing.

Works

Buglio both spoke and wrote Chinese. A list of his works in Chinese, more than eighty volumes, written for the most part to explain and defend the Christian religion, is given in

Carlos Sommervogel Carlos Sommervogel (8 January 1834 – 4 March 1902) was a French Jesuit scholar. He was author of the monumental ''Bibliothèque de la Compagnie de Jésus'', which served as one of the major references for the editors of the Catholic Encyclope ...

. Besides Parts I and III of the ''

Summa Theologica The ''Summa Theologiae'' or ''Summa Theologica'' (), often referred to simply as the ''Summa'', is the best-known work of Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), a scholastic theologian and Doctor of the Church. It is a compendium of all of the main th ...

'' of

Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest who was an influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism; he is known wit ...

, he translated into Chinese the

Roman Missal The Roman Missal ( la, Missale Romanum) is the title of several missals used in the celebration of the Roman Rite. Along with other liturgical books of the Roman Rite, the Roman Missal contains the texts and rubrics for the celebration of th ...

(Peking, 1670) the Breviary and the Ritual (ibid, 1674 and 1675). These translations were part of the Jesuit project to introduce a liturgy in Chinese tongue. This plan was approved by

Pope Paul V Pope Paul V ( la, Paulus V; it, Paolo V) (17 September 1550 – 28 January 1621), born Camillo Borghese, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 16 May 1605 to his death in January 1621. In 1611, he honored ...

, who, 26 March 1615, granted to regularly ordained Chinese priests the faculty of using their own language in the liturgy and administrations of the sacraments; this faculty was never used. Father Philippe Couplet in 1681 tried to obtain a renewal of it from Rome, but was not successful.

Notes

References

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Buglio, Lodovico 1606 births 1682 deaths 17th-century Italian Jesuits Italian Roman Catholic missionaries Roman Catholic missionaries in Sichuan Jesuit missionaries in China 17th-century Italian mathematicians 17th-century Italian Roman Catholic theologians Italian expatriates in China People from Mineo

Life

Works

See also

Notes

References