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Faithful Dissenters
Stories of men and women who loved and changed the Church
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Faithful Dissenters tells the stories of people who took risky stands and sometimes paid heavily. Yet the benefits of their dissent have unquestionably enriched the church and all of us. Orbis author Robert McClory features the story of Matteo Ricci, a 16th century Jesuit missionary in China in his book on men and women who loved and changed the Church. Robert McClory is associate professor of journalism at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill.
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An open door to China
His name is unfamiliar to most Catholics. Yet Matteo Ricci, a 16th century Italian Jesuit missionary in China, created an unprecedented link between the Catholic religion and a pagan culture—a genuine inculturation that might have transformed China into a predominantly Christian nation. The effort bore fruit for more than a century, but ultimately failed because of circumstances that ironically had little to do with the Chinese people and much more to do with the Church itself. Very recently, Vatican officials, including the pope, have begun to take a new look at Ricci and his achievement.
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Before Ricci’s time, China was an impenetrable kingdom, hostile to all foreigners. Then in the late 1500s, a few missionaries were allowed temporary residence in the country. Ricci, then 30, was one of these. He made an immediate, memorable impression on his hosts.
Since Confucianism was the official doctrine of China, Ricci adopted the manner of a Confucian scholar. He let his hair and beard grow, donned the silk garments of the educated literati, and set himself to the task of becoming fluent in the language and conquering the basic texts.
In a relatively short time, Ricci memorized much of the material—in Mandarin Chinese. Consequently, he was invited everywhere and went everywhere. More importantly, Ricci was exceptionally personable, outgoing and disarming. He seemed able to create trust and develop lasting friendships with scores of people and was addressed affectionately by his Chinese name, Li Madou.
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 Within a few years, scattered literati became Christians, but Ricci believed long-range success would require permission for a Jesuit presence in China from the supreme emperor in Peking, the capital. In their efforts to achieve this, Ricci and his party met considerable frustration. The missionaries were never permitted to meet the emperor, but were finally allowed—to Ricci’s delight—to set up a residence in the capital and to function freely in the city. He had achieved what he came for—a legitimate presence in the seat of Chinese culture and tacit permission to engage publicly in missionary work.
The years from 1600 to 1610 proved the most productive in Ricci’s life. Writing and conferring with scholars, he developed more fully his ideas on a happy union between Catholicism and Confucianism. In perhaps his most important book, On the True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven, Ricci made a supreme effort to inculturate Christianity in a non-European system. The doctrines of the creed were presented clearly but always adapted to the sensitivities of Chinese history and culture.
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Ricci was 58 years old in 1610 when he fell ill quite suddenly and died within 11 days. By order of the emperor, his body lay in state in Peking while hundreds of Mandarins, plus a throng of curious Chinese commoners, paid their respects. The body was then ceremoniously carried to a special tomb near the Western Gate of the imperial city. The plaque read: "To one who loved righteousness and wrote illustrious books, to Li Madou, Far Westerner."
Matteo Ricci left behind fewer than 500 converts in all of China, but he had never seen his task as personally converting the masses. Reportedly, his last words to his Jesuit friends were, "I leave you facing an open door."
And the door would remain open for more than 100 years. By the end of the 17th century, the estimated number of Chinese Catholics ranged from 300,000 to half a million.
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Read Maryknoll Magazine for the full text
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