Ricci, Matteo, one of the earliest and most suc- cessfid missionaries of the Romish Church. He was born at Maccrata, in Ancona, in 1552, and was early de- voted to a clerical life. After a thorough instruction in languages and the sciences, he entered the Order of Jesuits in 1571. His comprehensive learning, together with liis shrewdness, led to his being selected some years later to undertake the work of re-establishing the missions of his Church in China. The Minorite Monte Corvino had founded them so long ago as A.D. 129-1; but the hostility of the resident Nestorian Chris- tians, and the opposition of the native religions, Con- fucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism, followed by the per- secutions of the Ming dj-nasty, had destroyed all the fruits of his labors. The Capuchin Gaspar de Cruz had attempted to reintroduce Christianity into China in about A.D. 1522, but without success. Ricci arrived with two companions in 1583 and was permitted to set- tle at Tsao-King-Fo. Aided by the Jesidt Roger, he was even permitted to build a Christian church in the immediate vicinity of a Chinese temple. His method was to gain the confidence of tlie people by conforming to their manners and prejudices. He assimilated his first teachings, for example, ts the religious and moral tenets of Confucianism ; and he constructed a map of the world in which he grouped all other states about China as their centre. The Chinese priests were event- ually successful, however, in exciting suspicion against him, from which he was compelled to flee to the sea- port Chow-chu. In 1595 he attempted a visit to Pe- kin, but, being considered a Japanese in disguise, he was unable to secure a [iresentation at court. Five years later he repeated the undertaking, and was fort- unate enough to be selected by the Portuguese as the bearer of presents to the emperor; and he so improved the opportunity that he was thereafter permitted to reside with the other missionaries of his companj' in Pekin itself. Ricci now labored with increased energy in his mission. He acquired tlie respect of the im- perial family and of prominent mandarins through his mathematical proficiency and through the arts of paint- ing and music. Having given much attention to the vernacular, he was able to write a number of books in the Chinese language, and to adapt all his sayings and writings to the promotion of Christianity. His influ- ence extended, in course of time, beyond the precincts (if the court and the capital, and was felt to the ailvan- tage of his cause in several provinces of the empire. The foundations for a duralile work appeared to have been definitely laid when Ricci died, in 1G09. Tlie mission immediately felt his loss in the withdrawal of the emperor's favor, and in being obliged to remove from the capital for a time. But the services rendered by the missionaries to the cause of mathematical sci- ence, and even to the State, Were so valuable that they were soon permitted to resume their appropriate labors. The Jesuits Schall, Yerbiest, Pereira, and ntlicrs are prominent in the subsequent history of Roman Catholic missions to China, and the successes realized were large : but the entrance of other orders upon this work, e. g. the Dominicans and Franciscans, introduced an element iif discord among the missionaries themselves which impaired their usefulness and brought them into dis-
favor with the Chinese rulers. Incessant persecutions followed, extending from 1722 to 1845, which have al- most obliterated the traces of the work of Ricci and his colleagues. See the art. China in tliis Cyiiojmdid. See Trigault, De Christ. Exjied. apud »V(h«s ex Comm. Ricci (Augsburg, 1615, 4to); Wertheim, /("icci, in Pletz's Neue theol. Zeitschr. (Vienna, 1833), No. 3 ; Schall, Re- kitio de Initio et Progr. Missionis Soc. Jesu upiid C/ii- nenses (Ratisbon, 1672, and with Notes by Mannsegg, Vienna, 1834)-; Du W&\Ag, Descript.de I'Ewp.de la Chine (Paris, 173tj; German, with jNIosheim's introd., Rostock, 4 vols. 4to); Gutzlaff, History of China (Canton, 18,33; German by Bauer, Quedlinb. 1836, 2 vols.; and with continuation by Neumann, Stuttgart, 1847); Wittmann, Herrlichkeit d. Kirche in ihren Missionen (Augsburg, 1841, 2 vols.); Gescfi. d. kathol. Missionen his aiif unsere Zeit (Vienna, 1845) ; Hue, Chines. Reich (Leipsic, 185G, 2 vols.). Comp. Gieseler, Lehrb. d. Kiixhengesch. Ill, ii, 658 sq.— Herzog, Real-Enryklop. s. v,
Ricci, Michael Angelo, a learned Italian ecclesi- astic, was born in Rome in 1619. H,e was created a car- dinal in 1681, and died in 1683. He was skilled in math- ematical sciences, and published at Rome (4to) Exerci- tatio Geonietrica, which was reprinted in London, and annexed to Mercator's Logarithmotechnia. See Landi, Hist. Lit. d'ltalie; F.abroni, Vitie Ital. vol. ii.
Ricci (Lat. Ricms), Paul, was a convert from Ju- daism in the 16th century. For a time he was professor at Padua, in Italy, when the emperor Maximilian I ap- pointed him as his physician. Ricci was especially fa- mous as a Cabalist, and translated a large portion of Jo- seph Gikatilla's cabalistic work entitled miX ■'"i"a {The Gates of Light), which he dedicated to iVIaximilian, and wliich Reuchlin used very largely. Erasmus was his special friend, whom he also defended against Ste- phen the Presbyter, who had attacked the Cabala, as can be seen from a letter of Erasmus, dated IMarcli 10, 1516 : '• Panlus Riccins sic me proximo colloqiiio rapiiit, ut mira quanlam me sitis habeat cum homine ssepius et familiari- us conserendi sermones." To his former coreligionists he endeavored to prove the truth of Christianity philosoph- ically. Living in a time when the Turks were the terror of the European nations, he used his influence to bring about a union between the Christians against their common foe by publishing his /« Viriilentam Immanis- simamque Turcarum Rahiem, ad Principles, Magistratns, Populosque Germanim (Augsburg, 1546), Of his nu- merous writings we only mention, Statera Prudentinm, a mystical treatise on Moses, the Law, Christ, and the Gospels (s.loc. 1532): — Opitscula Varia (printed by Burg- frank, Pavia, 1510, and often). See Flirst, Bibl.Jiidaica. iii, 155; Wolf, Biblioth. Ilcbr. i, 966; Jcicher, Gelehrten- Lexikon, s. v. ; Adams, Hist, of the Jews, i, 346; Bayle, Dictionnaire, s. v. " Riccio ;" Kalkar, Israel n. die Kirche, p. 87 ; Levita, Massoreth ha-Massoreth (ed. Ginsburg), p. 9; Griitz, Gesch. d. Jtiden, ix, 193 sq. ; Pick, Mission among the Jews', in the Qnar. Rev. (Gettysburg, 1876: reprinted in the Jeicish Intelligencer, Lond., Nov. and Dec, 1876), p. 368. (B. P.)