What I have come to know about Matteo Ricci, S.J. over the years, always prompted me to try to learn more when I had time. Now that I am retired, I have the time. In previous reflections I have identified "behind the scenes" people who in my view have led the subject of my study to Christ. However, in the case of Matteo, he seems to have been led to Christ by the "ordinary means." He was born October 6, 1552 in Macerata, Italy, of Giovanni Ricci and Giovanna Angiolelli; his mother was particularly known for her piety. He was home schooled until the Jesuits opened a school in his home town in 1561. From there he set out for Rome at the age of 16 to study law. He continued to be impressed by the Jesuits and applied for admission to the order in August, 1571.

Matteo was being led closer to Christ from day one by his parents and teachers, but as I look forward to his life's work, the concept of "fullness of time" comes to mind. In Galatians 4:4, Saint Paul says that God sent his Son "in the fullness of time." God's ways are not our ways, so we cannot fully understand all the implications of that term for God. But efforts have been made to understand why that time. Much earlier, Abraham, Isaaic and Jacob had been called to believe in the One God, and enter into covenant with him. God subsequently called their decendants out of the oppression of Egypt, gave them the law, and settled them in the promised land. There they became aware both of their own sinfulness and God's fidelity in spite of their sinfulness — they became aware of their need for redemption.

Meanwhile, the Mediterranean world was experiencing the Pax Romana, the "Roman Peace." Although there were skirmishes at the borders of the empire, and occupied countries such as the Holy Land, there was no active warfare in the Mediterranean Sea itself, a network of roads was in place throughout the Mediterranean area, and the "international language" was Greek — that was the result of Alexander the Great's empire; Latin was not spoken throughout the Roman Empire until the second century. Thus this "window" between the wars of conquest waged by Alexander and the Romans, and the chaos of the fall of the Roman Empire provided Apostles and evangelists the opportunity to "bring the Good News to the ends of the earth" as Jesus had mandated."

I suggest that we consider this concept of "the fullness of time" as we consider every human life. Warren Buffett, one of the world's richest men, and a professed atheist, by the way, says that he won the "ovarian lottery."

You don't know whether you're going to be born black or white. You don't know whether you're going to be born male or female. You don't know whether you're going to be born infirm or able-bodied. You don't know whether you're going to be born in the United States or Afghanistan.

The ovarian lottery is the most important event in which you'll ever participate. It's going to determine way more than what school you go to, how hard you work, all kinds of things.

The circumstances of our birth, as well as the state of the world at the time of our birth are going to provide us, throughout our lives, opportunities . . . or closed doors. But, as Christians, we believe that Divine Providence has provided that we are born "in the fullness of time" for us, and with the resources to achieve happiness and success . . . if we are willing to follow his plan.

Matteo Ricci was born in "The Age of Discovery," an age which had begun in the early 1400s with expeditions to the western coast of Africa carried out under Portuguese Prince Henry the Navigator, one of his goals being a new route to India and China. In 1488 Bartolomeu Dias sailed around the southern tip of Africa and into the Indian Ocean. In 1510 Portugal colonized Goa in India, and it served as the main Portuguese base in the East or four and a half centuries, during which time the Portuguese influence expanded into other areas, as far as Japan. In 1557, the Portuguese colonized Macau, making it the first European colony in East Asia. Spain soon followed with their own exploration and colonization in South America. Spain and Portugal clashed in America until the Treaty of Tordesillas which gave Brazil and the Far East to Portugal and the rest of South America to Spain.

These newly accessible areas for Europeans were seen as mission territory by the Church. Evangelization in the Americas and the Far East was undertaken by Franciscans, Dominicans and Augustinians, as well as Jesuits. Questions were raised, even at that time, both about the Church's involvement with the colonial powers in the subjugation and exploitation of the indigenous peoples and their lands, and about the effectiveness of preaching the Word of God totally in the context of European culture and a totally foreign language without any reference to native cultures and values. In 1511, Antonio de Montesino, a Dominican friar missioned in Hispaniola, made a very public blistering attack on the colonists who had enslaved the people of the Caribbean.

The Jesuits, from the beginning, saw mission as a vital part of their work — Francis Xavier, one of the original seven Jesuits, traveled to Goa, India in 1541 in a Portuguese vessel (the voyage took thirteen months!) He preached in India, and what is now Malaysia and Indonesia, and reached as far as Japan, areas in which the Portuguese had made inroads. In 1545 he sent a long account of his mission to King John of Portugal, pointing out that the actions of the Portuguese — violent, debauched, and unjust — were such as to encourage converts to relapse. Although China was closed to foreigners, he wished to preach there as well; Francis had learned that the Japanese looked to China as the source of culture, much as Europeans looked to ancient Greece and Rome, so they asked him if Christianity was such a great religion, why had the Chinese failed to mention it? Thus, Francis wished to evangelize China, and then return to Japan. However, he died on the small island of Shangchuan overlooking mainland China in 1552, without achieving his goal.

In 1574 the fourth General of the Jesuits appointed Alessandro Valignano as his Visitor to the East, responsible for the Jesuit missions from India through Japan. From the prior experience of the Jesuit missions, he had come to believe that missionaries had to be involved in cross-cultural engagement — they had to be the ones fitting into the local culture, and not the other way around . . . they had to be "Indian in India, Japanese in Japan and Chinese in China." They were to be learned in the local languages, treat new converts as equals, and seek to be as thoroughly localized as possible. He directed the architecture of their houses, their clothing, and strived to determine which men would be best suited to serve in the different regions.

Meanwhile, Matteo Ricci was completing his Jesuit scholasticate in Italy, studying mathematics, cosmology and astronomy, in addition to philosophy and theology. He was assigned to the Chinese Mission by Father Valignano, joining Michael Ruggieri who had already been assigned to that mission. Matteo made his way to Portugal, and from there to Goa where he completed his preparations for ordination. He was ordained a priest in India, and then went to Macau.

Macau is a peninsula in the south of China which was colonized by the Portuguese in 1557. In August, 1582 Matteo arrived in Macau, and together with Michael Ruggieri began an intensive study of the Chinese language, ultimately becoming fluent in reading, writing and speaking classical Chinese. In 1582 they they were given permission to settle in Zhaoquing, some distance from the capitol — they dressed as Buddist monks in line with Father Valignano's mission approach. During this period, Matteo produced the first edition of his map of the world which showed the Chinese intelligentia China's geographical relation to the rest of the world.

In 1588, Ruggieri left China for Rome; Matteo continued in China. In 1589, Matteo moved from Zhaoqing to Shaozhou (now Shaoguan) where he became a close friend of the Confucian scholar Qu Taisu. Matteo taught him the rudiments of mathematics, receiving in return an introduction into the circles of the mandarins and of the Confucian scholars. Noting that Matteo wore the habit of a Buddist monk, Qu suggested that it would be better to dress as a Chinese scholar, a suggestion that Matteo adopted immediately. One of his Chinese colleagues, Xu Guangqi, was a Chinese agronomist, astronomer, mathematician, politician and writer, who became one of the "Three Pillars of Chinese Catholicism."

In 1595, Matteo made an unsuccessful attempt to enter the Imperial City of Beijing. By this time other Jesuits had joined him, and Matteo, at the request of a Chinese friend, wrote his first book in Chinese, On Friendship. He and other Jesuits shared explanations in astronomy and geography which were new to Chinese scholars, bringing more esteem in their eyes both for the Jesuits and for the world from which they had come. Ultimately, Matteo was able to enter the Imperial City in 1601, and remain there. He never left Beijing, dedicating his life to its people, teaching them science and preaching the Gospel.

Later in 1601, Matteo was called to meet with Emperor K'ang-Hsi in the Imperial Palace, the first western missionary so invited. For nine years, until his death, he and other Jesuits dialogued with members of the Chinese intelligentia. By the time of his death, there were 2,500 Chinese Catholics, with many in the educated classes.

The Jesuits who remained in China after Ricci's death, and those who followed them, continued the policy of "adaptation" or "inculturation" introduced by Alessandro Valignano and developed by Matteo, and Chinese Catholics continued to increase, numbering a quarter of a million by the 1660s.

Matteo Ricci had written The True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven, a book in Chinese, in which he equated the Chinese term "Lord of Heaven" with the Christian term "God." He established that there was there was no conflict between Confuscianism and Christianity, since Confucianism was a philosophy rather than religion. Also, Confucian and Taoist practices involved veneration of ancestors, as well as well as honoring at various times during the year Confucius and the Emperor; the Jesuits saw the "Chinese Rites" as social, not religious ceremonies, and allowed converts to continue to participate.

In a decree signed on March 23, 1656, Pope Alexander VII accepted practices "favorable to Chinese customs", reinforcing 1615 decrees which accepted the usage of the Chinese language in liturgy, a notable exception to the contemporary Latin Catholic discipline which had generally forbidden the use of local languages. In the 1659 instructions given by the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith (known as the Propaganda Fide) to new missionaries to Asia, provisions were clearly made to the effect that adapting to local customs and respecting the habits of the countries to be evangelized was paramount.

But Dominicans, Franciscans and Augustinians began to enter China to continue evangelization efforts. They saw some of the Jesuit "accommodations" as lapses into paganism, and petitioned Rome to rule on this issue, beginning the Chinese Rites Controversy which continued from 1582 through 1715 when Pope Clement XI decreed that God could no longer be referred as "Heavenly Lord" (Shangdi), but only as the Lord of Heaven, Earth, and everything in the universe; and Catholic converts could no longer to participate, even as bystanders, in rites honoring Confucius, nor in rites honoring ancestors in their familial temples. The Pope noted that other Chinese customs and traditions could in no way be interpreted as heathen in nature, and should be allowed to continue among Chinese converts.

The Kangxi emperor was not happy with Clement's decree, and in 1721 issued the following decree banning Christian missions in China:

Reading this proclamation, I have concluded that the Westerners are petty indeed. It is impossible to reason with them because they do not understand larger issues as we understand them in China. There is not a single Westerner versed in Chinese works, and their remarks are often incredible and ridiculous. To judge from this proclamation, their religion is no different from other small, bigoted sects of Buddhism or Taoism. I have never seen a document which contains so much nonsense. From now on, Westerners should not be allowed to preach in China, to avoid further trouble.

The number of Christians dwindled almost to nothing.

In 1742 Benedict XIV reiterated in his papal bull, Ex quo singulari, Clement XI's decree and settled the question until Pius XII. He demanded that missionaries in China take an oath forbidding them to discuss the issue again.

In 1939, under the pontificate of Pius XII, the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples relaxed the certain aspects of Clemens XI's and Benedict XIV's decrees:

• Catholics are permitted to be present at ceremonies in honor of Confucius in Confucian temples or in schools;
• Erection of an image of Confucius or tablet with his name on it is permitted in Catholic schools.
• Catholic magistrates and students are permitted to passively attend public ceremonies which have the appearance of superstition.
• It is licit and unobjectionable for head inclinations and other manifestations of civil observance before the deceased or their images.

On December 17, 2022, the Vatican announced that Pope Francis authorized Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, the prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for the Causes of the Saints, to promulgate a degree recognizing "the heroic virtues of the Servant of God, Matteo Ricci."

Pope Francis described Father Ricci as "a man of encounters, who went beyond being a foreigner and became a citizen of the world."

Pope Francis is known to be inspired by Father Ricci, and the decree came on the pope's 86^th birthday. The Vatican's announcement is also an important one for the Catholic Church in China and its 12 million members.