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Nicolas Trigault

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Nicolas Trigault in Chinese costume,byPeter Paul Rubens,the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Nicolas Trigault(1577–1628) was aJesuit,and amissionaryinChina.He was also known by hislatinisednameNicolaus TrigautiusorTrigaultius,and his Chinese nameJin Nige(simplified Chinese:Kim ni các;traditional Chinese:Kim ni các;pinyin:Jīn Nígé).

Life and work[edit]

Born inDouai(then part of theCounty of Flandersin theSpanish Netherlands,now part ofFrance), he became a Jesuit in 1594. Trigault left Europe to do missionary work in Asia around 1610, eventually arriving atNanjing,China in 1611. He was later brought by the Chinese CatholicLi Zhizaoto his hometown ofHangzhouwhere he worked as one of the firstmissionariesever to reach that city and was eventually to die there in 1628.

De Christiana expeditione apud Sinas,by Nicolas Trigault andMatteo Ricci,Augsburg,1615.

In late 1612, Trigault was appointed by the China Mission's Superior,Niccolo Longobardias the China Mission'sprocurator(recruitment andPRrepresentative) in Europe. He sailed from Macau on February 9, 1613, and arrived in Rome on October 11, 1614, by way of India, thePersian Gulfand Egypt.[1]His tasks involved reporting on the mission's progress toPope Paul V,[2]successfully negotiating with theJesuit Order's GeneralClaudio Acquavivathe independence of the China Mission from the Japan Mission, and traveling around Europe to raise money and publicize the work of the Jesuit missions.[1]Peter Paul Rubensdid a portrait of Trigault on 17 January 1617, when Trigault was either in Antwerp or Brussels (at right).[3][4]

It was during this trip to Europe that Trigault edited and translated (from Italian to Latin)Matteo Ricci's "China Journal", orDe Christiana expeditione apud Sinas.(He, in fact, started the work aboard the ship when sailing from Macau to India). The work was published in 1615 inAugsburg;it was later translated into many European languages and widely read.[1]The French translation, which appeared in 1616, was translated from Latin by Trigault's own nephew, David-Floris de Riquebourg-Trigault.[5]

In April 1618, Trigault sailed from Lisbon with over 20 newly recruited Jesuit missionaries, and arrived in Macau in April 1619.[1][6]

Portrait of Nicolas Trigault,by Rubens workshop,Musée de la Chartreuse de Douai

Trigault produced one of the first systems ofChinese Romanisation(based mostly on Ricci's and Pantoja's earlier work) in 1626, in his workXiru Ermu Zi(simplified Chinese:Tây nho nhĩ mục tư;traditional Chinese:Tây nho nhĩ mục tư;pinyin:Xīrú ěrmù zī;lit.'Aid to the Eyes and Ears of Western Literati').[7][8][9]Trigault wrote his book inShanxiprovince.[10]

Aided by a converted Chinese, he also produced the first Chinese version ofAesop's Fables( huống nghĩa "Analogy" ), published in 1625.

In the 1620s, Trigault became involved in a dispute over the correct Chinese terminology for the Christian God and defended the use of the termShangdithat had been prohibited in 1625 by the Jesuit Superior GeneralMuzio Vitelleschi.André Palmeiro,the Society of Jesus inspector assigned the task of investigating and reporting on the circumstances of Trigault's death in 1628, on information from Trigault's confessorLazzaro Cattaneo,stated that a mentally unstable Trigault had become deeply depressed after failing to successfully defend the use of the term, and had committedsuicide.[11][4]

Publications[edit]

  • Part 1 of 西儒耳目資, "Aid to the Eyes and Ears of Western Literati" by Nicolas Trigault
    Part 1 of tây nho nhĩ mục tư, "Aid to the Eyes and Ears of Western Literati" by Nicolas Trigault
  • Part 2 of 西儒耳目資, "Aid to the Eyes and Ears of Western Literati" by Nicolas Trigault
    Part 2 of tây nho nhĩ mục tư, "Aid to the Eyes and Ears of Western Literati" by Nicolas Trigault
  • Part 3 of 西儒耳目資, "Aid to the Eyes and Ears of Western Literati" by Nicolas Trigault
    Part 3 of tây nho nhĩ mục tư, "Aid to the Eyes and Ears of Western Literati" by Nicolas Trigault
Nicolas Trigault in Chinese CostumebyAnthony van Dyck

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^abcdmMungello, David E. (1989).Curious Land: Jesuit Accommodation and the Origins of Sinology.University of Hawaii Press. pp. 46–48.ISBN0-8248-1219-0.
  2. ^Nicolas Trigault (1577-1628 A.D.)
  3. ^Peter Paul Rubens: Portrait of Nicolas Trigault in Chinese Costume | Work of Art | Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  4. ^abLogan, Anne-Marie; Brockey, Liam M (2003)."Nicolas Trigault SJ: A Portrait by Peter Paul Rubens".Metropolitan Museum of Art.Retrieved24 November2016.
  5. ^Histoire de l'expédition chrestienne au royaume de la Chine entreprise par les PP. de la Compagnie de Jésus: comprise en cinq livres esquels est traicté fort exactement et fidelelement des moeurs, loix et coustumes du pays, et des commencemens très-difficiles de l'Eglise naissante en ce royaume(1616) - French translation ofDe Christiana expeditioneby D.F. de Riquebourg-Trigault.Full text available on Google Books.The translator mentions his relation to N. Trigault on p. 4 of the Dedication ( "Epistre Dedicatoire" )
  6. ^Biography in ChineseArchived2007-07-27 at theWayback Machineat the National Digital Library of China
  7. ^"Xiru ermu zi" ( tây nho nhĩ mục tư ) bibliographic information and linksArchived2006-09-08 at theWayback Machine
  8. ^"Dicionário Português-Chinês: Bồ hán từ điển (Pu-Han cidian): Portuguese-Chinese dictionary", by Michele Ruggieri, Matteo Ricci; edited by John W. Witek. Published 2001, Biblioteca Nacional.ISBN972-565-298-3.Partial previewavailable onGoogle Books.Page 184.
  9. ^Heming Yong; Jing Peng (14 August 2008).Chinese Lexicography: A History from 1046 BC to AD 1911: A History from 1046 BC to AD 1911.OUP Oxford. pp. 385–.ISBN978-0-19-156167-2.
  10. ^Hà đại an (2002).Đệ tam giới quốc tế hán học hội nghị luận văn tập: Ngữ ngôn tổ. Nam bắc thị phi: Hán ngữ phương ngôn đích soa dị dữ biến hóa(in Traditional Chinese). Vol. 7 ofĐệ tam giới quốc tế hán học hội nghị luận văn tập: Ngữ ngôn tổZhong yang yan jiu yuan di san jie guo ji han xue hui yi lun wen ji. Yu yan zu.Trung ương nghiên cứu viện ngữ ngôn học nghiên cứu sở. p. 23.ISBN957-671-936-4.Retrieved23 September2011.
  11. ^Brockey, p. 87.

Further reading[edit]

  • Liam M. Brockey,Journey to the East: The Jesuit mission to China, 1579-1724,Harvard University Press, 2007.
  • C. Dehaisnes,Vie du Père Nicolas Trigault,Tournai, 1861.
  • P.M. D’Elia, "Daniele Bartoli e Nicola Trigault",Rivista Storica Italiana,ser. V, III, 1938, pp. 77–92.
  • G.H. Dunne,Generation of Giants,Notre Dame (Indiana), 1962, pp. 162–182.
  • L. Fezzi, "Osservazioni sul De Christiana Expeditione apud Sinas Suscepta ab Societate Iesu di Nicolas Trigault",Rivista di Storia e Letteratura Religiosa1999, pp. 541–566.
  • T.N. Foss, "Nicholas Trigault, S.J. – Amanuensis or Propagandist? The Rôle of the Editor of Della entrata della Compagnia di Giesù e Christianità nella Cina", in Lo Kuang (ed.),International Symposium on Chinese-Western Cultural Interchange in Commemoration of the 400th Anniversary of the Arrival of Matteo Ricci, S.J. in China. Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China. September 11–16, 1983,II, Taipei, 1983, pp. 1–94.
  • J. Gernet, "Della Entrata della Compagnia di Giesù e Cristianità nella Cina de Matteo Ricci (1609) et les remaniements de sa traduction latine (1615)",Académie des Inscriptions & Belles Lettres. Comptes Rendus2003, pp. 61–84.
  • E. Lamalle, "La propagande du P. Nicolas Trigault en faveur des missions de Chine (1616)",Archivum Historicum Societatis IesuIX, 1940, pp. 49–120.
  • Liam M. Brockey, “The Death and Disappearance of Nicolas Trigault, S.J.,” The Journal of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, vol. 38 (2003): pp. 161–167.

External links[edit]

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