Matteo Ricci
Italian Catholic missionary (1552–1610)
The Vatican record
- 17 December 2022 — Heroic virtue declared — title Venerable (decree list, 2022)
Who they were
Matteo Ricci, born at Macerata on 6 October 1552, joined the Jesuits in 1571 and studied mathematics and astronomy under Clavius. He sailed for the East in 1578 and reached Macao in 1582 to prepare to enter China.
He founded the Catholic missions of China, presenting himself as a religious who wished to serve the Lord of Heaven there until death, and made the faith known to Chinese scholars. He died at Peking on 11 May 1610.
The miracles
The Catholic Encyclopedia does not describe his cause.
Why that counted as sanctity
The Jesuit who opened China to the Gospel.
The cause
The cause continues. No postulation address is published here yet. Favours received through this person’s intercession, and offers of help, are best sent to the religious order or congregation they belonged to, or to the diocese where the cause was opened; either will pass them to the postulation.
Connected on this site
- 120 martyrs of China Saint“The Gospel may have reached China very early, but the first sure traces of Christianity come from Syria in the fifth century; Franciscans followed, then Jesuits such as Matteo Ricci, who landed at Macao in 1582.” — this site's research
- Andrew Kim Taegon Saint“The Korean Church was founded by lay people: around 1780 a scholar, Lee Byeok, read Matteo Ricci's book on the true doctrine of God brought from Beijing, embraced the faith and gathered the first Christian community before any priest arrived.” — this site's research
- The Korean Martyrs Saint“The Church in Korea was founded by lay people: around 1780 a scholar, Lee Byeok, read Matteo Ricci's book on the true doctrine of God brought from Beijing, embraced the faith and gathered the first community before any priest arrived.” — this site's research
- Xu Guangqi Servant of God“He also worked with several Chinese elites, such as Xu Guangqi, in translating Euclid's Elements into Chinese as well as the Confucian classics into Latin for the first time in history.” — Wikipedia
- Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), via New Advent - Matteo Ricci
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints — promulgated decrees (causesanti.va), summarised in our own words
- Wikidata Q233340 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Matteo Ricci (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.