Michele Ruggieri

Michele Ruggieri (1543, Spinazzola, Bari, Italy – 11 May 1607, Salerno, Italy; Chinese: 羅明堅; pinyin: Luó Míngjiān) was an Italian Jesuit priest. One of the founding fathers of the Jesuit China missions, and a co-author of the first Portuguese-Chinese dictionary, he can be described as the first European sinologist.

Born Pompilio Ruggieri in Spinazzola, Puglia in 1543, he obtained, in Naples, a doctorate in utroque iure, that is: in civil and canon law, and was employed in the administration of Philip II. He entered the Society of Jesus on 27 October 1572, in Rome, taking the name "Michele". After completing the Jesuit usual spiritual and intellectual formation Ruggieri volunteered for the Asian missions and left for Lisbon, where he was ordained in March 1578 while waiting for a ship to take him to Goa.

Ruggieri left Europe with a group of missionaries which included Rudolph Acquaviva and Matteo Ricci. Arriving in India (September 1578), he promptly started to study the language used on the Malabar coast and in 6 months reached such proficiency that he could hear confession. It is probably this gift for language that made him an ideal choice for the beginning of the Chinese mission.

Ruggieri was assigned to Macau to study the Chinese language and customs, arriving 20 July 1579. He landed at the Portuguese trade centre and started at once to learn to read and write Chinese. In the process, and aware that several will be following him, he set up Shengma'erding Jingyuan ("St Martin House"), the first school for teaching Chinese to foreigners.

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