BUGLIO, LUDOVICO. - Jesuit missionary and renowned sinologist, b. at Mineo (Sicily) on 25 Jan. 1606, d. at Peking on 12 Oct. 1682. He entered the Society in 1622, embarked at Lisbon for the Orient in 1635, and arrived at Macao in 1637, from where he penetrated into the Chinese Empire after two years of study of the language. He first preached in Kiangnan (1639), then founded new churches in Szechwan, and in 1642 received the assistance of Fr. Gabriele de Magalhães. In 1643, Szechwan was invaded by the brigand Chang Hsien-chung, who wished to employ the two missionaries in mathematical work, with the title of mandarins, but they narrowly escaped being soon victims of his sanguinary whims. After Hsien-chung was killed by Tartar troops, Buglio and Magalhães were taken to Peking by the victors as prisoners of war (1648).
Fr. Johann Adam Schall, who was very influential at the court of the first Manchu emperor, succeeded in saving their lives but not in obtaining their release. The incident gave rise to unpleasant disputes among the missionaries and especially to a campaign of denunciations against Fr. Schall (on these incidents cf. A. Vath, Johann Adam Schall von Bell, Cologne 1923, pp. 253-261). In 1651 the two fathers were released and erected a new church at Peking (T’ung-t’ang), making it a center of Catholic life. Reconciliation among the missionaries only occurred when the minority of the new emperor K’ang-hsi gave occasion for an attack on Fr. Schall by Chinese and Muslim astronomers. Buglio, who had replied to the libels of the accusers, was arrested with the other Peking fathers (Schall, Verbiest, and Magalhães) and condemned by the Li-pu tribunal (1664). Public disasters prevented the execution of the sentence (death for Fr. Schall, exile for the others), and the fathers remained in Peking, but only later (1669 and 1671), when K’ang-hsi took personal control of the government, did they regain full freedom for their apostolate and public worship. Buglio was thus able to spend his last years in peace at Peking. He also became known for having taught Chinese painters the rules of European perspective. The emperor ordered that his funeral be performed in a solemn manner, as we know from a report by Fr. Filippo Grimaldi.
Buglio made a notable contribution to the development of Chinese Christian literature. His works include translations to make possible the introduction of a Chinese liturgy (already conceded by Paul V in 1615 but not put into effect; requested again from Rome several times afterward, but without success): *Missale Romanum auctoritate Pauli V Pont. Max. sinice redditum* (Peking 1670); *Breviarium Romanum sinice redditum* (ibid. 1674, incomplete); *Manuale ad sacramenta ministranda iuxta ritum S. Rom. Eccl. sinice redditum* (ibid. 1675). His translations of the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin and the Office of the Dead were reprinted several times at T’ou-se-wei and Peking in 1800 and 1900. His masterwork, the translation of a large part of the *Summa theologica* of St. Thomas (30 vols., plus 4 of indices, Peking 1654-79), was reprinted at Peking in 1930.