RIPA, MATTEO. - Founder of the College of the Chinese of Naples, b. at Eboli (Salerno) on 29 March 1682, d. at Naples in 1746. After a period of dissolute life, he took the clerical habit at Naples on 26 May 1701; he moved to Rome in 1705. In 1707 he was summoned by Clement XI to take part in the mission that was to carry the cardinal's biretta to Msgr. Carlo Maillard de Tournon, legate in China. R. reached Macao in 1710. After the death of Tournon on 12 July 1710, R., who had been accredited by him for that purpose, having learned the Chinese language at Canton, reached Peking, to the court of the emperor K'ang-hi, on 6 Feb. 1711 in the capacity of artist, and carried on activity as a missionary and as a papal representative.
Opposed by the missionaries, he left Peking with five Chinese and rich gifts on 15 Nov. 1723, landed at Naples on 11 Nov. 1724, and obtained from Rome in March 1725 permission to found in that city a college for the formation of Chinese priests, for which he instituted the Congregation of secular priests, that is, the College of the Holy Family of Jesus Christ, approved by a brief of 7 Apr. 1732, which took over its government. The College was intended for the formation of young Chinese aspiring to the priesthood; to them were soon added pupils coming from the Turkish dominions; besides the property left by R., it was later endowed also by the pontiffs. Following the occupation of the Kingdom in 1860 the College was subject to various vicissitudes, until, the Congregation having been suppressed, its property was liquidated and devoted to lay purposes.
Bibliography2 worksStoria della fondazione della Congregazione e del Collegio de' Cinesi sotto il titolo della S. Famiglia di G. C. scritta dallo stesso fondat
BIBL.:Storia della fondazione della Congregazione e del Collegio de' Cinesi sotto il titolo della S. Famiglia di G. C. scritta dallo stesso fondatore M. R. e dei viaggi da lui fatti, 3 vols., Naples 1832; N. Tchang Ti c'ien, La fondazione del Collegio cinese di Napoli e la formazione del clero cinese fatta da M. R., dissertation for the degree in the Faculty of Theology of the Ateneo urbano de Propaganda Fide, 1943, in Bibliotheca Athenae Urb. de Prop. Fide.
Corvo, Carlo. “Ripa, matteo.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. X, coll. 949–950. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1953. https://azioneromana.com/article/ripa-matteo.
MLA
Corvo, Carlo. “Ripa, matteo.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. X, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1953, coll. 949–950. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/ripa-matteo.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec10_ripa_matteo,
author = {Corvo, Carlo},
title = {Ripa, matteo},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {X},
pages = {949--950},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1953},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/ripa-matteo}
}
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