RIPA, MATTEO. - Founder of the Chinese College of Naples, born in Eboli (Salerno) on March 29, 1682, died in Naples in 1746. After a period of dissipated life, he took clerical vows in Naples on May 26, 1701; he moved to Rome in 1705. In 1707, Clement XI called him to join the mission that was to bring the cardinal's hat to Monsignor Carlo Maillard de Tournon, legate in China. R. arrived in Macao in 1710. After the death of Tournon on July 12, 1710, R., who had been accredited by him for this purpose, having learned the Chinese language in Canton, reached Peking at the court of Emperor K'ang-hsi on February 6, 1711, as an artist, and carried out missionary and papal representative activities.
Opposed by the missionaries, he left Peking on November 15, 1723, with five Chinese and rich gifts, landed in Naples on November 11, 1724, and obtained from Rome in March 1725 permission to found in that city a college for the training of Chinese priests. For this purpose, he established the Congregation of Secular Priests, known as the College of the Holy Family of Jesus Christ, approved by a brief of April 7, 1732, which took over its governance. The College was intended for the formation of young Chinese aspiring to the priesthood; soon after, students from Turkish-dominated territories were also admitted. It was endowed not only with the goods left by R. but also by the popes. Following the occupation of the Kingdom in 1860, the College underwent various vicissitudes until, with the suppression of the Congregation, its assets were liquidated and transferred to secular purposes.