TRIGAULT, NICOLAS. - Jesuit, missionary and explorer, b. at Douai on 3 March 1577, d. at Nanking on 14 Nov. 1628.

Having entered the Order in 1594, he set out in 1606 with Fr. Adam Schall for the missions of East Asia; in 1610 he is at Macao and shortly afterwards in China. But he remained there only two years, during which he was able to gather a knowledge, if not extensive, at least reliable, of the state of the mission, because at the end of 1612 Fr. N. Longobardi sent him to Europe to deal with various questions in Rome. He made the journey by land, crossing India, Persia, Arabia and Egypt, and arrived in Rome in 1615. There, having given the necessary information, he sought and obtained substantial alms, especially from the dukes of Bavaria; he collected an abundant quantity of books, a treasure, even today, among the most precious, of the ancient mission of Peking; he obtained from Paul V (brief of 26 March 1615) ample privileges in favour of Chinese Christianity, among them the concession of the liturgy in the Chinese language of the scholars and the use of a head covering in the celebration of Mass, since in China a solemn act could not be performed bareheaded. Of these concessions only that of the head covering was put into effect; the others were not, and the reason is still unclear. In 1617 he set out again on the return journey with 44 new Jesuit missionaries and devoted himself to composing other works.

His principal work is De christiana expeditione apud Sinas, suscepta a Societate Jesu, ex P. Ricci Commentoris (Augsburg 1615), soon translated into various languages, of great importance for the information found in it; there also remain various letters on his voyage in India (Cologne 1620), on the work carried out in Rome (v. bibl.) and, unpublished, the narrative of his journey by land from China to Rome. He also published: De christianis apud Japonios triumphis... et de gravissima presecutione exorta anno 1612 usque 1620 (Munich 1623); Vita Gasparis Barzaei (Antwerp 1610).

Bibliography10 works

BIBL.: Sommervogel, VII, 237-44; Streit, V, p. 708 and passim-Studi; C. Deshaines, Vie du p. N. T. de la C. de J., Tournai 1864; H. Bosmans, Docum. relatifs à la liturgie chinoise, in Anal. Boll., 33 (1914), pp. 274-83; A. Brou, Notes pour servir à l'hist. du clergé indigène en Chine, in Rev. d'hist. des Missions, 3 (1926), pp. 519-40; L. Pfister, Nature, biogr. et bibliogr. sur les Jésuites de l'ancienne mission de Chine, I, Sciangai 1933, pp. 111-20; A. Vith, J. A. Schall von Bell S. I., Colonia 1933, pp. 31-44; A. M. Beghedo, I doni del Duca di Parma Ranuccio I Farnese per l'Imperatore della Cina, in Le Missioni ill., 35 (1938), pp. 280-86; E. Lamalle, La propagande du p. N. T. en faveur des missions de Chine (1616), in Arch. hist. S. I., 9 (1940), pp. 49-120 (unpublished letter of T. on his work in Rome, pp. 90-120). On the De christiana expeditione, derived from the work of Fr. M. Ricci, on its value etc., v. P. D'Elia, Daniele Bartoli e N. T., in Rev. stor. ital., 5th series, 3 (1938), pp. 77-92; id., Fonti ricciane, III, Rome 1949, index, pp. 276-77.

Celestino Testore

@incollection{ec12_trigault_nicolas, author = {Testore, Celestino}, title = {Trigault, nicolas}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {XII}, pages = {525}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1954}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/trigault-nicolas} }

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Trigault, Nicolas

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