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Biography of Toms Pereira SJ, China missionary a

Name and Name Modications: Pereyra Chinese: Xu Risheng

Relevance for the China Mission: Toms Pereira did not belong to the well-known missionaries of the China a mission, but he had an important place at the Imperial Court of emperor Kangxi. He played an eminent role for the spread of European music at the Court and was important for the Treaty of Nerchinsk in 1689. Dates of Birth and Death: () 1 November 1645 in S. Martinho do Valle, diocese Braga, Portugal () 24 December 1708 in Peking (Beijing), China Family Data: Toms Pereira was born into a noble family, the Costa-Pereira. a Pereira joined the Society of Jesus on 25 September 1661. He made his four solemn vows on 15 August 1680 in Peking. Education: Pereira made his studies at the Jesuits College in Braga, Portugal. He nished his studies in Goa (India) or in Macau, which both belonged to the Portuguese sphere of inuence for trade and mission. Mission: Because Portugal had the right of the Padroado, Portuguese Jesuits had not to apply to the Jesuit General by Indipetae for the Far Eastern mission, but their cases were directly dealt with in Portugal. Therefore Pereira was permitted to the Far East already in 1666. Departure from Portugal: 15 April 1666. Pereira reached China in 1672 China and was ordered to the Imperial Court in Peking because of his knowledge in music; he arrived in Peking on January

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1673. Professional Career: Pereira was able that he could play tones on the harpsichord (a predecessor of the piano) after having heard them only once, which much impressed the Kangxi (1662-1722). In the following years, he served the emperor in several functions: he wrote a treaty on European music (True teaching on music), which was published as 5th juan of the Ll shengyi in 1713. Together with uu his Belgian confrere Antoine Thomas (1644-1709), he served as the teacher of the emperor: Thomas prepared the mathematical lectures, but his knowledge of the Chinese language was not sucient, so that Pereira helped to translate and to teach the emperor. When the Fleming Ferdinand Verbiest (1623-1688), the European president of the Astronomical Tribunal, died in January 1688, des Astronomischen Tribunals, starb, the Piedmontese Claudio Filippo Grimaldi (1638-1712) became his sucessor on 9 April 1688. But as a mission procurator and legate of the emperor, he was absent from China from 1686 until August 1694. In his absence, Pereira and Antoine Thomas became his substitutes at the Astronomical Tribunal. They were the responsible ones for the ocial Chinese calendar. In January 1688, the rst French Jesuits arrived in Peking, who had been sent by the French king Louis XIV in a so-to-say scientic mission to China: they should exchange data with the Acadmie des Sciences in Paris, e they should propagate the Catholic faith and French inuence. Pereira as a strong adherent of the Portuguese Padroado, whose inuence was over the whole of China, was not very pleased about this concurrence of the French Jesuits. Two French Jesuits stayed in Peking, namely Jean-Franois Gerc billon (1654-1707) and Joachim Bouvet (1656-1730), who were considered as intruders by Pereira. They became teacher of the emperor in European sciences, too. At the same time, secular priests arrived in China, who had been sent by the Sacra Congregatio de Propaganda Fide, the Roman headquarter for mission. The dierent groups had conicts between each other on the dominance in China, because the Propaganda Fide planned to establish Apostolic Vicariates in Chin, which overlapped with the Portuguese diocese Macau, which caused controversies. After the erection of the two rst Apostolic Vicariates in China, Portugal succeeded to obtain two more bishoprics from the Holy See in 1690, namely Peking and Nanking. In 1696, China was divided into three bishoprics and twelve Apostolic Vicariates. In 1689, Pereira was an important participant and interpreter at the negotiations for the treaty of Nerchinsk. The borders between Russia and China

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should be xed. The problem of the negotiations was that none of the two parties accepted relations between two powers having equal rights: the others were always inferior and had to pay tribute. The Russian delegation came under prince Feodor Alekseyevich Golovin (1650-1706), the Chinese delegation came with the uncle of the empress, the Manchu prince Songgotu (+ 1703). Pereira chose as his companion the French Jesuit Jean-Franois Gerc billon. Language of the negotiations between the two parties was Latin, but perhaps prince Golowin was able to speak and understand French, so that perhaps Gerbillon prepared the treaty (Paul Rule). The negotiations were brought to an end with the Treaty of Nerchinsk, dated 7 of September 1689, which is not considered as an unequal treaty, and where the course of the border between Russia and China was xed. Later, the German philosopher and China admirer Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716) published one of the relations about that in treaty in his Novissima Sinica (1697). Pereira also became an important man within the Society of Jesus. From 1692 until 1695, he was Vice-Provincial of China, i.e. the superior of all Jesuits in the Vice-Province of China. At the same times, he also became Vice-Visitor, i.e. substitute for the Visitor (in this case, the highest Jesuit superior in the whole Far East) Francisco Nogueira (1632-1696). For the emperor, Pereira represented the speaker of all Jesuits at the Court. In 1692, he belonged to the Court Jesuits who succeeded to obtain the Edict of Tolerance, which was issued by the Kangxi emperor on 22 of March 1692. Already Verbiest had tried to obtain a such an edict for the Christian faith in China. The Jesuits obtained it after a local persecution. This promising situation changed when on 26 March 1693, the Vicar Apostolic of Fujian, Charles Maigrot (1652-1730), issued his Mandate prohibiting the Rites for Confucius and the ancestors and all Chinese names for God except Tianzhu (Lord of Heaven). This Mandate was submitted to the Holy Inquisition in Rome. As counteraction, the Jesuits in China collected testimonies of Chinese against it. The Court Jesuits with Pereira also interviewed the Kangxi emperor. On 30 of November 1700, he answered that the veneration of parents and teachers were a natural feeling of all beings. This was brought to Rome and also printed in 1701 under the title Brevis Relatio eorum, qu spectant ad Declarationem Sinarum Imperatoris Kam Hi circa Cli, Cumfucii, et Avorum cultum, datam anno 1700. Accedunt Primatum, Doctissimorumque virorum, et antiquissim Traditionis testimonia (Peking 1701; Canton 1701). Clement XI sent in 1702 a legate with special power to China to publish the future conrmation of Maigrots Mandate. But the legation of Charles-

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Thomas Maillard de Tournon (1668-1710) in China not only failed, but as a failure. His assertion that Confucianism and Christianity were incompatible and his demand that the Chinese Christians should obey a foreign power in Rome met resistance on the side of the emperor. Tournon was expelled to Macau in 1707, where he as imprisoned by the Portuguese and died in 1710. At the time of the legation, the Jesuits had started to rebuild the Portuguese church in Peking, the Xitang (West Church, later called Nantang). For this reconstruction, the emperor had lent money to the Jesuits that worked for them, i.e. they used it to get interests. When Tournon got to know about this negotiations, he condemned them. The stress of the legation and the fear for the future of Christianity in China were quite sure reasons that Pereira suered a sudden stroke and died on 24 December 1708. The emperor sent money for his funeral and an eulogium. The funeral was with great pomp on 10 January 1709, Pereira was buried on the cemetery of Zhalan, nearby the tombs of other Jesuits: Matteo Ricci (1552-1610), Johann Adam Schall von Bell (1592-1666), Ferdinand Verbiest, and others, but the tombstone disappeared at the beginning of the 20th century. Pereira also introduced the rst organ in Peking in the Xitang, and also a chime. But he did not leave many written things. His best-known writing was the Ll Zhengyi Xubian, the rst treaty on European music in Chinese uu language. It was nished by the Lazarist Teodorico Pedrini (1671-1746) and included into the Imperial collection Siku Quanshu in the chapter on computations of the calendar and acoustics. Pereira also wrote a treatise on Buddhism, but his attitude towards it was the same as that of all missionaries: he refused it. Publications Toms Pereira: a Together with Ferdinand Verbiest, Filippo Grimaldi and Gabriel de Magalhaes: Libu tigao, s.a.: vol. Nicolas Standaert, Ad Dudink (eds.), Yesu hui Luoma dang an guan Ming Qing tian zhu jiao wen xian (Chinese Christian texts from the Roman Archives of the Society of Jesus), 12 vols. (Taibei 2002), vol. 12, # 87. Together with Antoine Thomas: Nan xiansheng xingshu, in: Nicolas Standaert, Ad Dudink, Nathalie Monnet (eds.), Faguo guo jia tu shu guan Ming Qing tian zhu jiao wen xian. Di shi er ce (Chinese Christian Texts from the National Library of France = Textes chrtiens chinois e de la biblioth`que nationale de France) (Taipei 2009), vol. 12, # 74. e

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Peireiras treatise on Buddhism is in: Ferno de Queiroz (1617-1687) a (ed.), Conquista temporal e espiritual de Ceylo (was only published in a Colombo, 1916), book 1, chapters 17-19. Joseph Sebes (ed., intr., transl.), The Jesuits and the Sino-Russian Treaty of Nerchinsk (1689). The Diary of Thoma Pereira S.J. (Rom 1961), Portuguese: Joseph Sebes, O Diario do Padre Toms Pereira. a Os Jesutas e o Tratado Sino-Russo de Nerchinsk (1689) (Roma 1999). Scientic Honors: As a special grace from the emperor, on the backside of the tombstone was the Chinese text of the Edict of Tolerance, because Pereira had helped so much to obtain it. The emperor also granted an inscription on the rebuilt Xitang, which praised God, the origin of all things, who has no beginning and no end and is innite good and just. Toms Pereira Bibliography: a About the Edict of Tolerance: Jos Suarez (ed.), La libertad de la ley de Dios, en el Imperio de la China. e Compvesta por el Rmo. P. Ioseph Suarez, de la Compaia de Iesus, Rector n del Colegio de Pekim, corte de aquel vastissimo Imperio. Y tradvcida de la lengva Potvgvesa ` la Castellana, por Don Juan de Espinola, &c. Dedicada a al Rm. P. M. Tyrso Gonalez de Santalla, Preposito General de la misma c Compaia de Jesvs (Lisboa 1696), also in: Gottfried Wihelm Leibniz (ed.), n Novissima Sinica (1697; 1699) pp. 1-148. Charles Le Gobien (ed.), Histoire de ledit de lempereur de la Chine en faveur de la Religion Chrestienne (Paris 1698), German: Des heutigen Sina dritter Teil / oder Historischer Bericht Des Edictes / welches der ietzo regierende Kyser in Sina der Christlichen Religion zum besten ergehen lassen a (Frankfurt, Leipzig 1700). Georg Pray, Geschichte der Steitigkeiten uber die chinesischen Gebruche, a worinn ihr Ursprung, Fortgang und Ende in drey Bnden dargestellt wird a vol. 1 (Augsburg 1791) pp. 364f. Other Literature: Joseph Dehergne, Rpertoire des Jsuites de Chine de e e 1552 ` 1800 (Paris, Rome 1973). a Louis Pster, Notices biographiques et bibliographiques sur les Jsuites de e lancienne Mission de la Chine (Chang-hai 1932-1934). Nicolas Standaert (ed.), Handbook of Christianity in China. Volume One: 635-1800 (Handbook of Oriental Studies, section 4: China 15/1. Handbuch

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der Orientalistik, Abt. 4: China 15) (Leiden, Boston, Kln 2001). o Robert Streit, Bibliotheca Missionum, vols. 5 und 7 (Freiburg 1929, 1932). Claudia von Collani, Charles Maigrots Role in the Chinese Rites Controversy, in: David E. Mungello (ed.), The Chinese Rites Controversy. Its History and Meaning (Monumenta Serica Monograph Series 33) (Nettetal 1994) pp. 149-183. Gerlinde Gild-Bohne, Das Ll Zheng Yi Xubian. Ein Jesuitentraktat uber uu die europische Notation in China von 1713 (Orbis Musicorum 8) (Gttingen a o 1991). Gerlinde Gild, The Introduction of European Musical Theory during the Early Qing Dynasty. The Achievements of Thomas Pereira and Theodorico Pedrini, in: Roman Malek, S.V.D. (ed.), Western Learning and Christianity in China. The Contribution and Impact of Johann Adam Schall von Bell (1592-1666) (Monumenta Serica Monograph Series Vol. XXXV/1-2) (Sankt Augustin 1998) pp. 1189-1199. Csar Guilln-Nuez, Toms Pereira, S.J., and the Eclipse of the Pore e n a tuguese Padroado, Chinese Cross Currents 5,3 (2008) pp. 64-73. Catherine Jami, Tom Pereira (1645-1708), clockmaker, musician and ine terpreter at the Kanxi Court: Portuguese interests and the transmission of science, in: Lu Saraiva, Catherine Jami (eds.), History of Mathematical s Sciences: Portugal and East Asia III (New Jersey, London 2008) pp. 187204; E.J. Malatesta/Z. Gao (eds.), Departed, yet Present. Zhalan. The Oldest Christian Cemetery in Beijing (Macau, San Francisco 1995). J.-M. Planchet, Le cimeti`re de Chala et les oeuvres catholiques 1610-1927 e (Peking 1928). Francis A. Rouleau, Maillard de Tournon, Papal Legate at the Court of Peking. The First Imperial Audience (31 December 1705), Archivum Historicum Societatis Jesu 31 (1962) pp. 264-323. Antnio Vasconcelos de Saldanha, De Kangxi para o Papa pela via de Poro tugal, vols. I-III (Lisboa 2002). Antnio Vasconcelos de Saldanha, Fr. Toms Pereira, S.J.: An Exero a cise on Intellect, Loyality and Moral Authority, Chinese Cross Currents 5,3 (2008) pp. 52-63. Cheng-chi Wu, Die Ursprnge des Chinesisch-Sowjetischen Grenzkoniktes u (Bochum 1986). Toms Pereira, S.J. (1645-1708) - Life, Work and World 13.-15. Oktober a 2008, Lissabon, Centro Cientico e Cultural de Macau: Joo Francisco Marques, The humanist training of Fr. Toms Pereira (1645a a

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1708) in the context of the Jesuit education of sixteen hundreds; Ana Cristina Costa Gomes, From So Martinjo do Vale to Goa (1645-1666). a The birth, family and early studies of Toms Pereira; a Ines G. Zupanov, Toms Pereira and the Jesuit knowledge of Buddhism; a Jorge dos Santos Alves, Macao at the gates of the 18th century (1670-1700). An overall vision; Wang Bing, A Survey of the works of Thomas Pereira; Ugo Baldini, Pereiras superior in Beijingss mission: Claudio Filippo Grimaldi as a scientist; Isabel Pina, Beyond Bejing; Pedro Lage Reis Correia, Between centers and peripheries: the denition of the space of the politico-religious action of Toms Pereira. An analysis of a correspondence sent to Europe (1673-1708); Elisabetta Corsi, Art and Baroque visuality in Beijing during the reign of Kangxi; James K. Chin, Toms Pereira S.J. and the Sino-Russian Treaty of Nerchinsk; a Elisabetta Colla, G.F. Gemelli Careri, ction or reality? Nol Golvers, F. Verbiest, G. Magalhes, T. Pereyra and the others: The e a portrait of an extra-ordinary professional milieu (Xitang, 1670-1688); Mariagrazia Russo, Toms Pereira and the Italian Jesuits a Daniela Dumbrava, Statejnyj spisok & The Diary of Thomas Pereira S.J., The two main European sources about Nercinsk Treaty (1689); Ronnie Po-Chia Hsia, Pereira, French Jesuits and the Kangxi Emperor; Willy Vande Walle, Ferdinand Verbiest and geographic intelligence on the Tartar Land. In Beijing, a conference took place on the History of Mathematical Sciences: Portugal and East Asia IV, 6.-8. November 2008: Rui Magone, Portugal and the Jesuit mission to China: new trends in historiography; Alexei Volkov, The Jesuits in Vietnam: evangelisation, science, and politics; Henrique Leito, How China inuenced mathematical practice in Portugal: a the Jesuit long distance network of schools; Hs Kuang-tai, Donglinist Xiong Mingyus three-stage acceptance of Westu ern learning: from Ze cao to Gezhi cao; Sun Chengshen, Transformation and assimilation: the response of Chinese literati to Western cosmology in the late King and early Qing period; Tian Miao, Western learning and Han learning during the Qianlong and Jiaqing reigns; Han Qi, The Jesuits and the study of Chinese astronomy in the 17th and 18th centuries;

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Nii Yoko, The French Jesuit Amiot and Chinese Music in the 18th century; Isabel Pina, Some data on Toms Pereiras life and deeds; a Davor Antonucci, Pereiras trip to Tartary; Wang Bing, Thomas Pereira and the knowledge of Western music in the 17th and 18th century China; Joyce Lindor, Pereiras contributions to the Ll Zhengyi in the context of uu the 17th century European music theory; Efthymios Nicolaidis, Verbiests manuscript on astronomy and mechanics (1676): from Beijing to Moscow and Constantinople; Watanabe Junsei, Two Manchu manuscripts on mathematics at the Toyo Bunko and the Biblioth`que nationale de France; e Shi Yunli, A new thermoscope and a slice of Boyles experimental philosophy at the Kangxi Court; Catherine Jami, The material culture of imperial mathematics: cannon, pendulum and scales in the Yuzhi shuli jingyun (1723); Lu Dalong, The theory of lunar motion in the Yuzhi Lixiang Kaocheng (1723); Liu Dun, Yan Jiale (Karel Slav cek) and his scientic work in China; Ugo Baldini, Guillaume Fabre-Bonjour OSA (1670-1714): antiquarian, linguist, scientist; Lim Jongtae, Western Astronomy vs. Korean Geography: Intellectual Exchanges between a Korean and the Jesuits Seen from Yi Kijis 1720 Beijing Travelogue. Conference: Na Luz a na sombra de um Imperador - In the Light and Shadow of an Emperor: Toms Pereira, S.J. (1645-1708), the Kangxi Ema peror and the Jesuit Mission in China Lissabon, Museu do Oriente, 10.-12. November 2008. This was a symposium in two parts for the 300th anniversary of the death of Toms Pereira, organized by the Ricci-Institute Macau a together with the Technical University Lisbon and the Faculty of Science of the University of Lisbon. The symposium took place in Lisbon and in Macau (27.-29. November 2008): Keynote: Paul Rule, Toms Pereira and a the Jesuits of the court of Kangxi; Ku Weiying, Fr. Toms Pereira S.J., Emperor Kangxi and the Court Westa erners; Zhang Xianqing, The image of Toms Pereira as seen from Chinese docua ments during the Qing dynasty; Jin Guoping, Amicissimos: Toms Pereira and Zhao Chang; a Ad Dudink, Riding a Crane She Ascended to the Remote Regions: Pereira and the last memorial of Verbiest; Rui Magone, The F and the Xeki: Toms Pereiras Critical Description of o a a

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Chinese Buddhism; Nol Golvers, F. Verbiests 1678 letter to King Afonso VI, and the possible e role of Toms Pereira in its conception; a Henrique Leito, Portuguese Jesuits and the scientic apostolate during a Toms Pereiras time; a Antonella Romano, Defending European astronomy in China . . . against Europe: Toms Pereira and the Tribunal of Mathematics in 1688; a Nicolas Standaert, The Edict of Tolerance Revisited; Tereza Sena, After the Edict. Toms Pereiras appeal to Coimbra and the a Portuguese recruitment to China; Eugenio Menegon, Ubi Dux, Ibi Curia: Kangxis Imperial hunts and the Jesuits: Sciences and arts for the summer retreat (1680s); Francisco Rocque de Oliveira, Six months from Beijing to Lhasa, four months from Beijing to Moscow. Jesuit surveys for a secure overland route from China to Europe in the seventeenth century; Peter Perdue, The Jesuits at Nerchinsk: Language, War, and Ethnicity; Tao Yabing, On Toms Pereiras Musical writings; a Gerlinde Gild, Mission by Music. The challenge of translating European music into Chinese in the Ll Zuanyao; uu Joo Paulo Janeiro, The organist and organ builder Toms Pereira: some a a newly discovered sources; Peter Allsop, Toms Pereiras musical successor: Teodorico Pedrini - reluca tant maestro and missionario apostolico; Joo de Deus Ramos, Toms Pereira, Jing Tian and Nerchinsk: Chinas a a evolving world-view during the Kangxi period; Claudia von Collani, From the earthly Court to the Heavenly Court - Toms a Pereiras funeral in 1709; Antnio Vasconcelos de Saldanha, The last Imperial honors, Nantang, Toms o a Pereira and the eulogium of the Europaeorum Doctorum in 1711; Gong Yingyan, The Fruits in the Light and Shadow of Kangxis Edict - a Study of Some Chinese Documents Kept in the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana; Thierry Meynard, The conditional service of missionaries to the Court and the opposition of Han literati; Shi Yumin, Textual Researches on the Position and Construction of the Qing Dynasty Qintianjian Yashu (Qing dynasty Astronomical Bureau); Vladimir Stepanovich Myasnikov, Toms Pereira at the Nerchinsk Confera ence; Csar Guillen-Nuez, Toms Pereira, the Nantang, Its Organ and the Introe n a duction of Roman Catholic Church Architecture in Beijing; Yu Sanle, The Vicissitudes of the Portuguese Seminary in Beijing and the

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10

Misfortune of the Tombstone of Toms Pereira. a Author(s) of this contribution: Claudia von Collani

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