An Unforseen Mission: Matteo Ricci and Korea

Matteo Ricci (1552∼1610), an Italian Jesuit missionary from Macerata, has for several centuries received a great deal of attention in East Asia, despite remaining generally unknown in Europe. In addition, Ricci’s Chŏnju sirŭi (天主實義) [The True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven], despite being famous in China and Korea, is generally unknown to Westerners, with the exception of a select number of researchers and academics. Chŏnju sirŭi (天主實義), which was brought from Beijing by Korean envoys, after being initially criticised, eventually stimulated a group of Koreans to convert to this foreign ‘Western Learning’ (西學), as it was known towards the end of the eighteenth century. This paper has three objectives: firstly, to examine Matteo Ricci’s private letters and journal (written in Italian) for information on Korea, which is extremely important from a historiographical point of view, and which has been generally overlooked or ignored completely. Secondly, it examines Ricci’s accommodation to Confucian ways, culminating in Chŏnju sirŭi (天主實義), usually referred to by Ricci in his own writings as a “catechism”. It highlights Ricci’s rejection of the Neo-Confucian ideas of Zhu Xi (朱熹; 1130∼1200), and his proposal to return to “original” Confucianism, at a time when Neo-Confucianism had firmly taken root in Korea, producing great scholars such as Yi Hwang (李滉; 1501∼1570) and Yi I (李珥; 1536∼1584). Thirdly, I will outline the complicated reception of Ricci’s Catholic ideas in Korea, from their initial rejection, to their acceptance by a group of Korean Confucian scholar’s, where they would revolutionize Korea’s religious and intellectual landscape, leading many women to get involved with a “dangerous” doctrine which taught them about equality.