Michele Ruggieri ——Translating “Four Books” in Europe

       意大利来华传教士罗明坚（Michele Ruggieri, 1543-1607）是第一个到达中国的耶稣会士，万历七年（1579年）奉派抵达澳门，是第一个在中国内地安居下来的传教士。他与利玛窦一起编写了第一部汉语—外文字典—《葡华词典》，应教会领导要求，由他返回罗马，向教廷汇报在中国传教的情况，并希望罗马教廷派遣访华使团。

       由于他以后再没有返回中国，关于他在中西文化交流史上的贡献人们所知不多，人们只知道利玛窦，但确忘记了罗明坚。他的贡献在于：返回欧洲后将《四书》翻译出版，先出版了西班牙文，意大利文，后拉丁文《四书》也已经完成。这是儒家经典第一次在欧洲完整的翻译并出版，可以说，罗明坚是欧洲传播儒家思想第一人，应该恢复他的应有历史地位。

       沉寂四百年的罗明坚是中国天主教事业的开创者，是大航海以后中西文化交流史的重要先驱，是中国古代文化西传的奠基人，是西方汉学的奠基人；罗明坚和利玛窦可以并称双雄。罗明坚长期被淹没在历史的尘埃之中，他的历史贡献今天终被人们所知。

   Michele Ruggieri (1543-1607), an Italian, was the first Jesuit missionary to arrive in China. By order of the church, he arrived at Macau in the 7th year of the reign of Emperor Wanli (1579), being the first to settle in Chinese mainland. He and Ricci coauthored Portuguese-Chinese Dictionary -- the first ever Chinese-foreign dictionary. At the request of the church leaders, he returned to Rome to report to the Vatican on his missionary activities in China and hoped to get the Pope to send an envoy to China.

   As he never returned to China, little is known about his contribution to the history of Chinese and Western cultural exchanges. People only know about Matteo Ricci, but tend to forget Ruggieri. His contribution lies in the translation and publication of Four Books when he was back in Europe (first the Spanish edition, then the Italian one and finally the Latin one). It was the first time that the Confucian classics as a whole had been translated and published in Europe. In this regard, Ruggieri was the first person who disseminated Confucianism to Europe, therefore the historical status he deserved should be restored.

   Ruggieri, who has remained silent for four hundred years, was the founding father of the Jesuit China missions, the pioneer in the history of Chinese and Western cultural exchanges after the great voyage. He laid a foundation for the dissemination of Chinese culture to the West and for Western Sinology. Therefore, Ruggieri was a star as bright as Ricci. Having been buried in history for a long time, Ruggieri’s historical contributions have finally been revealed today.

“文化互译，沟通世界”