Matteo Ricci and Foreign Missionaries' Cemetery

Matteo Ricci and Foreign Missionaries' Cemetery

The Matteo Ricci and Foreign Missionaries' Cemetery is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

The Matteo Ricci and Foreign Missionaries' Cemetery, officially known as the Tomb of Matteo Ricci and the Cemetery of Foreign Missionaries Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, is located on Chegongzhuang Street in Xicheng District, Beijing.

The original tomb of Matteo Ricci had a rectangular burial chamber facing south. Behind the tomb was a Western-style domed hexagonal pavilion that housed a cross. In front of the tomb were stone offerings and a stele inscribed by Wang Yinglin, the Prefect of Shuntian Prefecture during the Ming Dynasty. The entire cemetery was enclosed by a brick wall, with a stone-paved pathway outside the southern gate and a stone memorial archway in front of the tomb, prominently inscribed with the characters “Imperially Bestowed.” Hence, it was later also referred to as the Stone Gate Cemetery. Afterward, a number of foreign missionaries from the Ming and Qing periods were buried here.

During the Boxer Rebellion in 1900 (the 26th year of the Guangxu reign in the Qing Dynasty), the cemetery was damaged and some auxiliary structures were destroyed. Later, the Qing government restored the cemetery and built a new church, embedding 77 tombstones into the exterior walls of the church. During the Cultural Revolution, the tomb of Matteo Ricci and those of nearby missionaries were leveled, the church was demolished, and the tombstones of Matteo Ricci and others were buried underground.

In 1984, the cemetery was restored. The renovated site was divided into two adjacent cemeteries facing south, one on the east and one on the west, both surrounded by brick flower walls. The eastern courtyard, measuring 25.7 meters north-south and 15.5 meters east-west, is a memorial stele forest for 60 missionaries from the Ming and Qing periods, including Lodovico Buglio. The western courtyard is set back 15 meters north compared to the eastern one and houses the tombs of three missionaries: Matteo Ricci, Johann Adam Schall von Bell, and Ferdinand Verbiest. Matteo Ricci’s tomb is in the center, with those of Schall von Bell and Verbiest on the right and left respectively. All three tombs follow the layout of a stele in front and a mound behind. The restored tomb of Matteo Ricci faces south, stands 1.5 meters high, and measures 2.4 meters long and 1.3 meters wide. In front of the tomb is a stele inscribed with “Tomb of Father Ricci of the Society of Jesus,” dated to the 38th year of the Wanli reign (1610). The stele has a dragon-headed square base, is 2.7 meters high and 0.94 meters wide, with a base that is 0.6 meters high and 1.2 meters wide. About 1 meter behind the stele lies the tomb mound.

In May 2006, the Matteo Ricci and Foreign Missionaries' Cemetery was approved by the State Council for inclusion in the sixth group of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units.

Matteo Ricci (October 6, 1552 – May 11, 1610), also known as Xitai or alternatively as Qingtai and Xijiang, was an Italian Catholic Jesuit missionary and scholar. He came to China to preach during the Wanli era of the Ming Dynasty. His original name, translated literally into Chinese, is Mǎdì'āo Lìqí; Ricci is his Chinese name. According to the “Inscription on the Stele of Li” written by Wang Yinglin, “In the Gengchen year of the Wanli reign, a Western scholar named Matteo Ricci, also called Xitai, along with several companions, sailed across ninety thousand li to visit China.”

Matteo Ricci was one of the earliest pioneers of Catholic missionary work in China and the first to read Chinese literature and... More details about Matteo Ricci ++

Further reading:

· Third Batch of Municipal-Level Cultural Relics Protection Units in Beijing

· Sixth Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units