Philippe Couplet

Philippe Couplet, SJ (1623–1693), known in China as Bai Yingli, was a Flemish Jesuit missionary to the Qing Empire. He worked with his fellow missionaries to compile the influential ''Confucius, Philosopher of the Chinese'', published in Paris in 1687. As his works were in Latin, he is also sometimes known as .

Life

Early life

Philippe Couplet was born in Mechelen in the Spanish Netherlands (now Belgium)Gerald H. Anderson, ''Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions'', p. 155
/ref> in 1623. He entered the Jesuit Order in 1640.

In China (1656–1681)

Couplet's interest in China was aroused by a lecture by Martino Martini, a former Jesuit missionary there. Couplet initially left for China in 1656, in a group of new Jesuit recruits led by Michał Boym, who was returning to China with the Pope's response to the Southern Ming's Yongli Emperor plea for help.
Couplet took various responsibilities throughout China, but had to take refuge in Canton during the 1665–1670 persecutions.

Couplet worked closely with Candida Xu (, Xu Gandida; 1607–1680), a granddaughter of Xu Guangqi and a devout Christian herself. Under her patronage, he was able to establish a number of new churches throughout Jiangnan.

In Europe (1681–1693)

Couplet was sent back to Europe in 1681 as Procurator of the China Jesuits in Rome. His mission was to obtain papal agreement for the liturgy to be sung in Chinese. On his visit to the Papal States, he gave the Pope a library of Chinese translations of Christian books. While in Europe, his visit to Louis XIV triggered plans for the dispatch of five Jesuit mathematicians to the Chinese Court.

Upon his return to Europe in 1685 Couplet brought with him two Chinese converts, including Michael Shen (Shen Fuzong), one of the first Chinese men known to visit Europe; they saw Italy, France, and England. Soon after, Couplet and Shen answered questions about the nature of the Chinese language posed by linguists in Oxford, Berlin, and Vienna.

In 1686 Couplet published in Paris ''Tabula chronologica monarchiae sinicae'', a "chronological table of the Chinese monarchy", in an attempt to show that there was agreement between the Septuagint and the Chinese chronological records. To prove his point he had to add 1400 years to the time period that existed between Creation and the birth of Abraham. This however did not satisfy the European intelligentsia or the missionaries in China. His work nevertheless had a major impact in other areas of European science.University of Barcelona website
/ref> Leibniz, for example, was able to establish, after communicating with the Jesuits, that the binary system he had invented also existed in the Yijing.

In 1687, leading Prospero Intorcetta, Christian Wolfgang Herdtrich, and François de Rougemont, Couplet published ''Confucius Sinarum Philosophus'' ("Confucius, Philosopher of the Chinese"), an annotated translation of three out of the Four Books of the Confucian canon. The work—parts of which had appeared earlier in separate, little known, editions—built upon the efforts of several generations of Jesuit missionaries and was dedicated to Louis XIV. The preface to the translationSee Urs App, ''The Birth of Orientalism'', Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2010 (), pp. 146–159, for a discussion of the important role of this preface in the Western discovery of Buddhism. highly praised the works of Confucius:

Although wanting to return to China, he had to wait until a dispute between the vicars apostolic of the Asian missions (to which he had taken an oath of obedience) and the Portuguese ''padroado'' system (his initial tutelary organization) was resolved. After an agreement was reached eight years later, Couplet finally left for China. As he was en route, however, a heavy chest fell on his head during a storm in the Arabian Sea, severely injuring the septuagenarian Jesuit. He died the next day, 16 May 1693, as his ship was about to reach Goa.Mungello, p. 257

Works

* .
*''Breve Raguaglio delle Cose piu Notabili Spettanti al Grand'Imperio della Cina'' (1687)
* .
*''Histoire d'une dame chrétienne de la Chine où par occasion les usages de ces peuples, l'établissement de la religion, les manieres des missionaires, & les exercices de pieté des nouveaux chrétiens sont expliquez'' (Paris, 1688). Biography of Candida X
Free Online Digital VersionStaatsbibliotek zu Berlin

See also

*Jesuit China missions

References

Citations

Bibliography

*Anderson, Gerald H. (1999) ''Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions'', Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing,

*Ballaster, Rosalind (2005) ''Fables of the East: Selected Tales 1662-1785'', Oxford University Press,
*Hobson, John M. (2004) ''The Eastern Origins of Western Civilization'', Cambridge University Press,

{{DEFAULTSORT:Couplet
1623 births
1693 deaths
Jesuits from the Spanish Netherlands
Jesuit missionaries in China
Clergy from Mechelen
17th-century writers in Latin