Vittorio or Victorio Riccio or Ricci (18 January 1621 – 17 February 1685) was an Italian Dominican

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

, scholar and diplomat in the Philippines and south-east China, later named the first Prefect Apostolic of

Terra Australis (Latin for ) was a hypothetical continent first posited in antiquity and which appeared on maps between the 15th and 18th centuries. Its existence was not based on any survey or direct observation, but rather on the idea that continental l ...

Biography

Vittorio Riccio was born in

Fiesole Fiesole () is a town and ''comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Florence in the Italian region of Tuscany, on a scenic height above Florence, 5 km (3 miles) northeast of that city. It has structures dating to Etruscan and Roman times. ...

, near

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

, in 1621. He joined the Dominican order and taught philosophy in their house of studies in Fiesole. He was recruited for missionary work in the East by Juan Bautista Morales, who sent him to

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

where he successfully argued for pontifical university status to be granted to the Dominican college in

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

, which thus became the

University of Santo Tomas The University of Santo Tomas (UST; ), officially the Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas, The Catholic University of the Philippines or colloquially as ''Ustê'' (), is a Private university, private Catholic school, Catholic researc ...

, the oldest university in Asia with a European charter. In 1648 he travelled via Mexico to the Philippines, where he worked with Chinese in the

area and learned the Chinese language. In 1655 he transferred to the Dominican mission in Amoy (Xiamen), where he formed a close alliance with

Koxinga Zheng Chenggong (; 27 August 1624 – 23 June 1662), born Zheng Sen () and better known internationally by his honorific title Koxinga (, from Taiwanese: ''kok sèⁿ iâ''), was a Southern Ming general who resisted the Qing conquest of Chin ...

, the ruler of

Fujian Fujian is a provinces of China, province in East China, southeastern China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capital is Fuzhou and its largest prefe ...

. In 1662 he returned to Manila as envoy of Koxinga, conveying his threat to invade the Philippines. The invasion did not take place. His 1667 account of the Dominican mission in China and its background in Chinese history, ''Hechos de la orden de predicadores en el imperio de China'', remains unpublished.

Prefect Apostolic of Terra Australis

In 1676 Riccio, then prior of the St Dominic Monastery in Manila, wrote to the College of Propaganda Fide in Rome on the opportunities for evangelisation in the unknown continent of

to the south of the Philippines. Based on reports from Dutch sailors, he enclosed a map showing the continent stretching to the

South Pole The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole or Terrestrial South Pole, is the point in the Southern Hemisphere where the Earth's rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True South Pole to distinguish ...

and beyond. He requested that he be appointed

Prefect Apostolic An apostolic prefect or prefect apostolic is a priest who heads what is known as an apostolic prefecture, a 'pre-diocesan' missionary jurisdiction where the Catholic Church is not yet sufficiently developed to have it made a diocese. Although it ...

of Terra Australis to initiate missionary activity there. Communications with Rome were slow but the college appointed him to the position in 1681. Riccio died in Parián in 1685.

Notes

Sources

External links

Encyclopedia.com: Victorio Riccio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Riccio, Vittorio 1621 births 1685 deaths Clergy from Florence People from Fiesole Roman Catholic missionaries in China Italian Dominicans Filipino Dominicans Italian missionary linguists