ASIA/CINA - The first museum in China dedicated to Father Matteo Ricci, fruit of the collaboration between the civil authorities and the Catholic Church, inaugurated

Wen Zhou (Agenzia Fides) – The first museum dedicated to the Jesuit missionary, Father Matteo Ricci (1552-1610), was inaugurated on 13 May, thanks to the collaboration between the civil authorities and the Catholic Church. According to information received by Agenzia Fides , the museum is situated in Zhao Zhou, in the province of Guang Dong, the place where the Italian missionary landed in 1583, arriving in continental China with Father Ruggieri. This “Museum of Cultural Exchange between China and the West of Matteo Ricci, according to the complete official denomination, is near “Xian Hua Si” (Temple of Flowers and Saints), the first Church, constructed by Father Ricci, according to the expression and style of the Buddhist temple in order to favour inculturation and is dedicated to Blessed Mary. The Director, ad interim, of the Ricci Institute in Paris (Centre d’Etudes Chinoises), together with members of the civil authorities of the province of Guang Dong and the city of Zhao Qing, presided at the inauguration. According to Father Gabriele Li Jia Fang, parish priest of the nearby parish of the Immaculate Conception, “with this museum, which is in a famous touristic locality, we hope that more and more people will come to know the Catholic faith and the life and works of this great missionary”. Besides manuscripts, clothes, astronomical instruments belonging to Father Matteo Ricci which remind us of the great contribution he gave to China and the whole world, there are also objects and photographs of missionaries offered by the local Church. (NZ) (Agenzia Fides 16/5/2012)