The Society marks 450 years in Macau in 2012. On August 24, 1562, Frs Luís Fróis SJ and Giovanni Battista Del Monte SJ arrived in Macau to take up residence and embark on apostolic work. The two Portuguese Jesuits helped the two diocesan priests who were ministering to the 5,000 inhabitants of Macau, among whom were 600 Portuguese.
They had arrived with Diogo Pereira, a successful merchant, who had been appointed Portuguese envoy to the court of Beijing. They were provided lodgings first in the residence of Guilherme Pereira, brother of Diogo and benefactor of Francis Xavier. Later, they were also welcomed by Pedro Quintero, and it was he who would offer funds for the construction of the first Jesuit house in Macau.
The Jesuits awaited instructions regarding the embassy to Beijing until late in 1565, when they received word from the Jesuit Provincial, António de Quadros, to erect a permanent residence of the Society in Macau. They began to build at the end of December 1565.
The first bishop of Macau (1568-1581) was the Portuguese Jesuit Melchior M Carneiro, who founded a leprosarium and the “Santa Casa da Misericordia”.
*** *** *** *** *** ***
The Beijng Center appoints new director
French Jesuit Thierry Meynard SJ takes over as the International Director of The Beijing Center (TBC) from August 1, 2012. He will succeed Fr Roberto Ribeiro SJ, who is stepping down after completing his three-year term as international director.
“I have seen TBC growing along the years into a unique place for teaching and research on China,” said Fr Meynard, who is a Professor in the Philosophy Department at Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China, where he has been teaching since 2006. He is also Vice-director of the Research Center on the Introduction of Western Learning in China.
The Beijing Center logo“TBC has offered an in-depth knowledge of Chinese language, culture and society to hundreds of students, and the TBC alumni are today engaged in China in many different ways. We shall continue our mission to provide a rigorous training in understanding China and to foster academic exchanges between China and the world.”
Fr Meynard first arrived in China in 1988 and brings with him enormous experience through his work in higher education and life in China, in understanding Chinese culture and bridging Chinese and Western cultures.
He obtained a PhD in Chinese philosophy from Peking University in 2003. His publications include The Religious Philosophy of Liang Shuming, The Hidden Buddhist, Confucius Sinarum Philosophus (1687), and The First Translation of the Confucian Classics. He was the editor of Liang Shuming’s Thought and Its Reception, and Teilhard and the Future of Humanity.
Yunan tripThe Beijing Center was founded in 1988 by Fr Ron Anton SJ, who ran the centre for a decade before passing the reins to Fr Ribeiro. Initially conceived as a standard Study Abroad Programme, TBC has expanded in unexpected directions, into scholarship, publications, a varied menu of programmes.
TBC makes its resources available to students seeking to study in Beijing, to scholars seeking to explore the history and culture of China as it relates to other cultures, and to professionals seeking to understand and to build relationships with contemporary China.