Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 13.djvu/64

 RICCI

40

RICE

and curious literature, its social organization so different from what existed elsewhere. Thenietliod instituted by Ricci necessitated a fundamental study of this new world, and if the missionaries who have since followed him have rendered scarcely less service to science than to rehgion, a great part of the credit is due to Ricci.

[MaTTEO Ricci], DtW cntrata dclla Cunipagnia di Gicsu c cristia7)itd nclla Cina (MS. of Father Ricci, extant in the archives of the Societv of Jesus; cited in the foregoing article as the Memoirs of Father Ricci), a somewhat free tr. of this work is given in Trigaci.t, De Christiana eipeditione apiid Siiias sus- cepta ab Societate Jcsu. Ex P. Matlhcei Ricci commentariis Hbri, V (Augsburg, 16151; de Ursis, P. Matheus Ricci, S.J. Relagao e^icripta pelo seu companheiro (Rome. 1910); Bartoli, Dell' Historia delta Compagnia di Giesii. La Cina, I-II (Rome, 1663). Bartoli is the most accurate biographer of Ricci; d'Orli^ans, La Tie du Pire Matthieu Ricci (Paris, 1693) ; Natali, II .scco/ido Confucio (Rome, 1900); Vexturi, L'apostolato del P. M. Ricci

d. C. d. G. in Cina secondo i suoi scritti inediti (Rome, 1910); Brccker, Le Pire Matthieu Ricci in Etudes, CXXIV (Paris, 1910), 5-27; 1S5-20S; 751-79; De B.^cker-Sommervogel, Bibl. des icrivains de la C.de J., VI, 1792-95. Chinese Rites.— Brucker in Vacant, Diet, de Thiol, cath., a. v. Chinois {Rites) and works indicated; Cobdier, Bihl. Sinica, II, 2nd ed., 869- 925; Idem, Hist, des relations de la Chine avec les puissances occideniales. III (Paris, 1902), xxv. Jqseph BrUCKER.

Ricci, SciPio. See Pistoia, Synod of.

Riccioli, Giovanni Battista, Italian astronomer, b. at Ferrara 17 April, 1598; d. at Bologna 25 June, 1671. He entered the Society of Jesus 6 Oct., 1614. After teaching philosophy and theology for a number of years, chiefly at Parma and Bologna, he devoted hirnself, at the request of his superiors, entirely to the study of astronomy, which at that time, owing to the discoveries of Kepler and the new theories of Coperni- cus, was a subject of much discussion. Realizing the many defects of the traditional astronomy in- herited from the ancients, he conceived the bold idea of undertaking a reconstruction of the science with a view to bringing it into harmony with con- temporary progress. This led to his "Almagestum novum, astronomiam veterem novamque com- plectens" (2 vols., Bologna, 1651), considered by many the most important literary work of the Jesuits during the seventeenth century. The author in common with many scholars of the time, notably in Italy, rejected the Copernican theory, and in this work, admittedly of great erudition, gives an elab- orate refutation in justification of the Roman De- crees of 1616 and 1633. He praises, however, the genius of Copernicus and readily admits the value of his system as a simple hypothesis. His sincerity in this connexion has been called into question by some,

e. g. Wolf, but a study of the work shows beyond doubt that he wrote from conviction and with the desire of making known the truth. Riccioli's proj- ect also included a comparison of the unit of length of various nations and a more exact determination of the dimensions of the earth. His topographical measurements occupied him at intervals between 1644 and 1656, but defects of method have rendered his results of but little value. His most important contribution to astronomy was perhaps his detailed telescopic study of the moon, made in collaboration with P. Grimaldi. The latter's excellent lunar map was inserted in the "Almagestum novum", and the lunar nomenclature they adopted is still in use. He also ma^le observations on Saturn's rings, though it was reserved for Huyghens to determine the true ring-structure. He was an ardent defender of the new Gregorian calendar. Though of delicate health, Riccioli was an indefatigable worker and, in spite of his opposition to the Copernican theory, rendered valuable serv'iccs to astronomy and also to geography and chronology. His diief works are: "Geographia; et hydrographiif! reformata; libri XII" (Bologna, 1661); "Afitronomia reformata" (2 vols., Bologna, 1665j; "Vindicia; calenflarii gregoriani" (Bologna, 1666); "Chronologia reformata" (1660); "Tabula latitudinurn et longitudirium" (Vienna, 1689).

SoMMERVOGEL, Bihl. de la C. de J., VI (Paris, 1895), 1795; Delambre, Hist, de r Astronomic Moderne, II (Paris, 1821), 274; Wolf, Gesch. d. Astronomie (Munich, 1877), 434; Walsh, Catholic Churchmen in Science (2nd series, Philadelphia, 19(D9); Lins- meier, Natur. u. Offenharung, XLVII, 65 sqq.

H. RI. Brock.

Rice, Edmund Ignatius, founder of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools (better known as "Irish Christian Brothers"), b. at Callan, Co. Kil- kenny, 1762; d. at Waterford, 1844. He was edu- cated in a Catholic school which, despite the provi- sions of the iniquitous ])enal laws, the authorities suffered to exist in llio City of Kilkenny. In 1779 he entered the business house of his uncle, a largo export and import trader in the City of \^'aterford, and, after the latter's death, became .sole proprietor. As a citizen he was distinguished for his probity, charity, and piety; he was an active member of a society estab- lished in the city for the relief of the poor. About 1794 he meditated en- tering a conti- nental convent, but his brother, an Augustinian who had but just returned from Rome, discoun- tenanced the idea. Rice, thereupon, devoted himself to the extension of his business. Some years lat(>r, how- ever, he again de- sired to become a religious. As he was discussing the matter with a friend of his, a sister of Bishop Power of Waterford, a band of ragged boys pa.s.sed by. Pointing to them Miss Power exclaimed: "What! would you bury yourself in a cell on the continent rather than devote your wealth and your life to the spiritual and material interests of these poor youths? " The words were an inspiration. Rice related the incident to Dr. Lanigan, bishop of his native Diocese of Ossory, and to others, all of whom advised him to undertake the mission to which God was evidently calling him. Rico settled his worldly affairs, his last year's bu.siness (1800) being the most lucrative one he had known, and commenced the work of the Christian schools.

Assisted by two young men, whom he j)Hid for their services, he opened his first s(hool in \\'aterford in 1802. In June; of this year Hislioi) Ilussey of Waterford laid the foundation stone of a schoolhou.se on a site which he named Mount Sion. The building was soon ready for occui)ation, but Rice's assistants had fled and could not be induced to return even when offered higher salaries. In this extremity two young men from Callan offered themselves as fellow-labourers. Other work(rs soon ga1her{>d round him, and by 1806 Christian schools wen; establishetl in Waterford, Carrick-on-3uir, and Dungarvan. The communities adopted a modific-d form of the Rule of the Presenta- tion Order of nuns, and, in 1808, pronounced their vows before Bishoj) Power. Houses were established in Cork, Dublin, Limerick, and elsewhere. Though the brothers, as a rule, made their novitiate in Mount Sion and regard(!d Rice as their father and model, he was not their superior; they were subject to the bishops of their respective dioceses. In 1817, on the advice of Bisho)) Murray, coadjutor to the Arch- bishop of Dublin, and of Fat her Kenny, S.J., a special

Edmund Ignatius Rice