Buglio, Louis
Buglio, Louis
Catholic philologist. Born 1606; died 1682. Wrote over 80 volumes in Chinese. Translated the Roman Missal, the Ritual, and the Breviary into Chinese.
Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary
Buglio, Louis
A celebrated missionary in China, mathematician, and theologian, born at Mineo, Sicily, 26 January, 1606; died at Peking, 7 October, 1682. He entered the Society of Jesus, 29 January, 1622, and, after a brilliant career as a professor of the humanities and rhetoric in the Roman College, asked to be sent to the Chinese mission. With great zeal and success Father Buglio preached the Gospel in the provinces of Su-Tchuen, Fu-kien, and Kiang-si. He suffered severely for the faith in the persecution which was carried on during the minority of the Emperor Kang-hi. Taken prisoner by one of the victorious Tartar chiefs, he was brought to Peking in 1648. Here, after a short captivity, he was left free to exercise his ministry. Father Buglio collaborated with Fathers Adam Schall, Verbiest, and Magalhaens in reforming the Chinese calendar, and shared with them the confidence and esteem of the emperor. At his death he was given a state funeral.
Thoroughly acquainted with the Chinese language, Father Buglio both spoke and wrote it fluently. A list of his works in Chinese, more than eighty volumes, written for the most part to explain and defend the Christian religion, is given in Sommervogel. Besides Parts I and III of the “Summa” of St. Thomas, he translated into Chinese the Roman Missal (Peking, 1670) the Breviary and the Ritual (ibid, 1674 and 1675). These translations require a special notice, as they were part of a project which, from the beginning of their apostolate in China, the Jesuit missionaries were anxious to carry out. Their purpose was not merely to form a native clergy, but, in order to accomplish this more easily, to introduce a special liturgy in the Chinese tongue, for the use at least of native priests. This plan was approved by Paul V, who, 26 March 1615, granted to regularly ordained Chinese priests the faculty of using their own language in the liturgy and administrations of the sacraments. This faculty was never used. Father Philip Couplet, in 1681, tried to obtain a renewal of it from Rome, but was not successful.
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Acta SS., XIII, 123. Diss. xlviii; Sommervogel, Biblotheque de la c. de J., II, 363; Cordier, Bibliotheca Sinica (Paris, 1881), I, 514; Menologe S.J.: Assistance d’Italie
JOSEPH M. WOODS
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume IIICopyright © 1908 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, November 1, 1908. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York