Xu Guangqi
late-Ming-dynasty Chinese politician, Scholar, Lay Catholic leader and Servant of God (*1562 – †1633)
Who they were
Xu Guangqi or Hsü Kuang-ch'i (April 24, 1562 – November 8, 1633), also known by his baptismal name Paul or Paul Siu, was a Chinese agronomist, astronomer, mathematician, politician, and writer during the late Ming dynasty. Xu was appointed by the Chinese Emperor in 1629 to be the leader of the Shixian calendar reform, which he embarked on with the assistance of Jesuits. Xu was a colleague and collaborator of the Italian Jesuits Matteo Ricci and Sabatino de Ursis and assisted their translation of several classic Western texts into Chinese, including part of Euclid's Elements. He was also the author of the Nong Zheng Quan Shu, a treatise on agriculture.
Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), until this page is written up in full.
The miracles
A cause for canonisation has been opened, which is what Servant of God means. Heroic virtue has not yet been declared and no miracle has been examined.
Why that counted as sanctity
Limited information available on this saint.
Connected on this site
- Matteo Ricci Venerable“He also worked with several Chinese elites, such as Xu Guangqi, in translating Euclid's Elements into Chinese as well as the Confucian classics into Latin for the first time in history.” — Wikipedia
- Wikidata Q420427 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Xu Guangqi (CC BY-SA)
Not yet written up in full: no Church source with an account of this person has been found yet. The name, dates and step come from Wikidata and are not yet checked against Church records.