Buglio, Ludovico

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BUGLIO, LUDOVICO

Missionary and author; b. Mineo, Sicily, Jan. 26, 1606; d. Beijing (Peking), China, Oct. 7, 1682. He was a Jesuit by 1622, and he arrived in China in 1637. He was joined in Szechwan in 1642 by Gabriel de Megalhaens, but their missionary work was interrupted in 1643 when the bandit Chang Hsien-chung desolated the province and made them prisoners. From 1647 to 1651 they were imprisoned by the Emperor in Peking as collaborators of Chang. After further difficulties from 1659 to 1669, Buglio at last resumed missionary work. He translated much of Aquinas's Summa theologiae into Chinese (30v., Beijing 165479, 2d ed. 1930), wrote a treatise of moral theology in Chinese, and translated several liturgical works into Chinese. He delighted the emperor with paintings done in perspective and taught the technique to Chinese artists.

Bibliography: a. de bil, Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques (Paris 1912) 10:109093. j. schÜtte, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche (Freiburg 195765) 2:762. g. h. dunne, Generation of Giants (Notre Dame, Ind. 1962).

[b. lahiff]