Subject: Mercy--Early works to 1800

Aijin xing quan 哀矜行詮. [Jap-Sin I, 147, 147b]
AuthorRho, Giacomo 羅雅谷, 1592-1638
Place---
Publisher---
CollectionRicci Institute Library
Edition
LanguageChinese 中文
TypeBook (Text in Collection)
Series
ShelfHallway Cases
Call NumberBX1665.A2 Y47 2002 v.5
Descriptionv.5, pp. 1-256 ; 24 cm.
NoteAijin xing quan 哀矜行詮. In: Yesuhui Luoma dang'anguan Ming-Qing Tianzhujiao wenxian 耶穌會羅馬檔案館明清天主教文獻 / Edited by Nicolas Standaert [鐘鳴旦] [and] Adrian Dudink [杜鼎克].

JapSin I, 147
Aijin xing quan 哀矜行詮.
By Luo Yagu 羅雅谷 (Iacomo Rho).
Three juan. Chinese bamboo paper in two volumes (juan 1–2 and juan 3). No date or place of publication.

The cover bears the title in Chinese and a Latin inscription: “Pars 1, De operibus Misericordiae | Liber sinicus editus a Patre | Iacobo Rho Soctis Jesu.”
There is a preface (four folios) by Wang Yuantai 王元泰 of Xingyuan 星源, dated 1633 (Chongzhen 6). There is also a preface (three folios) by Li Zubai 李祖白 and one by Rho himself (four folios). Then follow the names of the censors: Gao Yizhi 高一志 (Alfonso Vagnone), Long Huamin 龍華民 (Niccolò Longobardo), and Tang Ruowang 湯若望 (Adam Schall von Bell). The book has a table of contents (two folios) and a postscript (five folios) by Cheng Tingrui 程廷瑞 (zi 五符).
The beginning of each volume bears the title of the book together with the number of the volume. The name of the author is also given: 極西耶穌會士羅雅谷著. Cheng Tingrui is named as the polisher of the style and Wang Yuantai as the proofreader.
There are nine columns in each half folio with twenty characters in the first column of each paragraph and nineteen in the rest of the paragraph. The upper middle of each folio bears the title; the number of the volume and of the folio are given below the fish tail. Commentaries are given in smaller characters and in double lines. There are nineteen folios in juan 1, forty folios in juan 2 and forty-nine folios in juan 3.
According to the preface of Wang Yuantai, his friends and countrymen, Cheng 程 and Zhu 祝 were employed to reform the Chinese calendar by means of the Western method. It was they who had informed him about Christianity. He then speaks of Rho’s book and says that Rho had sought the collaboration of all to amend the imperfections of this work. He therefore had the book printed for the benefit of his friends.
Li Zubai in his preface says that Rho loved his neighbor for God’s sake. This love was rooted in his heart and expressed in his actions, words and writings. En passant he mentions the Shengji baiyan 聖紀百言, a book of maxims Rho wrote in the autumn of that same year (cf. Jap-Sin I, 147e).
Rho tells us in his preface that occupied as he was, he had shortened his sleep in order to find time to write this book on the works of mercy. He quotes St. James to show that justification comes from faith and work. The book, based on Western writings, is divided into three parts:

1. The nobility of the works of mercy (juan 1).
2. On the corporal works of mercy (juan 2).
3. On the spiritual works of mercy (juan 3).

In his postscript Cheng Tingrui tells how Rho used to show him a part of the manuscript as soon as he had written it. It took several months to complete the work. Rho later showed the whole manuscript to two of his friends, Wang Yunlai 王雲來 and Wu Zuolang 鄔作郎. Finally, it was shown to Xu Guangqi 徐光啟. Later, when Wang Yuantai read the manuscript he was pleased with it, and at the request of Zhu Maoshan 祝茂善 had the book published.

Cf. Pfister, p. 190, no. 1; Hsü 1949, pp. 70–73; Courant 6869–6871; Couplet, p. 22; BR, p. XXXIV. For the biography of Iacomo Rho (1592–1638), see Pfister, pp. 188–191 and DMB 2:1136–1137.
Source: Albert Chan, S.J., Chinese Books and Documents in the Jesuit Archives in Rome, pp. 194-195.

JapSin I, 147b
Aijin xing quan 哀矜行詮.
By Luo Yagu 羅雅谷 (Iacomo Rho).

This is a duplicate of Jap-Sin I, 147. The three chüan are bound into one volume.
Source: Albert Chan, S.J., Chinese Books and Documents in the Jesuit Archives in Rome, p. 196.

147a, 147b, 147c, 147d and 147e: six texts, composed by Iacomo Rho, bound together in one volume European style.]
Source: Albert Chan, S.J., Chinese Books and Documents in the Jesuit Archives in Rome, pp. 192-194.

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