Local access dig.pdf. [Cobo-Villarroel-Shih-lu.pdf]
See also original text (1593) record.

Archivum Historicm Societatis Iesu (ARSI) edition. Ex. Japonica-Sinica.
Digital copy in .tiff format, 4 ¾ CDROM & PDF.
CD-ROM contents: Tianzhu shiyi 天主實義 [JapSin I-44] -- Manwen Tianzhu shiyi 滿文天主實義 (Abkai ejen-i unenggi jurgan) [JapSin I-48a-b] -- Jiaoyou lun 交友論 [JapSin I-49] -- Jiren shipian 畸人十篇 [JapSin I-52] -- Tianxue shiyi 天學實義 [JapSin I-53a] -- Tianzhu Shengjiao shilu 天主聖教實錄 [JapSin I-54] -- Tianzhu shilu 天主實錄 [JapSin I-189] -- Tianzhu shilu 天主實錄 [JapSin I-190]

JapSin I, 54
Tianzhu shengjiao shilu 天主聖教實錄.
By Luo Mingjian 羅明堅 (Michele Ruggieri).
One juan, one volume. Chinese bamboo paper. No place or date of publication. Ming edition.

The cover bears the title in Chinese and a Latin inscription: “Compendium legis divinae a P. Michael Ruggiero, S.J.” There is a note by D’Elia: “Questa è la 2^a edizione del Catechismo del Ruggieri (NN. 189, 190) uscita coll’ imprimatur del Furtado verso 1640, dopo censure dei PP. Emmanuel Dias, Gaspard Ferreira e Giovanni Monteiro. D’Elia. 23.9.1937.”

The main text consists of thirty-seven folios. The first folio gives again the title in Chinese and the name of the author. Each half folio contains nine columns, with nineteen characters in each column. The upper middle of each folio gives the title of the book and the number of each folio is given under the title.
This edition of the Tianzhu shilu was published, when Francisco Furtado was Vice Provincial of the mission in China (1635–1641 and 1646–1647) and revised by the three Jesuits whose names we have recorded above. It was then nearly sixty years since the Jesuits had come to China. By this time Ruggieri’s book was no longer in circulation (cf. Jap-Sin I, 189). It was only natural that the new edition should be adapted to the needs of the time. The designation “a monk of India” for the author of the book is no longer to be seen in this edition. Instead the term yuanxi 遠西 (Extreme West) and Yesuhui houxue 耶穌會後學 (member of the Society of Jesus) is used. Since the publication of Matteo Ricci’s Chinese World Map, the Chinese had begun to know something about Europe, and Ricci called himself a European in his book Jiaoyou lun 交友論 (cf. Jap-Sin I, 49 and 53.2). The word seng 僧 (Buddhist monk), which appeared in the first edition of the Tianzhu shilu, was then replaced by the word jian 堅 (the last character of Ruggieri’s Chinese name, i.e., I or me). The last phrase of the first chapter of the original edition, which reads: 一位之天主, was changed to 一尊之天主, in order to avoid misunderstanding on the doctrine of the Holy Trinity (三位一禮). Likewise in the first line of chapter two 一位天主, the word 位 was dropped and so afterwards wherever the same phrase occurred. Also, terms used in the first edition were changed considerably. Thus: 天人 (angel) was changed into 天神, 魂靈 (soul) became 靈魂, 咽咈諾 (hell) became 地獄; 布革多略 (purgatory), however, was given the free translation: 古今善人煉罪者之居 (the habitation where the just, ancient or recent, make satisfaction for their sins). Furthermore, the original edition did not try to give much explanation of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity; the new edition develops the doctrine more fully. Even the word si 寺 (monastery) was felt to be too Buddhist and it was changed to Tianzhutang 天主堂 (a Catholic church).

This new edition is divided into sixteen chapters, as was the original edition. The divisions, however, are not quite the same; e.g. the seventh chapter of the original edition (解釋魂歸四處) is placed in the eighth chapter and the wording reads: 解釋魂歸五所. The seventh chapter of the new edition adds a new item, namely: 天主聖性章 (chapter on the Divine nature of God). In short, the new edition makes so many changes that the original book is greatly improved. The book has the qualities of a modern catechism.

Cf. Courant 6815: “Véritable exposé de la religion chrétienne. Par le P. Michaele Ruggieri, Jésuite (1543–1607; nom chinois Lo Ming kien, Fou tchhou), avec introduction de l’auteur (1584) et autorisation du P. Furtado.”
Source: Albert Chan, S.J., Chinese Books and Documents in the Jesuit Archives in Rome, pp. 97-99.

Full bibliographic information see: Ad Dudink & Nicolas Standaert, Chinese Christian Texts Database (CCT-Database).
Online at ARSI Chinese Books.
Local access dig. pdf. See ARSI Jap-Sin I-IV folder [Jap-Sin I-54.pdf]

The Latin inscription on the frontispiece reads: “Catechismus R.P. Michaelis Rogery.” The Latin catalogue gives: “ed. maior 1585, and classifies it as: rariss [ima].”

190 2r 天竺國僧明堅書
189 The characters 明堅 are absent
190 4r 明堅輯，天主篇第一
189 Both 明堅 and 第一 are absent
190 5r, line 7 且如乾坤之內
189 如此 instead of 且如
190 6r, line 5 章第三
189 These three characters are missing
190 9r, line 6 惡悲
189 The first character is written as 慈
190 23v, line 3 亞當達誡
189 違 instead of 達
190 29v, line 6 以代世人贖罪
189 以普世人除罪
190 38v, line 3 解釋淨首除穢
189 解釋淨水除前罪

The comparison of these two editions shows that 190 reads better than 189; even the quality of the paper and the style of binding is better than in 189. From these indications we conclude that 190 is a new edition. However, in the correspondences of contemporary missioners we have found no trace of this new edition. Can it have been published some time after 1584 or before 1640? (Compare the remarks of Wieger and D’Elia in Jap-Sin I, 189, which we have cited above).
Cf. Vatican Library, Borgia Cinese 324.1 (duplicate of this edition).

Source: Albert Chan, S.J., Chinese Books and Documents in the Jesuit Archives in Rome, pp. 96-97.