From Melancholy to Friendship The summer of 1595: the arrival of Matteo Ricci in Nanchang

 

Matteo Ricci established in Nanchang on June 28 1595, after the failure of his first attempt to reach Beijing, with an official delegation. Once in Nanjing (May 31, 1595), the minister who had included the missionary in his entourage, refused to take him to the Capital of the North and, consequently, Ricci was expelled from the city of Nanjing. In that same ill-fated trip, Ricci lost his companion, who drowned in the waters of the river. Ricci himself nearly died in the same accident. Everything was going wrong and Matteo got into a state of melancholy. On June 25th or 26th, 1595 Matteo had a dream. He told the story to his friend Girolamo Costa just four months after the event: