B. 1688; A. 1704; S.O. ?; L.V. 1722; D. 1748

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Curriculum

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Born on 21 March 1688 at Loures (Lisbon), Domingos Pinheiro entered the Jesuit Society on 9 November 1704 (JS 134, f° 435r.), as a 16-year old boy. His two years of Novitiate will have been situated in 1704-1706. Afterwards he entered the Jesuit University of Évora: in 1711 (Lus., 47, f° 129v.) he is mentioned in the category of 'scholastici', as already having finished his studies of ‘Philosophy’. This implies that his 4-years philosophical studies happened between the academic years 1707-1708 and 1710-1711. He followed also a ‘special’ mathematical course, of two years (JS 134, f° 435ff.): we would expect this was organized in the academic years following on his ‘philosophical’ studies, viz. in 1711-1712 (with Manuel de Campos as his teacher) and 1712-1713. In 1713, he sent his “theses” to General Tamburini, who praised him by letter of 17 June 1713.

From 1714 on, Pinheiro was teacher (magister) of the humanities and rhetorics, always in Évora. From a certain moment on, not to be indicated precisely, he started in Évora with mathematical teaching: this spanned, on the moment Pinheiro left Portugal in 1724-1725 in total five years: from this I deduce it may have started in 1719-1720. In 1721, always in Évora, he presided the discussion on the mathematical theses of the Jesuits Jacinto da Costa and António Nunes.

In the same year, he moved to Lisbon, where on 2 February 1722 he made his ‘votes’. He was engaged in the mathematical instruction in the Aula da Esfera of the Colégio de Santo Antão as curricular teacher; none of his courses are preserved to my knowledge. In this position, he was also ‘invited’ to assist in 1724 to the lunar eclipse observation of 1 November 1724 with Giovanni Battista Carbone, Domenico Capacci and Coronel Manuel da Maia.

Finally, Pinheiro – who never applied for the Chinese mission himself- was added to the company of the legate Alexandre Metelo de Sousa Meneses (1687-1766), as a professional mathematician. It was apparently in the preparatory phase of this journey that he composed the manuscript Compendio da historia de como varias pessoas da familia Imperial Tartaro Sinica abraçarão a Religião Christam, of which I know only one copy. They embarked from Lisbon on an unspecified moment in 1725 (W 1688).

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His activities in China

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The embassy – and Pinheiro - arrived in Macau on 26 August 1726, and in Beijing in early July 1727. His Chinese name becomes Chen Shance.

Despite his mathematical education and teaching, and his position in the Metelo train, Pinheiro was in Beijing never attached to the Astronomical Bureau, and was thus since the beginning assigned to the Dongtang Residence, where he was rector between 1728 and 1748. In this period, to the Dongtang had been assigned some ‘special’ services, first of all – since ca. 1690 – the pharmacopolium (pharmacy) of the Portuguese Jesuits; in addition, since the 1720s, also the Procuratura of the Chinese Vice-Province was transferred from Macau to Beijing, and located in the Dongtang. Several, also financial documents in Japonica-Sinica 134 are testimonies of this period, as well as a series of twelve letters in the archives of the former Congregatio Propaganda Fide archive from Guangzhou, now in Rome.

During two periods, Pinheiro was also Vice-Provincial of the Chinese Vice-Province, viz. in 1732-35 and 1741-4.

Apart from these functions in the domain of management and administration, on his other activities in Beijing we are incompletely informed. Florian Bahr refers to various (Chinese) texts composed by Pinheiro on theology and (canon) law to the benefit of the missionaries, of which nothing survives. Still on 12 November 1739 Antoine Gaubil confirms Pinheiro’s theological skills, when he asks for copy of Étienne Agard de Champs (Dechamps), S.J. (1613- 1701), De Haeresi Janseniana ab Apostolica Sede Merito Proscripta Libri Tres (…), in the edition, procured by Étienne Souciet (Paris: G. Martin, 1728, 2 tomes in 1 vol., in-fol.),

On 15 May 1737, Pinheiro, as the Superior of the Dongtang (called “Novum Collegium”), was involved in collecting Chinese books to the behalf of the Russian Academy in Saint Petersburg, viz. a copy of the Kangxi lexicon Kangxi Zidian; explanations of the Chinese Classics and Chinese publications of the Jesuits, by Matteo Ricci and Giulio Aleni, all together 64 ‘volumina’ or yuan. It is in all probability for these services, that he was also awarded with an appointment as (honorary?) member in the same Academy.

As Superior of the Portuguese Dongtang, Pinheiro was beneficent of wealthy funds sent by the Portuguese King to the Dongtang (and Nantang) residence. Therefore he felt very responsible towards the Portuguese King. When the Jesuit artists Giuseppe Castiglione and Ferdinando Moggi unfolded their plan to make a book of designs/plans of the Dongtang residence, he convinced them, to send their original drawing(s) to the Portuguese King.

During his second term as a Vice-Provincial, he was also involved ‘on distance’ in the systematic transcription of Jesuit archives, a gigantic project organized in the mid-18th century in the Jesuit college of Macau, Madre de Deus, by irmão João Álvares, on demand of the Portuguese Academia da Historia. This is discussed in his correspondence with Irmão João Álvares (BAJA 49-V-21 and 49-V-29).

He died in Beijing – which he had apparently never left - on 16 June 1748, 60 years old. He was buried on the cemetery of Zhalan, where his stele was lacking, but was recently found again, according to an oral communication from Beijing (by Xinyu Chen).

Part of his correspondence survives in Der Neue Welt-Bott (1725-1761), and in the archives of Rome (CPF and ARSI) and Évora (Biblioteca Municipal).

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BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES

 

DEHERGNE, J. (1973), 204; Grande Enciclopédia Portuguesa e Brasileira, VOL. 21, 742; PFISTER (1932-1934), 696-697; RODRIGUES (1925), 55-58, 113-118; SOMMERVOGEL (1890), vol. VI, col. 820.

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The entry, with scientific review should be cited as follows: Noël Golvers, "Domingos Pinheiro (1688-1748)", in Res Sinicae, Enciclopédia de Autores, Arnaldo do Espírito Santo, Cristina Costa Gomes and Isabel Murta Pina (Coord.). ISBN: 978-972-9376-56-6.

URL: " https://www.ressinicae.letras.ulisboa.pt/domingos-pinheiro-1688-1748?lang=en".

Last revision: 15.01.2021.

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