N. 1560; A. 1575; O.S. 1586 ou 1587; U.V. 1595; M. 1639

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Born in 1560 in village of Alpalhão (near the small town of Nisa, in the Alentejo), Manuel Dias was nicknamed Senior or "the Old Man" to distinguish him from a namesake Jesuit of the mission in China, who was slightly younger. He was admitted into the Jesuit novitiate of Évora at the end of 1575, where Dias completed his studies in Philosophy and attended those in Theology, without completing them. He sailed for India in 1585, but only reached Goa in 1586 due to a shipwreck, where he was ordained priest either in 1586 or in 1587. Manuel Dias remained in India for seven years, being named rector of the Jesuit residences at Thane and Bandra (Bombay) and Chaul. He left for Macau in 1593 assigned to Japan, but his stay in East Asia was brief, as he returned to India in 1594 in the company of Fr. Alessandro Valignano (1539-1606), the Jesuit visitor of the East Indian missions. It was in Goa that, on June 9 1595, he took the four vows (ARSI, Lus. 2, fl. 100).

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Imprint of the shipwreck of the "nau" Santiago, aboard which Manuel Dias sailed to India in 1585 (published by Bernardo Gomes de Brito, História Trágico-Marítima [Tragic History of the Sea], volume II, Lisbon: Officina da Congregação do Oratório, 1736).

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Between 1597 and 1601, Manuel Dias returned to Macau, where he became rector of the College of the Madre de Deus. Dias joined the China mission, at which point he adopted the name Li Manuo 李瑪諾 / 李玛诺. After a brief sojourn in Beijing in the middle of 1602, he was made rector of the Jesuit residences in the South (Shaozhou, Nanchang and Nanjing) between 1603 and 1609, reporting directly to Fr. Matteo Ricci (1552-1610), the superior of the mission. He later returned to Macau, remaining there for more than ten years and holding the position of rector of the Jesuit college for a second time (1611-1615), until his dismissal by the Vice-Provincial Valentim Carvalho (1559-1630/31), with whom he had a conflictive relationship.

In January 1619, he took part in the debate on the atheism of the Chinese, siding with the group that opposed Ricci's point of view (ARSI, Jap.Sin. 18 II, fl. 25). In 1622, he was appointed to visit the China mission, and his inspection voyage ended only in 1624. He seems to have continued working in mainland China until 1629, when his increasing deafness led Visitor André Palmeiro (1569-1635) to decide on his return to Macao. In 1635, on Palmeiro's death, Dias was appointed to succeed him as Visitor, with the opposition of the missionaries of the Province of Japan, who accused him of defending the interests of the Vice-Province of China. According to António Francisco Cardim, one of his opponents, the darkest of scenarios could be expected from a man who had his “whole heart in China” (ARSI, Jap.Sin. 161, fl. 159v) and felt great "disaffection" with Japan (ARSI, FG 721/II/6). In 1636, internal tension worsened when Dias sent Álvaro Semedo (1585-1658), a Jesuit from China, as Procurator to Europe, with the task of recruiting missionaries and raising funds, resolving disputes with the Mendicant Orders and to promote the restructuration of the East Asia missions, namely by rising China to the rank of Province to the detriment of Japan.

The Japanese faction in Macau reacted by electing Cardim as Procurator of the Province of Japan to Europe in 1638, in order to prevent the execution of Dias' plans. Following this, Dias was dismissed on the pretext of being “sick and old, and already out of touch” and, as such, unfit for government in mid-October 1639 (BAJA 49-IV-66, page 57). This coup was perpetrated by men like the Provincial Fr. Gaspar Luís (1586-?), Fr. Alexandre de Rhodes (1591-1660) or Fr. Giovanni Antonio Rubino (1578-1643), who invaded his cubicle at school and apprehended Dias correspondence and other papers. This may have precipitated Dias' death, which occurred at the end of November 1638. Manuel Dias, a man often embroiled in conflict, was then on the verge of making 80 years, half of which had been spent in Macau (c. 25 years) and mainland China (16 years).

Dias left behind a significative textual production written during his extended lifetime. Around fifty letters and other documents from him have survived, written exclusively in European languages, where we can find varied information on China (including Macao), Japan and Vietnam and their respective missions. This documentation delves in governing issues, strategic decisions and controversial themes (namely in the context of the Question of Rites), as a reflection of the offices he held during his lifetime.

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“Appointments of the College of Macau and Residencies in China for the year of 1597"

Macau, November 12 1597, ARSI, Jap.Sin. 13 I

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“Ratio Studiorum”

 

 

(Biblioteca da Ajuda (Lisbon), Jesuítas na Ásia 49-V-7, fls. 310v-315)

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Notice must be made, among the corpus of his work, to the "Ratio studiorum for our people who will study the characters and language of China", a manual whose edition and study is contemplated by the Res Sinicae project. This small treatise is particularly interesting due to its pioneering nature. Written in 1624, the Ratio constitutes the first plan to study Chinese composed by a European, made forty years after the beginning of the systematic learning of that language by the Jesuits. It was intended for the use of European missionaries and students at Macao, and only an 18th-century manuscript copy of it survives today preserved at the Ajuda Library in Lisbon.

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BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES

 

BROCKEY, L. M. (2007), pp. 255-268; COSTA, J.P. Oliveira e PINTO, A. Fernandes (1999); PFISTER, L. (1976), p. 74; PINA, I. Murta (2008), pp. 79-94; SEBES, J. (2001), pp. 1112-1113; TEIXEIRA (1972), p. 149.

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The entry, with scientific review should be cited as follows: Isabel Murta Pina, "Manuel Dias Sénior (1559-1639)", 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/manuel-dias-senior-1559-1639?lang=en". Última revisão: 15.01.2021.

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