Antoine Thomas

Antoine Thomas ( born January 25, 1644 Namur, Belgium, † June 29, 1709 in Beijing, China) was a Belgian Jesuit priest, missionary and astronomer at the court of the Emperor of China.

Life

1660, he entered the Jesuit order and was sent after training as a teacher after Armentieres, Huy and Tournai. Then he dealt in detail with mathematics and astronomy, and was sent at his own request in 1677 to China. After a long journey across Goa, Siam and Malacca, he finally came to Macao in 1682, which was then the only port of entry to China, where he was able to observe a solar eclipse in 1683.

Here he was called by Father Ferdinand Verbiest to Beijing, where he was soon appointed as the Vice-Presidents, mathematics Tribunal. This position was due to both the definition of the imperial calendar and because of the proximity to the emperor of great significance. After the death Verbiests 1688 he took over his job as a mathematician and court astronomer. For 20 years, Father Thomas was a close advisor to the Emperor Kangxi, the next scientific and moral to him and consulted with religious questions. 1692 an edict of toleration was issued, which promised the Christian missionaries almost complete freedom in the exercise of their duties.

When, however, seemed assured at this time the future of Christianity in China, the Rites Controversy in Europe intensified. The Jesuits were accused of the newly converted Chinese to allow certain rituals such as ancestor worship, which were considered pagan in Europe. The papal legate Charles Thomas Maillard de Tournon was sent in 1705 to Beijing to make about the orthodoxy of these rites an image, which were designated by the Jesuits as social customs. Because he disobeyed the official label ( eg kowtow ), he snubbed the Emperor, who had first received him kindly. 1707 was Tournon out a decree, in which the missionaries were obliged under pain of severe canonical penalties for canceling these rites. One last request of Thomas, suspend the application of this Decree in order to appeal to the Pope can, was rejected.

After Pope Clement XI. 1715 Tournon had confirmed decree, the Christian missionaries from China in 1722 were reported. However, these developments did not live to Thomas, since he died in Beijing in 1709 and was buried next to Ferdinand Verbiest the Jesuit cemetery in Beijing, where a century earlier Matteo Ricci had his final resting place.

Main work

• Synopsis mathematica, Douai, 1685.