Ferdinand Augustin Hallerstein

August ( in ) Ferdinand Haller of Haller stone (Chinese刘松龄/刘松龄, Pinyin Liú Sōnglíng; born August 27, 1703 Ljubljana ( Krain ), † October 29, 1774 in Beijing) was a German -Austrian Jesuit missionary.

Youth and Education

A Frankish noble family entstammend, attended by Hallerstein the first Jesuit college of his native city of Ljubljana. He then studied in Klagenfurt, Leoben and Graz next to theology, among others Medicine, mathematics and astronomy. In 1721 he entered the College of St. Anna in Vienna in the Society of Jesus, where he was ordained a priest in 1734. After some time passed, the Jesuit College in Temesvár, he was sent to the mission.

Activity in China

In April 1736 embarked from Hallerstein in Lisbon and traveled first to Mozambique and Goa. In September 1738 he reached the port of Canton, where he first drove to Macao. In 1739 he was summoned to the court to Beijing. There he first worked in the Imperial Astronomy Office, whose leadership he finally in 1746 took over from his religious brother Ignaz Koegler.

Hallerstein was regarded as world-class scientists. Through diverse publications in the fields of astronomy, geography and topography, he acquired a great reputation. In his mathematical methods and the great people estimate returns, which should live in China, " 198 213 713 " people. Even the Jesuit habit extensive contacts about the Royal Society in London, the Imperial Observatory in Vienna and the Academy of St. Petersburg. Moreover, stood by Hallerstein in constant correspondence with his friars throughout Europe, but also with the Queen of Portugal, whom he had met during his embarkation in Lisbon.

For this reason, it Emperor Qianlong in 1752 transferred the management of the Portuguese embassy on their journey from the port of Canton to Beijing's imperial court and back. In recognition of this merit, was raised to the rank of a mandarin of the third rank of Hallerstein then. From 1746 until his death in 1774, he headed the Imperial Astronomy Office.

But even in the church hierarchy has increased from Haller stone meaning: 1751-1758 he was visitator, 1757-1762 and 1766-1774 even Provincial of the Far Eastern Jesuit mission. From after the final ban of accommodation ( Rites Controversy ) by Pope Benedict XIV in 1744 festzustellenden fighting Christian missionaries remained of Hallerstein, similar to other leading Hofjesuiten, largely untouched. Rather Conversely benefited his influence at the imperial court of the persecuted Church.

Death

From 1774 Hallerstein died of a heart attack after the news of the abolition of the Jesuit order he had been brought by Pope Clement XIV - which was also a long-term consequence of the Rites Controversy.

Works

• Carte de Macau et ses environs, 1739
• Observationes astronomicae from anno 1717 ad annum 1752 a PP. The Society of Jesus Pekini Sinarum factae ..., 2 Tle, Vienna 1768