Those who are familiar with the history
of the christian Missions in China
and of the Sino-Western relations will
perhaps remember that the present year of
2008 marks the 300th anniversary of the
death in Beijing of Fr. Tomas Pereira, S/.
Tomas Pereira was born in northern
Portugal in 1645, left for China in 1666 as a
Jesuit missionary and lived in Beijing from
1673 until his death in 1708. A strong religious
character and a competent missionary, he
occupied important functions in the hierarchy
of the Society of Jesus in China. Working at
the court of Kangxi Emperor for more than
thirty years, Tomas Pereira not only forged a
unique and privileged personal relationship
with the Emperor, but also served as an
innovative musician and a skilful mediator
in Sino-Russian affairs leading to the success
of the Nerchinsk Treaty. He built the new
Nantang Church in Beijing, and was an ad
interim Prefect of the Court of Mathematics in
the succession of Ferdinand Verbiest, as well
as an effective representative and protector
of the Christian missions in China to whom
different catholic congregations were grateful
for decades.