Life
Schall von Bell was born to noble parents in Cologne or nearby Lüftelberg (today part of Meckenheim) in the then Holy Roman Empire. After he graduated from the Jesuit Gymnasium in Cologne he moved to Rome and studied subjects such as mathematics and astronomy at the Collegium Germanicum. In 1611 he joined the Society of Jesus and continued his education at the Gregorianum.
In 1618 he left for China on a Portuguese ship with a group of missionaries under the lead of Nicolas Trigault. The following year the group reached the Portuguese colony of Macao where Schall von Bell spent some time learning Chinese. He started missionary work inside China in 1622, but allegedly his success was limited.
Schall von Bell and Giacomo Rho were sent to Beijing in 1630 to continue the work of the deceased Johann Schreck on a reform of the Chinese calendar. He participated in modifying the Chinese calendar and compiling what is known as Chongzhen calendar. Named after Chongzhen, the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty (1368 to 1644). The modified calendar provided more accurate predictions of eclipses of the sun and the moon.
After the Qing dynasty came to power, Schall von Bell gained access to the Emperor Shunzhi and became one of his trusted counsellors. He was made a mandarin and held an important post in connection with the mathematical school: Director of the Imperial Observatory and the Tribunal of Mathematics.
His position enabled him to procure from the emperor permission for the Jesuits to build churches and to preach throughout the country. That way Schall von Bell is indirectly credited with 500,000 that are said to have been baptised by Jesuit missionaries within fourteen years, making him a successful missionary.
The Shunzhi emperor died in 1661 and Schall von Bell's position started to erode. In 1664 he was challenged by Yang Guangxian, who accused him of having wilfully miscalculated time and place of a funeral and that way contributed to the death of Empress Xiao Xian. Schall von Bell and other Jesuits, Ferdinand Verbiest included, were imprisoned and condemned to death in a trial. However after an earthquake the Jesuits were released and the sentence was not carried out. Schall von Bell died within one year after his release due to his poor health situation caused by the conditions of his imprisonment.
A collection of his manuscripts was deposited in the Vatican Library.
Read more about this topic: Johann Adam Schall Von Bell
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