Xavier Ehrenbert Fridelli

Born in Linz, Austria, Fridelli entered the Society of Jesus in 1688 and in 1705 arrived in China. Fridelli was an important contributor to the cartographical survey of the Chinese empire, begun in 1708 and completed in 1718 (according to others, 1715).

Baron Richthofen says this is "the most comprehensive cartographic feat ever performed in so short a space of time".[1] Together with Jean-Baptiste Régis, Pierre Jartoux, and others, he designed the maps of Chi-li, the Amur district, Khalkas (Mongolia), Sze-ch'wan, Yun-nan, Kwei-chou, and Hu-kwang (Hu-nan and Hu-pe), for which purpose the traversed the whole empire from south to north. At the time of his death, Fridelli had been rector for many years of the Southern or Portuguese church (Nan-t'ang), one of the four Jesuit churches at Beijing, where he died. He was buried in the Jesuits' Zhalan Cemetery in Beijing.

Attribution

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Xavier Ehrenbert Fridelli". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. The entry cites:
  • Five letters in N. Welt-Bott (Augsbirg, 1726, and Vienna, 1758), nos. 103, 106, 194, 589, 674;
  • MSS report in the Vienna state library, no, 1117;
  • Du Halde, Description de l'Empire de la Chine (the Hague, 1736), I, preface, p. xxxviii;
  • Huonder, Deutsche Jesuitenmissionäre (Freiburg im Br., 1899), 87, 186