Couplet, Philippe

Couplet, Philippe a Belgian missionary, was born at Malines about 1628. He entered the Jesuit order, and in 1659 departed for the mission-field of China. He returned to Europe in 1680, and in 1692 started to return to China, but was overtaken by a violent tempest, and perished. He wrote, Confucius

Sinarum Philosophus (Paris, 1687), containing a summary of the theology, history, and customs of the Chinese, with a translation of three works of Confucius; Ta-Hio (grand science), Chong-TYng (the just man), Lun-Yu (the book of sentences), a life of Confucius, and the Chinese annals back to 2952 B.C. Couplet also wrote, Catalogus P.P. Societatis Jesu, etc. (Paris, 1686): — Historia Candidae Hiu (translated into French, Paris, 1688 also in Spanish, at Madrid, and in Flemish, at Antwerp). See Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generale, s.v.; Biog. Universelle, s.v.