Career
Equipped with a thorough training in Mathematics and Astronomy he was sent, at his own request as missionary to China (1677). After a long and difficult sea journey - passing through Goa, Siam (Thailand) and Malacca - he reached Macau in 1682 just in time to observe an eclipse of the Sun (1683). Thomas was called by the aging Father Ferdinand Verbiest, who had just found himself appointed "Vice-President of the Tribunal of Mathematics", a very important and influential post in the Qing Empire of China, to join him in Beijing.
After the death of Verbiest in 1688, Thomas took his place as the main mathematician and astronomical expert of China.
Foreign twenty years he was then a close adviser to the Kangxi Emperor who, beyond scientific questions, consulted him also on moral and religious matters. At a time when the future of Christian faith seemed to be bright in China the was raging in Europe.
In fact Tournon"s mind was made up. By disregarding completely Chinese customs and etiquette, he offended the Kangxi Emperor who had first received him well.
Number pleading of Antoine Thomas, then Superior of the Jesuits in China, could prevent Tournon from issuing a decree from Nanjing (1707) obliging the missionaries under severe penalties to abolish those rites.
A last desperate attempt of Thomas, beseeching the legate to defer the implementation of the decree till further news were received from Rome, fell on deaf ears.
