constant and arduous labour, and was, moreover, subject to eclipses. Fathers Schall and Verbiest suffered disgrace and even imprisonment. During times of persecution the astronomers, guarded at court as indispensable auxiliaries, found themselves unable to go to the help of their brethren. By order of Kanghi, they surveyed the whole empire and prepared the famous maps which have not yet been surpassed, if equalled. Other missionaries—Parennin, Gaubil, and Amyot—acted as interpreters to the Emperors, while Brothers Castiglione and Attiret were their painters, &c. The philological, historical, and scientific researches of these men were, and are still, universally admired in Europe and in China.
Missionaries in the Provinces.
It would be a great mistake to imagine that Jesuits alone laboured in China. We find them, indeed, in almost every province; but their number was never very large. In 1625, there were eighteen priests and four lay brothers. The almost complete list of Jesuits who have worked in China down to the suppression of the Order in 1773 includes 456 names, of which 81 were Chinese.
Other orders—Augustinians, Franciscans, and Dominicans—also obtained a foothold in China after persevering efforts. In 1633, the Franciscan, Antony of St. Gregory, and the Dominican, John-Baptist Morales, began successful work in Fokien, whence they passed into Kiangsi and other provinces. In spite of persecutions and also of the commercial jealousy which sometimes placed serious obstruction in the way of the Spanish missionaries at Macao, there were as many as 14,000 converts in the three coast provinces in 1665. In 1764, the Franciscans of the Manila province alone had five distinct missions in Shantung, Kwangtung, Kwansi, Fokien, and Macao, while others were labouring in Shansi, Shensi, Hunan, &c. Separate territories had not as yet been allocated to the different missionary bodies, but China and the adjacent countries were divided on April 10, 1690, into three dioceses—Peking, Nanking, and Macao. Many of the bishops were Franciscans or Dominicans. Besides these three sees, vicariates apostolic were formed in 1696, and, later, in Fokien, Shensi, Hukwang, Szechwan. &c., generally comprising several provinces. The first of the vicars apostolic to succeed in reaching his destination was Mar. Pallu, of the Paris Society for Foreign Missions, who arrived in China in 1682 and died in Fokien in 1684. Among the prelates we must note the Dominican, Gregory Lo, or Lopez, the only Chinese who has, as yet, been raised to the dignity of a bishop. He died a saintly death in 1691.
The Chinese "Rites."
Is the Chinese worship of ancestors and Confucius a purely civil function, or is it tainted with superstition? Can the words "heaven" or "emperor above" be applied to the true God? Such is the question of "rites." Ricci had tolerated the "rites," but his successor, Longobardi, condemned them unconditionally. The religions of the other orders adopted almost unanimously the opinion of Longobardi. The Dominican, J. B. Morales, hastened to Rome in 1643 to ask for the judgment of the Holy See on the question. Certain ceremonies were forbidden in 1704, after six years' consideration, and Cardinal Tounon was sent to Peking as a special envoy. But unfortunately the Emperor Kanghi had been invited to state his views, and he declared that the "rites" were free from all superstition. The autocrat became very indignant when the legate published the Papal Constitution, and war was officially declared against the Church.
The controversy was only ended in 1742 by the celebrated Bull of Benedict XIV, prescribing an oath for all engaged in the China Mission that they accept the condemnation of the "rites" and all its consequences. This oath is even now taken by every new missionary on his arrival, and by every native priest. The progress of the mission suffered a check, but there were also other causes at work to account for it.
Persecutions.
The first general persecution was that of the Ming Emperor Wangli in 1617. It lasted but a short time. Another small outbreak took place during the minority of Kanghi, when Father Schall was condemned to death at the instigation of the Mahomedan astronomer, Yang Koangsien, and, in fact, died in prison. Kanghi himself, as we have said, declared war against the Church, though he was always friendly to the missionaries at the court.
It was his son, Yungcheng, who initiated the almost uninterrupted series of persecutions which continued during the long and brilliant reign of his successor, Kienlung (1736–96), and, indeed, down to the opening of the Treaty ports.
The Vicar Apostolic of Fokien, the Dominican, Blessed Peter Sanz, and several of his priests, were martyred in 1747 and 1748; and the Jesuits Athemis and Henriquez with several neophytes suffered in Soochow in 1748. Many others, priests and laymen, bore similar testimony to their faith, and the life of the missionaries became a monotonous repetition of hardships. They were obliged to travel in disguise and to preach and officiate at night in continual danger of being discovered, imprisoned, and put to death. But their zeal was rewarded by the firmness of their neophytes, which withstood 150 years of unceasing persecution.
Other Missionaries.
These sufferings served only to increase the zeal of the missionaries, and new recruits constantly joined them. Since its foundation, the Paris Society for Foreign Missions had never relaxed its efforts to secure a real foothold in the south-western provinces. It was, however, only after 1769 that they began to meet with any permanent success. The fine missions of Szechwan, Yunnan, and Kweichow really date from the long episcopate of Bishop Pottier. In 1756 he found only 4,000 converts, but in 1801 he was able to number 25,000. His two successors, Bishop de St. Martin and the Blessed Bishop Dufresse (martyred 1815) governed and organised the mission with remarkable prudence amid almost continual persecution. In 1803 the first synod ever celebrated in China was held in Szechwan, and its statutes are still admired and put into practice. There were also Lazarists, or Vincentian missionaries. One of them, Appiani, who was secretary to Cardinal Tounon, died in prison in 1732 after twelve years' suffering. Another Lazarist, Pedrini, won the favour of Kanghi and Yungcheng, and founded the residence of Sitang at Peking.
From 1773 to 1856.
In 1773, the Society of Jesus was suppressed by Pope Clement XIV. Ten years later the Propaganda conveyed to the Lazarists the inheritance of the Jesuits in Peking. The old missionaries, however, remained to work and die with their successors. Nothing is more pathetic than the letter they wrote to the Superior of the Vincentians thanking him for having sent them "not mere substitutes but true brethren." The missionaries, however, were now too few for their task, and the surviving native priests were insufficient to carry on the work in the provinces. The French Revolution cut off the recruits of the foreign missions. Spain and Portugal were no more able to render assistance to their missionaries, and all the missions were reduced to great extremities. In the meantime persecution was steadily enforced, and the apparently enfeebled mission year after year witnessed the martyrdom of foreign and native priests, and their followers, including even women, a number of whom have lately been raised to the altars. Blessed Clet (1820) and Blessed Perboyre (1840) were Lazarists, and Blessed John of Triora (1815) was a Franciscan.
Though the work of the mission suffered much, it still had enough vitality to extend its field of action to Mongolia in 1798, to Korea in 1827, and to Manchuria in 1839. The Lazarists Huc and Gabet even attempted the evangelisation of Thibet and succeeded in passing a few months in Lhasa (1844–46).
At the end of this period the outlook began to change. The revived Society of Jesus re-entered China in 1842, and the organisations of the Propagation of the Faith and the Holy Childhood were set on foot to provide funds for the mission. Liberty to preach the Gospel was stipulated for in the treaties between China and the foreign powers, and the French Embassy was invested with authority to protect Catholics, native as well as foreign.
From 1856 to the Present Day.
This period begins with the suppression of the two sees of Peking and Nanking and a new readjustment of the missions. Pius IX divided China into vicariates apostolic, the number of which has been increased from time to time, each being entrusted exclusively to one congregation of missionaries.
The opening of China, the rapidity of the voyage from Europe, the better organisation of the several missions, the creation of several new missionary associations in Belgium, Germany, and Italy, and the comparative freedom enjoyed by the missionaries, make it possible now to send a much larger number of workers into the field. Seminaries have been multiplied, and the native clergy have become more numerous and more thoroughly trained. Several orders of nuns—the Sisters of Charity, the Franciscan Sisters, the Carmelites, the Helpers of the Holy Souls, the Little Sisters of the Poor, &c.—greatly assist in the evangelisation of women. Congregations of Chinese nuns have been instituted and a great impetus has everywhere been given to the preaching of the faith.
Persecutions have not ceased, but they are only local and often take the form of riots, which are generally fomented by the literati and more or less secretly favoured by the officials. The principal events of the period under review are the great Taeping rebellion, the second European war, the final peace in 1860, the Tientsin massacre of 1870, and the great Boxer outbreak of 1900, when bishops, priests, native Christians of both sexes and
