CHINA AND CHRISTIANITY

New Zealand Tablet, 25 January 1912, Page 9

CHINA AND CHRISTIANITY

PROGRESS OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH During the revolution in China little has been heard of the Catholic missionaries, whose position at the present time cannot be otherwise than very serious in some parts of the country. In the past Catholic missionaries and their flocks suffered severely at the hands of the Boxers and other fanatical sections of the populace, and it can hardly be expected that they will escape attack at the present juncture from the irresponsible and uncontrollable . adherents of the revolutionary party, notwithstanding the determination of the leaders not to give any cause for intervention to the European Powers. The history of the efforts of the Catholic Church to bring the vast population of China within her fold is of unusual interest at the present time. So -far back as 1289 (says a writer in the Catholic Times John of Montecorvino, a Franciscan reached Peking, built a church, and founded a Bishopric. In 1307 he was created 'Archbishop and i ai ■® as k by Pope Clement V., and in 1370 Urban V. appointed a new Archbishop in the person of William de Prato, who was accompanied by twelve Franciscans. Nearly two centuries later St. Francis Xavier was proceeding from Japan to China when he died at a small island off the Canton coast. Not long afterwards two members of the same Order Fathers Ruggieri and Pasio, obtained permission to settle at Chao-K’ing. This was in 1582. of extraordinary talents, Matthew Ricci. He was a man of extensive learning. In mathematics he was specially versed. By his knowledge he made an impression on all who came into contact with him. But as a foreigner he was held in suspicion as well as his brother Jesuits. Amidst the gravest difficulties he went to Peking, was courteously received by. the Emperor converted the Prime Minister, Su Kwana-Ki founded a novitiate in the capital for Chinese whom he had won to the faith, established a seminary at Macao, and as Superior of the Jesuit missionaries in China paved the way for the development of their work. A large number of imperial princes and high officials were received into the Church, and within twenty years of Rmci s death there were thirteen thousand Christians in cmna. > When the Manchu Tartars took possession of Peking and the Ming dynasty came to an end, one of the men to whom the first Manchu Emperor paid most deference was a German Jesuit named Adam Schall, vio, with James Rho, a colleague, was a member of the Astronomical Board. The Emperor treated the Jesuit as an intimate friend, built a splendid church for him in Peking, ordered, at his request, that Christians throughout the Empire should be free from moles-an-?i BVen - entered on a course of instruction himself with. a view to embracing the Catholic faith into ul’ -however, at an early age without being received into the Church. Owing to the intrigues of a Mussulman , astronomer, Father Schall' fell into disfavor at Court, and an anti-Christian movement was set on foot but as soon as K’ang-hi, a prince of enlightened views’ came to the throne the Jesuits again became influential.’ Ifiß* t^ band " en 1 t . 11 oufc bv Louis XIV. of France in 1685, Fathers Gerbillon and Bouvet, were - appointed general advisers to the Emperor, and the outlook for then" atllo 1C missions became very bright. There were Three Hundred Thousand Christians ; in the Chinese Empire. A beautiful cathedral church was built in the , palace grounds, and the important question whether China was to become official]/Chrisoian was ireely discussed. It was proposed that" the practice of ancestral rites should be permitted to Chi-

nese converts, on the ground that these rites were not religious but mere civil functions, and that the use of the Chinese language* should be allowed in the liturgy. The Holy See, having examined the matter, found that the request could not be complied with, and toleration of the rites was distinctly prohibited by Benedict XIV. in the Bull ‘ex quo singulari.’ Persecution followed persecution from that time forward for many a year. Hundreds of Catholic churches were destroyed or turned into pagan temples, and many names were added to the list of martyrs. But, for about a quarter of a century the Catholic missionaries have been recovering lost ground, and now thqre are over a million Catholics in the Empire, a good percentage of the priests being natives. From time to time (remarks the San Francisco Monitor) the missionaries—men and women—have been subjected .to terrible persecution, and hundreds of them have been martyred. Between the years 1796 and 1820 a great many were murdered. During the sixties the persecutions became so violent that the European Governments interfered; while the list of martyrs during the days of the Boxer war is a long one, full of terrible incidents. Catholic Missionaries. : Ecclesiastically speaking China is divided into five regions, ; containing one diocese, the diocese of Macao, 38 Vicariates Apostolic, 4 Prefectures Apostolic, and one mission, scattered over the vast area which is known as' the 18 provinces. In these regions labor 1213 foreign priests and 550 native priests, who 1 take care of 951,400 Christians and 402,242 catechumens, with 5652 churches and chapels. Among the churches should be mentioned Our Saviour’s Cathedral in Peking and the church at Chang-kia-Chwang, which are imposing structures. Mention should be made also' of the Marist Brothers and many Sisters, both foreign

and native; Sisters of St. Vincent de Paul, of St. Joseph, of Providence, of Portieux, of the Third Order of St. Francis, of /Canossa, of St. Paul of Chartres, Servants of the Holy Ghost, Daughters of Purgatory, etc. In the Vicariate of Kiang-Nan there ' are 32 Carmelite Sisters (in one house), 91 (33 native) Helpers of the Holy Souls (in three houses), 31 Sisters of Charity, 9 Little Sisters of the Poor, and 173 Chinese girls. The present zone of war extends from the 'Yangtze River in the south with Wu-Chang as the centre, to the Yellow River in the north, where Siang-Cheng forms the main point. The. former is the seat of a Vicar Apostolic, erected in 1878. It has 24 foreign priests, 17 native priests, 23,304 Christians, 20,000 catechumens, and 105 churches and chapels. SiangCheng is the seat of the congregation of St. Francis Xavier “of Parma under a Prefect Apostolic, with 8 foreign priests, 800 Christians, 800 catechumens, and 8 churches and chapels. The whole territory forms the greater part of the third region’, which has in all 314 foreign priests, 156 native priests,; 279,980 Christians, 160,114'' catechumens, and 1746 churches. v It will be seen - from the above that the Catholic activity in China is of some account. In the issue of the Outlook, March 16, 1901, Mr. Arthur H. Smith, although taking issue with the Church on certain points of her administration, concludes a lengthy article with' these words: ‘ No one who . wishes well to the people of China will desire to utter a syllable which shall detract from the good work which the Roman Catholic Church has done and is at this moment doing for the Chinese in all parts of the land. There are in it many self-denying men and .women who are freely giving themselves for the benefit of a people who have, as a rule, little perception of what such sacrifice means. For hundreds of years before the Protestant churches awoke from the

age-long sleep, the Mother Church was -resolutely at work upon the hardest task which she has ever undertaken^— task in which she stills perseveres, serene and strong:, unmoved by hostility or by criticism.'