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Abstract Food-related encounters represented an important convivial and cross-cultural component in the Jesuit-led Catholic missions in China. By adopting a longue durée perspective from the end of the sixteenth century to the beginning of the twentieth century, this article engages with both visual and textual sources related to Sino-European culinary encounters in the context of the Jesuit missions in China. These encounters offer valuable insights into the daily activities of Jesuit missionaries and their interlocutors, including Chinese literati, converts, and non-Christian individuals. This article examines several case studies, ranging from early modern accounts of Chinese food practices to nineteenth-century Catholic texts and primers for children published in Shanghai, providing examples of the relevance of food practices. It also considers the broader significance of culinary practices for Catholic missionaries from different orders in China.

In some of the earliest Chinese works written by Catholic missionaries in the late Ming Dynasty, St. Augustine became associated with the mystery of t...

Nuns Navigating the Spanish Empire tells the remarkable story of a group of nuns who traveled halfway around the globe in the seventeenth century to establish the first female Franciscan convent in the Far East. In 1620 Sor Jerónima de la Asunción (1556-1630) and her cofounders left their cloistered convent in Toledo, Spain, journeying to Mexico to board a Manila galleon on their way to the Philippines. Sor Jerónima is familiar to art historians for her portrait by Velàzquez that hangs in the Prado Museum in Madrid. What most people do not know is that one of her travel companions, Sor Ana de Cristo (1565-1636), wrote a long biographical account of Sor Jerónima and their fifteen-month odyssey. Drawing from Sor Ana (TM)s manuscript, other archival sources, and rare books, Owensâ (TM)s study offers a fascinating view of travel, evangelization, and empire

This essay examines the travel and writings of Sor Magdalena de Cristo (1575–1653), one of the co-founders of the first Franciscan convent in the Philippines and another convent in Macao, China. Her harrowing journey emerges in a letter written by her confessor, who was also her advocate. While in Manila, Sor Magdalena wrote her magnum opus, Floresta Fran-ciscana, a three-volume mystical treatise glorifying the Franciscan order. Based on unpublished letters and manuscripts gathered from archives in Spain and Italy, this essay explores Sor Magdalena’s role as an intrepid traveler and author, and also analyzes how she collaborated and formed a writing community with her peers, helping her Spanish sisters cultivate their own religious and literary space in the Far East.

Resumen El presente ensayo tiene como objetivo explorar el papel que las mujeres y, en particular, las religiosas presentes en los confines asiáticos de los imperios hispánico y portugués desempeñaron en la configuración de una suerte de catolicismo ibérico. Se interroga acerca de las condiciones que en dichos espacios definieron sus formas de vida y sus interacciones con los contextos sociales y culturales en los que se integraron. No sólo considera la capacidad que tuvieron estas religiosas para intervenir sobre el espacio público mediante visiones, escritos y devociones que contribuyeron en último término a reforzar las identidades religiosas y los vínculos políticos entre los territorios de las monarquías portuguesa y española. Plantea asimismo cuestiones que inciden sobre lo contextos misioneros que las rodeaban y el modo en el que articularon las obligaciones de clausura y oración con la movilidad y con una clara vocación de participación en las tareas de conversión. A tal efecto, la investigación analizará la trayectoria vital la religiosa clarisa María Magdalena de la Cruz, quien, en la década de 1620, viajó desde Sevilla a Manila, participando en la conocida expedición comandada por Jerónima de la Asunción. En 1633, se trasladó a Macao con el fin de fundar un nuevo convento en este enclave sino-portugués, y aún paso un tiempo en la Cochinchina, donde en parte pudo dar curso a sus aspiraciones apostólicas. Conocida por sus visiones, dejó constancia de sus experiencias contemplativas en un extenso tratado ‘inmaculista’, titulado Floresta franciscana, que compuso bajo los auspicios de su confesor.

We analyze the writings of Br. Jacinto de Deus (1612-1681), whose output was extensive, including literature on spirituality, a mirror for princes, and the work Vergel de plantas e flores (Garden of plants and flowers), in which is narrated the history of the Franciscans in the Portuguese Asian Empire, as an effort at preserving the memory of the Observant Franciscans (Capuchin), after achieving institutional autonomy in relation to the Province of Portugal.

This abstract describes a Qing dynasty imperial ordinance issued on the fourth day of the third lunar month in the second year of the Jiaqing reign (1797 CE) by the Supervisor of the Yuehai Customs, a high-ranking official holding the rank of Court Gentleman of the Imperial Stud with Eight Additional Ranks and Ten Entries in the Official Merit Register. The document, bearing the circular red seal of the Yuehai Customs Office and marginalia numbered ‘593’ and ‘T313’, is a formal proclamation addressed to the Commissioner at Macau, local officials, household heads, and other concerned parties. It records the interception in Shaoguan of a four-compartment vessel from Fujian Province carrying the Portuguese Jesuit missionary Su Qiwen (also recorded as Sousa or Soza), alias Su Qi, alongside Chinese Catholic converts Liu Zhishen (Liu Hao-si), Li Licheng (Miguel Li), Li Mi’e, Li Renxiu (Pedro Li), Li Ruose (José Li), Chen Pu-jiao (Chen Wei-suo), Ni Gao-jun (Ni Fang-ji), and instructor Zhang Meng-zhi (Romatier). Seized items included Christian devotional objects inscribed in both Chinese characters and European script. The ordinance details their clandestine missionary activities—including Su Qiwen’s adoption of Chinese clerical attire and tonsure at Macau’s Sam Po Temple (São Paulo Church) and Jesuit residence—and condemns violations of imperial regulations prohibiting unauthorised foreign travel inland and unsanctioned religious proselytisation among Han Chinese subjects. It mandates strict surveillance of all foreign nationals entering Guangdong or Fujian provinces and prescribes disciplinary measures for non-compliance.

Abstract Dating back many years, Marian devotion is currently a ubiquitous phenomenon among Vietnamese Catholics in Vietnam. This article examines the endeavours of specific global Catholic missionary societies – the Society of Jesus (S.J.), the Dominican Order or the Order of Preachers (O.P.) and the Society of Foreign Missions of Paris (mep) – in spreading Marian devotion in pre-twentieth-century Vietnam. In doing so, the article seeks to demonstrate that the prevalence of Marian devotion primarily resulted from the enduring efforts of global Catholic missionaries during the stages of proselytization. This argument aims to challenge the prevailing notion that the primordial Vietnamese cultural identity, widely known for emphasizing female status and Mother Goddess worship, exerted its influence on the elevation of Marian devotion among Vietnamese Catholics during the course of history.