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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...

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 Based on unpublished letters and manuscripts gathered from archives in Spain and Italy, this essay explores Sor Magdalena’s role as an intrepid traveler and author, and also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.

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.

This essay is to illustrate the inter-cultural features involved in the Chinese Rites Controversy, which had a devastating impact on the Chinese missionary endeavor. The 1659 instruction by Propaganda Fide, also known as the Magna Charta of the Congregation, obliged apostolic vicars and all missionaries in eastern Asia, including China, to carry out the missionary practice of adaptation. Missionaries were prohibited from combating local customs and traditions, except when they were in obvious contradiction to faith or morals. The directives also included the invitation for the promotion of indigenous clergy. The instructions were quite innovative, just as innovative was the missionary method envisaged by Francesco Ingoli, Propaganda Fide’s first director. Sadly enough, the ground-breaking directives were not put into practice, quite paradoxically, exactly by Apostolic Vicars and missionaries sent by Propaganda Fide. Subsequent pronouncements by Propaganda Fide and by the same Pontifices contradicted early openness. Proposals coming from China for the promotion of Chinese clergy and liturgical adaptation were disapproved. At the end of the Rites Controversy, Chinese Christians were forced to discontinue the practice of the traditional rites in honour of the ancestors. The Rites Controversy was initiated in Fujian province in mid-1635. Dominican and Franciscan missionaries objected to the evangelization method introduced to China by Matteo Ricci and Giulio Aleni. Propaganda Fide and the Holy See were called in to declare whether the Christians were allowed to participate in the ancestral rituals. In contradiction with 1659’s Instruction, Rome was unable to make a coherent decision, and the controversy dragged on. Pope Clement XI was determined to disapprove the Rites hoping, at the same time, to save China Mission from destruction. Sadly, the two objectives could not be achieved together. In 1742, Benedict XIV condemned the Rites in the most solemn fashion, putting to a definitive end China Mission as envisaged by Matteo Ricci.

The Franciscan presence in China is one of the first expressions of the Chinese encounter with Christianity. Despite the significant number of preserv...

The article presents the Roman Archives of the Society of Jesus. After the parts devoted to recollecting its history, discussing its structure and resources, a great deal of information was given on the realities of the institution’s daily work in recent years. Elements of statistics and bibliographic indications referring to the literature on the subject are accompanied by general considerations relating to the archives.

The French Religious Protectorate enabled France to act as the guardian of Catholics in China. After the 1858 Treaty of Tientsin, it protected Catholic missions and missionaries and was accepted as a diplomatic arrangement by the main international actors. While not being a signatory to the Protectorate, the Catholic Church complied with its terms and accepted French diplomatic representation in matters of Chinese affairs. The agreement involved all missionaries from different countries in China, including those of Italian origin. Inevitably, over time, the Protectorate became a controversial question because it exposed the Church’s pastoral mission to interferences from foreign powers. In November 1928, Italy signed the Treaty of Amity and Commerce with China, enhancing political relations under Chiang Kai-shek’s leadership. It was the beginning of a new age of cooperation and reciprocities based on strong political affinities. A few months later, on 11 February 1929, Italy and the Holy See signed the Lateran Pacts, reestablishing diplomatic relations after Rome’s annexation to the Kingdom in 1870. Benito Mussolini saw the importance of aligning with the Church to gain the support of Catholics and strengthen his leadership. These agreements bolstered cooperation between the regime and the Church in domestic and international affairs. In China, the cooperation allowed the Church to gradually shift away from French diplomatic interference and finally attempt to connect, free of constraints, with the Chinese Nationalist government.

The Diocese of Macao was established on 23 January 1576, becoming the Holy See’s first base of operation in the Far East.

Travelling from Italy to Macao as a missionary in the 1960s, the cleric devoted his life to the lives of lepers – now known as Hansenian patients.

Andrew Kim Taegon, a passionate young Christian set out a path that has since been followed by millions of the faithful.

Abstract This chapter analyzes three constraints which affect the social involvement of the Macao Catholic Church, based on an inter-disciplinary method using social scientific and historical studies. First, addressing passiveness and conservativeness of the Portuguese Catholicism from which the Macao Catholic Church originated in relation to the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council. Second, showing the Macao Catholic Church demonstrates a comparatively traditional/conservative type of faith in contrast to the active and assertive roles of Roman Catholic Church in this-worldly affairs after Vatican II. Lastly, explaining the small size of Macao society poses a structural constraint on the civil involvement of the Church.

This article examines the acclamation of King João IV at Macau in 1642, with special attention to an account of the pageantry that followed the arrival of the news from Portugal. The discussion has three parts. One considers the colony’s social and religious climate in the years leading up to the event. The next looks into the dramatic change of mood that followed in its wake. The third part investigates the well-known source describing the ceremonies. The contrast between a colony rent by division and one united by common purpose is so striking that it raises important questions about the historical source that describes the acclamation.

This dissertation analyses the role of bishops of eight dioceses created in Asia (Goa, Malacca, Macao and Funai and Manila, Cebu, Neuva Cáceres and Nueva Segovia) for the consolidation of the Royal Power of the Iberian crowns between 1558 and 1668. To deal with this issue, this thesis looks at the creation of bishoprics as part of the territorialisation strategies of the Iberian monarchies. It understands the episcopal appointments in the context of the so-called “economia de mercês” (i.e. a system based on the principle that kings used royal appointment to promote loyalty between them and their subjects). And it analysis the transfer of legal frameworks and ecclesiastical institutions, particularly the cathedrals and the parishes, from Europe to Asia. The chronological period includes two important milestones that had a major impact on the dimensions just mentioned. The first is related to the Iberian Union, when the Iberian crowns became subject to the same monarchs. The second is related to the foundation of Propaganda Fide in 1622, which corresponds to the affirmation of Rome's direct intervention in missionary areas, which was visible from very early on in the Estado da Índia. Using mostly documents from Portuguese, Spanish and Vatican archives, while taking advantage of the comparative perspective methods, I’ll argue that despite various limits, the episcopate was a central pillar in the consolidation of power of the Iberian monarchies, which were particularly dependent on the bishops in these regions, given the absence of many other structures that guaranteed the preservation of royal authority. It is in the tension between the project of consolidating authority and political dominance and the resistance and limits it faced that this thesis is developed.

RESUMO: A celebração de rituais públicos era um momento privilegiado de representação das hierarquias sociais de cada território. Um dos maiores desafios que a historiografia tem enfrentado resulta da dificuldade em avaliar a forma como as populações locais entendiam a celebração ritual a partir dos seus próprios quadros culturais, especialmente quando se trata de grupos extraeuropeus e não convertidos. Partindo deste problema, este texto pretende analisar o modo como as autoridades chinesas olhavampara alguns dos rituais públicos, especialmente os de natureza religiosa, que tiveram lugar em Macau, tendo por base a obra Aomen ji lüe, da autoria de Yin Guangren e Zhang Rulin, preparada entre 1751 e 1757.1 PALAVRAS-CHAVE: China; Macau; Ásia; Rituais religiosos; Mandarins. ABSTRACT: The celebration of public rituals was a privileged moment of social hierarchy representation in each territory. One of the biggest challenges historiography faces is the result of the difficulty in evaluating how local populations understood the ritual celebration taking their own cultural framing as a starting point, especially when referring to non-converted and non-European groups. Given this problem, this article analyses the way in which Chinese authorities regarded some of the public rituals, especially the religious ones, which occurred in Macau, using Yin Guangren e Zhang Rulin’s Aomen ji lüe (1751-1757) as a reference. KEYWORDS: China; Macau; Asia; Religious rituals; Mandarins.