Quarrel of the Rites

The Querelle of the Rites opposed the missionaries Jésuites in China to the authority of the Pape at the end of the 17th century.

General context

In Europe, one sees an interest growing for the remote regions with the development of the colonies. China, having a different civilization, wakes up the interest of the intellectuals. This curiosity is nourished by the many books, written by the missionaries, in particular Jésuites.

On the religious level, the end of the 17th century sees the Quarrel of the Rites: a theological confrontation between an orthodoxe Chinese Christianity and an adaptation to the habits and practice local.

Points of the litigation

The debates are articulated around several points. The first point, relates to the translation of the God term. The first name, tianzhu , come from the Buddhist whereas the second, tiandi , drift of the Classiques.

The question is also to know if the word Ciel, tian , are for the Chinese more than the simple material sky, if it contains also the idea of a supreme principle. In the same way all the words related to the Christian worship (temple, sacrifice etc) were finally drawn from Traditional by the Jesuits. The second point relates to a shelf calligraphiée and offered by the emperor. It carries the inscription “to adore the Sky”, jing tian. The direction can be analyzed several manners. This shelf is copied and put in the churches in China. Do the Chinese venerate it because it from the emperor and of the protection of the emperor or this is a simple symbol comes idolatry?

After 1633, the Quarrel of the Rites is also the visible part of the disagreements which separate the orders from missionaries. The Dominicains launch the offensive while complaining that the Jesuits allow their converts the rites with the Ancestors and Confucius. In 1639, an investigation starts on behalf of Rome to make the light on what the Jesuits in Chine.
allow The decrees of the popes are followed and contradicted. In 1645, a decree of the pope Innocent X declares the ceremonies like superstitious and idolatric. In 1656, an opposite decree of the new pope Alexandre VII considers part of the ceremonies, of which homages to Old like civil habits. Finally in 1669, Clément IX declares the first decree still valid. An unquestionable confusion reigns between the various proclamations. In 1693, mandement is proposed by Mgr Maigrot, it is the element release of the crisis. It contains a proposal: to use Tianzhu for God, to prohibit the imperial shelf in the churches, to prohibit the rites with Confucius, to condemn the worships and shelves of the Ancestors and still some precise details. And all that at the time when Kangxi issues the Edict of tolerance.

Within the Jesuits and other orders of missionaries, the opinions are shared. In the group of the people favorable to the rites, one finds the missionaries who are since longer in China, and thus influenced by the Chinese intellectuals. In the same way, those which admire Ricci, prosecutor thus its research in Sinologie and the contacts with the elites, is rather favorable to laughed. Another group of missionaries, which works more with christianization by the bottom and which probably faced more than with the official rites with all kinds of local Superstition S, is favorable to the mandement.
But it should not be forgotten that the Chinese do not certainly appreciate that missionaries oppose their rites and traditions. A justification for the permission of the rites is the fact that the latter little by little will disappear, but that to keep them at the beginning facilitates conversions.

Final papal judgment

A decree of Clément XI in 1704 condemns the Chinese rites definitively. It takes again the points of Mandement. It is at this time that is founded by the emperor the system of the piao . Mgr Maigrot, envoy of the pope in China, refuses to take the piao, and is thus driven out out of the pays.
The Kangxi emperor is implied in the debate. The emperor convenes the guide of Mgr Maigrot and to a test culture subjects it, this last does not succeed in reading characters and cannot discuss the Traditional ones. The emperor declares that it is its ignorance which makes him say silly things on the rites. Moreover, it lends more the intention to him to scramble the spirits than to spread the Christian faith. The Chinese start to perceive the lack of unit in the message of the missionaries. Kangxi considers impertinent the judgments put forth by people little cultivés.
A new delegation is led by Mgr Mezzabarba. It was to make accept Mandement by the Jesuits in China. The reception is polished, but little by little the pressure is exerted towards Mezzabarba so that it approves the rites. A papal bubble in 1721, of Benoit XIII, grants the eight permissions required by the Jesuits and retransmises by Mezzarbarba. A bubble of Benoit XIV, in 1742, revokes these eight permissions and henceforth requires an oath on behalf of the missionaries.

Between these two decrees, it there also a change of emperor. Yongzheng replaces Kangxi and prohibits Christianity in 1724. Only the Jesuits, scientists and scientists with the course Beijing, can remain in China. As of 1746, there are persecutions. All Europeans in China are sought and returned to Macao then to Europe. The government seeks also the converts and obliges them to give up their faith. Repression becomes harder and violent, initially in the cities then in the campaigns.

Repercussions

In Occident, debates on China and the Jesuits take place. Internal tensions with the order also develop, not all follow the ideas of Ricci. It took there of party for or against the Jesuits. This positioning concerning the Jesuits is related to the standpoint positive or disparaging towards Chinese civilization. The latter with the favor of the thinkers of the Lights, with the presentation of a separate philosophy of the religion.

One approaches the end about the Jesuits, hatred accumulates for several reasons: trade and businesses of the Jesuits, adaptations local or reproaches on the lack of orthodoxy. Schemes of influence, being able and power enter also concerned.

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