Three Pillars of Chinese Catholicism
Encyclopedia
Xǔ Guāngqǐ
(徐光启, 1562–1633) of Shanghai
, and Lǐ Zhīzǎo (李之藻, 1565 – November 1, 1630) and Yáng Tíngyún (杨廷筠, 1557–1627) both of Hangzhou
, are known as the Three Great Pillars of Chinese Catholicism (中国天主教的三大柱石). It is due to their combined efforts that Hangzhou and Shanghai became the centre of missionary
activity in late Ming
China
. The three men shared an interest in Western science and mathematics, and it is probable that this was what first attracted them to the Jesuits responsible for their conversion.
(2:9):
The passage in Chinese is somewhat more obvious:
wherein it calls James, Peter
and John
the "pillars of the Church". The inevitable connection was then seen between the "pillars" of the early Church and the three men who helped to evangelize Ming China.
one of the founding fathers of missionary activity in China, but did not convert or receive Baptism
at that time. Later however, in 1611, Yang accompanied a fellow official Li Zhizao back to Hangzhou to arrange for his late father's funeral, and saw that Li had not only thrown out his home's Buddhist statues and imagery, but that he did not send for Buddhist priests to give the man his last rites. Instead, he had brought two Jesuit priests, Lazzaro Cattaneo and Nicolas Trigault
, to do the job and a Chinese monk Zhōng Míngrén (钟鸣仁) to explain the rite's significance to the gathered friends and relatives. One month later, impressed by Li's newfound piety, he abandoned his concubine, and was himself baptized, receiving the Christian name "Michael" (mí'é'ěr 弥额尔).
Of particular significance is Yang Tingyun's willingness to abandon status symbols such as his family's traditional beliefs and the concubine, for these were some of the main obstacles in the way of the Jesuit mission to China. In the same way that he was impressed by Li Zhizao's conversion (see below), many other Chinese were impressed by his and followed his example, starting with the 30 members of his family and then moving on to his friends, in total convincing over 100 people to accept Christ
. His other notable contributions to Christianity in China
include his funding of the missionaries in Hangzhou, granting them the use of his estate as their base of operations, and also the buying up of land at Tianshui Bridge (天水桥) and Dafangjing (大方井) to build the first church in Hangzhou
and the Jesuit Cemetery.
When the church had for the most part been completed, Yang became severely ill. Knowing it was his end, Yang Tingyun requested the sacraments
from the priest, and in January of 1628, at the age of 71, died. Because he had been seen as a great scholar and man of excellent moral fibre, the people of Hangzhou had him honoured in the Xiāngxián Cí (乡贤祠), a hall for honouring local heroes and ancestors.
in Henan Province
. He was known by the courtesy names of Wǒcún (我存) and Zhènzhī (振之), as well as by the pseudonym "The Man of Liangyan" (凉庵居士, alternative writings: 凉庵逸民, 凉庵子, or 凉叟). In 1610, while in Beijing
, Li became gravely ill, and without any friends or family in Beijing to care for him, was soon on the verge of death. It is fortunate for him then that at that point in his life that he became acquainted with the Jesuit Matteo Ricci
who took him into his care, treated him "as a family member", and soon brought him back to health. Ricci also during this time taught him much of Western science
, mathematics
, and Catholicism
. Shortly thereafter Li Zhizao was baptized and given the Christian name "Leon" (liáng 良).
After converting, Li Zhizao took an oath saying, "As long as I live, all that God has given me, I shall for put to good use for Him." While still in Beijing, he presented Matteo Ricci with 100 tael
s of gold for the purpose of building a church there. Later Li would also be responsible for introducing Catholicism to his hometown of Hangzhou the following year when, returning home for his father's funeral, he brought with him two other Jesuit missionaries. In 1625 he was the first to publish the Chinese text of the Nestorian Stele
.
Xu Guangqi
Xu Guangqi , was a Chinese scholar-bureaucrat, agricultural scientist, astronomer, and mathematician in the Ming Dynasty. Xu was a colleague and collaborator of the Italian Jesuits Matteo Ricci and Sabatino de Ursis and they translated several classic Western texts into Chinese, including part of...
(徐光启, 1562–1633) of Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
, and Lǐ Zhīzǎo (李之藻, 1565 – November 1, 1630) and Yáng Tíngyún (杨廷筠, 1557–1627) both of Hangzhou
Hangzhou
Hangzhou , formerly transliterated as Hangchow, is the capital and largest city of Zhejiang Province in Eastern China. Governed as a sub-provincial city, and as of 2010, its entire administrative division or prefecture had a registered population of 8.7 million people...
, are known as the Three Great Pillars of Chinese Catholicism (中国天主教的三大柱石). It is due to their combined efforts that Hangzhou and Shanghai became the centre of missionary
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
activity in late Ming
Ming Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. The three men shared an interest in Western science and mathematics, and it is probable that this was what first attracted them to the Jesuits responsible for their conversion.
Origin of name
This name is derived from a passage in Saint Paul’s letter to the GalatiansEpistle to the Galatians
The Epistle of Paul to the Galatians, often shortened to Galatians, is the ninth book of the New Testament. It is a letter from Paul of Tarsus to a number of Early Christian communities in the Roman province of Galatia in central Anatolia...
(2:9):
- “And when they had known the grace that was given to me, James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowshipRight hand of christian fellowshipThe Right Hand of Fellowship is a ritual intended to welcome a new member into the fellowship of a congregation or welcoming a new minister into the fellowship of ministers...
…"
The passage in Chinese is somewhat more obvious:
- 「那称为教会柱石的雅各、矶法、约翰，就向我和巴拿巴用右手行相交之礼...」
wherein it calls James, Peter
Saint Peter
Saint Peter or Simon Peter was an early Christian leader, who is featured prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. The son of John or of Jonah and from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee, his brother Andrew was also an apostle...
and John
John the Apostle
John the Apostle, John the Apostle, John the Apostle, (Aramaic Yoħanna, (c. 6 - c. 100) was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He was the son of Zebedee and Salome, and brother of James, another of the Twelve Apostles...
the "pillars of the Church". The inevitable connection was then seen between the "pillars" of the early Church and the three men who helped to evangelize Ming China.
Yang Tingyun
Yang Tingyun was born into a devout Buddhist family. At the age of 35 (1592), after taking the Imperial Examinations he assumed the post of Inspector. In 1600 he met Matteo RicciMatteo Ricci
Matteo Ricci, SJ was an Italian Jesuit priest, and one of the founding figures of the Jesuit China Mission, as it existed in the 17th-18th centuries. His current title is Servant of God....
one of the founding fathers of missionary activity in China, but did not convert or receive Baptism
Baptism
In Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...
at that time. Later however, in 1611, Yang accompanied a fellow official Li Zhizao back to Hangzhou to arrange for his late father's funeral, and saw that Li had not only thrown out his home's Buddhist statues and imagery, but that he did not send for Buddhist priests to give the man his last rites. Instead, he had brought two Jesuit priests, Lazzaro Cattaneo and Nicolas Trigault
Nicolas Trigault
Nicolas Trigault was a Flemish Jesuit, and a missionary to China. He was also known by his latinised name Trigautius or Trigaultius, and his Chinese name Jīn Nígé .-Life and work:...
, to do the job and a Chinese monk Zhōng Míngrén (钟鸣仁) to explain the rite's significance to the gathered friends and relatives. One month later, impressed by Li's newfound piety, he abandoned his concubine, and was himself baptized, receiving the Christian name "Michael" (mí'é'ěr 弥额尔).
Of particular significance is Yang Tingyun's willingness to abandon status symbols such as his family's traditional beliefs and the concubine, for these were some of the main obstacles in the way of the Jesuit mission to China. In the same way that he was impressed by Li Zhizao's conversion (see below), many other Chinese were impressed by his and followed his example, starting with the 30 members of his family and then moving on to his friends, in total convincing over 100 people to accept Christ
Christ
Christ is the English term for the Greek meaning "the anointed one". It is a translation of the Hebrew , usually transliterated into English as Messiah or Mashiach...
. His other notable contributions to Christianity in China
Christianity in China
Christianity in China is a growing minority religion that comprises Protestants , Catholics , and a small number of Orthodox Christians. Although its lineage in China is not as ancient as the institutional religions of Taoism and Mahayana Buddhism, and the social system and ideology of...
include his funding of the missionaries in Hangzhou, granting them the use of his estate as their base of operations, and also the buying up of land at Tianshui Bridge (天水桥) and Dafangjing (大方井) to build the first church in Hangzhou
Immaculate Conception Cathedral of Hangzhou
The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception is a Roman Catholic cathedral, located at 415 Zhongshan Road North not far from Wulin Square in downtown Hangzhou, China...
and the Jesuit Cemetery.
When the church had for the most part been completed, Yang became severely ill. Knowing it was his end, Yang Tingyun requested the sacraments
Sacraments of the Catholic Church
The Sacraments of the Catholic Church are, the Roman Catholic Church teaches, "efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us. The visible rites by which the sacraments are celebrated signify and make present the graces proper...
from the priest, and in January of 1628, at the age of 71, died. Because he had been seen as a great scholar and man of excellent moral fibre, the people of Hangzhou had him honoured in the Xiāngxián Cí (乡贤祠), a hall for honouring local heroes and ancestors.
Writings
- Light Emitted by Heaven, Tiān shì míng biàn 《天释明辨》, is a treatise on the union of Confucianist and Christian thought. He writes,
-
- "A spiritual nature is God's gift to man, and it is the greatest gift of all, ... benevolence, righteousness, social etiquette, and wisdom (the four Confucianist virtues) are all indeed of this nature. These things that God has given us are what we've had all along. The Bible calls it morality and Confucius calls it conscience."
- Answers to Questions, Dài yí biān 《代疑编》, and Answers to Questions Continued, Dài yí xù biān 《代疑续编》, are as the name implies, attempts to resolve Chinese people's apprehensions about Christianity.
- The Owl and the Phoenix do not Sing Together, 1616 - a defense of Christianity against the accusations in Confucian heterodoxy, attacking the White LotusWhite LotusWhite Lotus was a type of Buddhist sectarianism that appealed to many Han Chinese, who found solace in worship of the "Unborn or Eternal Venerable Mother" , who was to gather all her children at the millennium into one family....
teachings.
- "A spiritual nature is God's gift to man, and it is the greatest gift of all, ... benevolence, righteousness, social etiquette, and wisdom (the four Confucianist virtues) are all indeed of this nature. These things that God has given us are what we've had all along. The Bible calls it morality and Confucius calls it conscience."
- Yang Tingyun also helped to translate prayers, scripture, and the writings of foreign missionaries into Chinese.
Li Zhizao
Li Zhizao was a successful Hangzhounese official who held various posts around China, the most notable of which were in Nanjing and what is now called Puyang CountyPuyang
Puyang is a prefecture-level city in northeastern Henan province, China. Located on the northern shore of the Yellow River, it borders Anyang in the west, Xinxiang in the southwest, and the provinces of Shandong and Hebei in the east and north respectively....
in Henan Province
Henan
Henan , is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the central part of the country. Its one-character abbreviation is "豫" , named after Yuzhou , a Han Dynasty state that included parts of Henan...
. He was known by the courtesy names of Wǒcún (我存) and Zhènzhī (振之), as well as by the pseudonym "The Man of Liangyan" (凉庵居士, alternative writings: 凉庵逸民, 凉庵子, or 凉叟). In 1610, while in Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
, Li became gravely ill, and without any friends or family in Beijing to care for him, was soon on the verge of death. It is fortunate for him then that at that point in his life that he became acquainted with the Jesuit Matteo Ricci
Matteo Ricci
Matteo Ricci, SJ was an Italian Jesuit priest, and one of the founding figures of the Jesuit China Mission, as it existed in the 17th-18th centuries. His current title is Servant of God....
who took him into his care, treated him "as a family member", and soon brought him back to health. Ricci also during this time taught him much of Western science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
, mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
, and Catholicism
Catholicism
Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....
. Shortly thereafter Li Zhizao was baptized and given the Christian name "Leon" (liáng 良).
After converting, Li Zhizao took an oath saying, "As long as I live, all that God has given me, I shall for put to good use for Him." While still in Beijing, he presented Matteo Ricci with 100 tael
Tael
Tael can refer to any one of several weight measures of the Far East. Most commonly, it refers to the Chinese tael, a part of the Chinese system of weights and currency....
s of gold for the purpose of building a church there. Later Li would also be responsible for introducing Catholicism to his hometown of Hangzhou the following year when, returning home for his father's funeral, he brought with him two other Jesuit missionaries. In 1625 he was the first to publish the Chinese text of the Nestorian Stele
Nestorian Stele
The Nestorian Stele is aTang Chinese stele erected in 781 that documents 150 years of history of early Christianity in China. It is a 279-cm tall limestone block with text in both Chinese and Syriac, describing the existence of Christian communities in several cities in northern China...
.
Writings
Li Zhizao was responsible for translating many works of Western science and mathematics into Chinese.- Plea to Translate Books on Western Calendar Methods, Qǐng yì xī yáng lì fǎ děng shū shū 《请译西洋历法等书疏》, was submitted to the Ming dynastyMing DynastyThe Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
Wanli EmperorWanli EmperorThe Wanli Emperor was emperor of China between 1572 and 1620. His era name means "Ten thousand calendars". Born Zhu Yijun, he was the Longqing Emperor's third son...
, beseeching him to hire missionaries and have them make corrections to the Chinese calendar.