Chinese Books and Documents in the Jesuit Archives in Rome: A Descriptive Catalogue: Japonica-Sinica I-IV (review)

On February 23, 1555, Ignatius of Loyola wrote a letter to the Negus of Ethiopia, an alleged descendant of the mysterious Prester John, stating his willingness to intercede on his behalf to facilitate full reconciliation with the Holy See.

According to historical accounts, this unfortunate Jesuit enterprise in what was then known as Abyssinia revolved around the Negus Galawdewos, Claudius, who had been appealing to the King of Portugal, John III, to defend his tiny kingdom from Muslim assaults. The Portuguese king, in turn, believing that these requests in fact were a loosely disguised bid to unite the African nation with the Roman Church, sought the help of the recently constituted Society of Jesus, asking Ignatius to select from among his brethren a suitable candidate for appointment as Patriarch of Ethiopia. The plan was that the Patriarch would be assisted in his mission by two bishops and a group of twelve other Jesuit missionaries. The exuberance of the Portuguese king, who evidently envisioned the union of the Church of Ethiopia with the Roman Church as a giant step toward a more lasting consolidation of his colonial empire, provoked a comparable response from Ignatius. The Ethiopian mission was in fact the only case in which the saint agreed to make such an exception to the rule which forbade Jesuits from promotion to episcopal and prelatial appointments. The motivation provided by Ignatius is significant: The appointment would not imply the usual "pompa y descanso" (pomp and repose), but "fatigas y trabajos" (fatigue and labors).¹

After much resistance from the candidates for appointment, Pope Julius III finally confirmed Juan Nunez Barreto as patriarch and Andrés de Oviedo and Melchor Carneiro as bishops coadjutor. Later, the three Jesuits arrived in Goa, the gateway to Ethiopia—Nunez carrying Ignatius' letter to the Negus—but were halted in their tracks as a general feeling of uneasiness began to loom. Given the unwelcoming reception that was bestowed upon two fathers who had been sent ahead to pay homage to the Negus, doubts were raised in Goa about the Negus' sincerity to reconcile with Rome. The Portuguese viceroy resolved at that point to sent only one of the three bishops, Oviedo, and a small party of Jesuits.

The mission was indeed ill-fated, for once the Portuguese project became clear, the Negus Claudius reacted by imprisoning Oviedo and his entire delegation. Oviedo would eventually die on Ethiopian soil after several years of capture and privation, bringing the entire odyssey to a tragic finale.

There is, however, a point to this story: Ignatius' letter, which of course Claudius never received, is a very profound treatise in ecclesiology. It highlights key Jesuit concepts such as that of reductio, loosely translated to mean "being persuaded and therefore ascending to a higher status,"² or that of plantatio ecclesiae, that is, "implanting the church" according to an apostolic model (suggested also by the revered significance of the number twelve). These concepts are fundamental to a real understanding of the Jesuit apostolate.

The document also reveals the Society's intermingling with the Portuguese colonial power (as well as their resistance to it), counterbalanced by a forcible Ignatian call for unconditional obedience to the Pope, as it is formally stipulated by the fourth vote, circa missiones ("insuper promitto specialem obedientiam Summo Pontifici circa missiones. . ." [Constitutiones S.I., V, III, 3]).

These elements are of paramount importance because they cast new light on the kind of spiritual and theological training undergone by the missionaries who authored the texts listed and described in Father Albert Chan's book and are therefore essential to a broader comprehension of the documents themselves.

Chinese Books and Documents in the Jesuit Archives in Rome: A Descriptive Catalogue: Japonica-Sinica...