Documents Relating to the History of the Franciscan Missions in Shantung, China

DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE HISTORY OF THE FRANCISCAN MISSIONS IN SHANTUNG, CHINA The following four documents relating to the Franciscan missions in Shantung, China, have been translated from the Chinese with the intention of furnishing students of Franciscan history with new and valuable source material. The present documents consist of memorials of the Governor of Shantung and the Governor-General of Chihli (modern Hopei) to the emperor on the search and arrest of several Franciscan missionaries and their Chinese converts during the severe persecution of 1785. The original memorials were deposited, after they had been read and acted upon by the Chinese emperor, in the archives of the Grand Council of State {Chun Chi Ch'u) of the former Manchu dynasty (1644-1911) and are kept today in the Ta Kao Tien in Peiping. The present translation was made from the Chinese text in the historical journal Wen Hsien Ts'ung Pien1, published by the Palace Museum in Peiping.2 In 1785 the province of Shantung formed a part of the diocese of Peking, then under the patronage of the Portuguese crown. But the Shantung missionaries at that time were all non-Portuguese and almost exclusively Franciscans. The eastern part of Shantung was the mission field of the Spanish Franciscans of the Philippine province with mission centers in Tsinanfu and Lin-ch'ü (Linkiu). The missionary of Tsinanfu was Matías García Ferrera,3 a native of Alcázar in Spain, while Buenaventura del Corazón de Jesús,4 1.Wen Hsien Ts'ung Pien (Abbrev.: WHTP) (Palace Museum, Peiping, 1930-1934) Nos. 15-17. Section: "Tien-chu-chiao Liu-chuan Chung-kuo Shih-liao" (Historical Materials on the Extension of the Catholic Church in China). 2.This publication contains documents which have reference also to other Franciscan missions of that time. About the documents relating to the Franciscan Missions in Kiangsi see the author's article "Fray Manuel del Santísimo Sacramento , the last Franciscan in Kiangsi, China." FRANCISCAN STUDIES 26 (1945) pp. 175-196. 3.This missionary was born in 1717, arrived in China in 1756 and worked there until his death in 1790. Cf. Otto Maas, O.F.M. "Die Franziskanermission in China während des 18. Jahrhunderts." Zeitschrift für Missionswissenchaft. 22 (Münster, 1932) p. 236. 4 He was born in 1721, came to China in 1762, and worked in Shantung for two years. In 1765 he returned to Manila, from where he was sent by his superiors to Cochinchina. In 1769 he re-entered China and worked in Shantung until his death in 1801. He was not captured during the persecution, though this has been asserted by several authors. Cf. Maas, Loc. cit. and the literature listed there. 171 172 DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE HISTORY OF THE from Astorga in Spain, worked in Lin-ch'ii. Both Franciscans escaped arrest during this persecution, though their names, at least that of Father Matías, had become known to the government. The western part of Shantung, especially the towns and villages around Lintsing (Lin-ch'ing), the old residence of Bishop Bernardino Della Chiesa, O.F.M. (1644-1721), and a part of Chihli were entrusted to Franciscan missionaries from Italy, sent by the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda. After the elevation of Antonio Maria Sacconi, O.F.M.,5 to the dignity of Vicar Apostolic of Shensi-Shansi6 and the loss of old Giovanni Battista da Lucera, O.F.M.7, the Franciscan, Mariano Zaralli, was the only Western missionary in this large mission field. The Sacred Congregation of Propaganda in 1783 sent two young Franciscans, Atto Biagini8 and Crescentiano Cavalli,9 to assist him in his work. All three missionaries , however, were arrested in 1785 and sent to Peking, where Atto Biagini died in prison. The following documents deal mainly with the last-mentioned three missionaries. 5.This illustrious missionary was born on March 23, 1741, came to China in 1773, and died as a victim of the persecution on February 5, 1785. Giovanni Ricci, O.F.M. Hierarchia Franciscana in Sinis. (Wuchang, 1929) pp. 86-92. 6.He was consecrated in Sianfu, Shensi, on February 24, 1781. 7.This Franciscan was a missionary...