The Virgin Mary and Catholic Identities in Chinese History

4. The rise and fall of the French protectorate

The influence of the French and European missionaries on the Catholic Church in China was particularly pronounced during the mid- to the late nineteenth century, as seen in Chapter 2. If the period prior to the Opium Wars was the time of the Iberian churches, the age of the patronato and the padroado, then the Opium War treaties began the age of the French church. For this reason, this era has also been called the time of the French protectorate. While the history of the Chinese Catholic Church can be viewed through many lenses, given the political influence of the French government and the widespread presence of French religious men and women throughout the whole length of the country, focusing on the impact of the French church on Chinese Catholicism is both helpful and instructive. The French influence was evident in many ways. There was the increase in the number of male and female French missionary congregations arriving in China. Famous French devotions and pieties (especially Marian ones) were introduced widely and adopted quickly by the Chinese Catholic communities . Finally, French ecclesiastical leaders also exerted control over the Catholic local communities. As seen in Chapter 2, not all the missionaries who arrived in China came from France (or were Catholic) but a significant number were.1 Consequently, at the end of the nineteenth century and even until the time of the First World War, the influence of the French missionaries was the most pronounced. The period of the French protectorate was brought to a close with the publication in November 1919 of an apostolic letter on missions written by Pope Benedict XV, Maximum Illud.2 This letter both castigated missionaries for the ways they had kept local churches in a subservient position and demanded the development of local church leadership.3 The effects of the protectorate, however, lingered for some years after this. 4 The rise and fall of the French protectorate 112 The Virgin Mary and Catholic Identities in Chinese History Naturally, not all the French influence was negative. Bishop Ignatius Gong Pinmei, mentioned in the Introduction, provides a moving testament of this. He was a Chinese Catholic who had been schooled both by French missionaries and Chinese religious, and a diocesan priest who began his clerical work under a French religious bishop. At the very beginning of what was to be his significant and powerfully symbolic ministry as a bishop, foreign missionaries and representatives of the old Chinese Catholic families, as well as Chinese priests and members of the foreign Catholic community, were all present at Gong’s episcopal ordination in October 1949 (for the see of Suzhou). On this occasion, Bishop Gong began his remarks in French, later switching to Latin to address his fellow Chinese priests.4 His address was full of praise and gratitude for the Jesuits of Shanghai: My reverend Fathers, the Society of Jesus has taught me from baptism until the episcopate. I entered the Holy Church under the robe of your blessed Father: he whose name I bear. Since then, there has not been a single day when I have not been under the maternal providence of the Society.5 Furthermore, as a more modern example, there was a celebration marking the centenary of the Catholic Church in the region of Xian County (in Catholic literature referred to as Xianxian, in French materials as Sienhsien), in Hebei Province in 2006. The introduction of the Christian faith to the people of Xian County was regarded as one of the major and enduring contributions of the pioneering French missionaries. The Chinese bishops and priests who gave speeches at this celebration took great care to make special mention of the enduring and beneficent contributions of the foreign missionaries to the region. The legacy of Marian piety and the construction of many fine church buildings throughout China, albeit in foreign style, are also reminders of some of their contributions. Even so, the age of Gallic influence contained much that was less helpful to the growth of a Chinese church, especially in the decades after the treaties as the French missionaries became more entrenched throughout the country and the position of the international powers became more dominant in general. In The Origins of the Boxer Uprising, Joseph Esherick notes that the attitude of the Christians was one reason contributing to Boxer opposition to foreign missionaries and to Chinese Christians. The terms of the protectorate had enabled the...