CHINA
670
CHINA
the camp of Batu, grandson of Jenghiz, on the Volga;
thence they went to Karakorum to the court of
Kuyuk Khan. On 13 November they began their
return voyage with the Mongol chief's reply to the
papal letter and reached Avignon in 1247. As a re-
ward Carpini was appointed Archbishop of Antivari.
Four Dominican friars, Anselm of Lombardy. Simon
of Saint-Quentin, Alberic, and Alexander, joined at
Tiflis by Andrew of Longjumeau and Guichard of
Cremona, were sent on a mission to the Mongol
general, Baiju, in Persia, but were badly received and
dismissed on 25 July, 1247, with a haughty letter
for the pope. St. Louis, King of France, sent the
Franciscan, William of Rubruck (known as Rubru-
quis), to the court of Mangu Khan, successor of
Kuyuk; he returned to his convent at Acre (1255),
where he wrote an account of his voyage. Speaking
of Carpini and Rubruck, Yule says (Cathay, I, p.
CXXIII): "These were the first so far as I know, to
bring to Western Europe the revived knowledge of a
great and civilized nation lying in the extreme east
upon the shores of the ocean. To this kingdom they
give the name,
now first heard in
Europe, of Ca-
thay." Though
the first mission-
aries were sent to
the court of Ku-
blai by Nicholas
HI (1277-80), the
real founder of
the mission of
C a m b a 1 u c was
John of Montecorvino, a Fran-
ciscan friar (b. at
Salerno, 1247),
sent by Nicholas
IV. Giovanni
probably reached
the Mongol capi-
tal before the
death of the
Great Khan. In
1307 Clement V sent seven friars having the rank
of bishop, who were to consecrate Montecorvino as
Archbishop of Cambaluc and Primate of the Far
East; only Andrew of Perugia, Gerard, and Pere-
grinus reached China in 1308 and consecrated Montecorvino; a bishopric was erected at Zaitun in Fu-
kien, which was occupied in turn by Gerard (d. 1313),
Peregrinus (d. 1322), and Andrew of Perugia; Monte-
eorvino died in 1333 and was succeeded by Nicholas, a
Paris theologian, who arrived in China with twenty-
six friars and six lay brothers. A mission was also
created at Ili-baluc in Central Asia with Richard of
Burgundy as its bishop, but it was destroyed. In 1362
the fifth Bishop of Zaitun, James of Florence, was
ma ind. In 1370 William of Prato, professor
cil the University of Paris, was appointed to the See of
Peking. An Apostolic legate, Francisco di Podio,
with twelve companions, was sent out in 1371, but
they were never heard from; all the Christian mis-
sions disappeared in the turrnoU which followed the
fall of the Mongols and the accession of the Ming
dynasty i L368)
Modern Missions. — If the Dominican friar. Caspar da Cruz, was actually the first modern missionary to China where, however, he stayed but a short time, the Jesuits under Matteo Kicci were the first to give l basis in (he missions in the Celestial Empire. They spread through the Kwang-tung province to the central provinces, Nan-king, Shanghai, 1 1 uhl; chou, endeavouring to reach Peking. In 1602 the Jesuit, Benedict de Goes, started from Agra in an attempt to reach Peking by land. He arrived at the
Pekin
frontier town of Su-chou, where he died, IS March,
1606, from the fatigue of his long journey. The
Jesuits soon found eager competitors in the Domini-
cans and the Franciscans, who arrived in 1633, but
were expelled from China four years later.
In August, 1635, Lei, Prefect of Kiang-chou, in Shan-si, issued a proclamation which was in reality an apology for the Christian religion, praising Kan (Father Alfonso Vagnoni, b. in the Diocese of Turin. 1566; d. at Kiang-chou. lit April, 1640). In July. 1641. Tsuo, Sub-prefect of Kien-ning-hien in Fu-kien men- tions Aleni as a master eminent among the learned men of the West, and speaks in high terms of the Christian religion. The conquest of China by the Manchus (1644) was the cause of great suffering to the Church. The celebrated Jesuit, Johann Adam Sehall von Bell, head of the Board of Mathematics, was thrown into prison, but he soon regained favour under the first Manchu emperor, Shun-che. In 1664, during the minority of K'ang-hi, Yang Kwei-sien, a Mohammedan astronomer, in charge of the Board of Mathematics, accused Sehall, then old and paralyzed, of hostility to Chinese traditions, and obtained against him a sentence of death (15 April, 1665), which was not carried out; when K'ang-hi took the power in hand, the errors of Yang were discovered, thanks to the Belgian Father, Ferdinand Verbiest. who was ap- pointed in Yang's place head of the Board of Mathe- matics. It was Verbiest and not Sehall who cast the astronomical instruments of the Peking observatory, some of which date from the Mongol period. The arrival of the priests of the Missions Etrangeres of Paris and of the French Jesuits sent by Louis XIV to Peking gave a new impetus to the Christian missions.
In March, 1692, Ku Pa-tai, President of the Board of Rites and some of his colleagues addressed to the emperor a note to the effect that as Europeans were not guilty of any breach of the laws, it seemed unfair to prohibit their religion; that it would be proper therefore to let churches subsist and to allow persons bearing perfumes and other offerings freedom to enter them. An imperial decree approved of this note, and copies were sent to all the provincial gov- ernors. The Jesuits, as astronomers or interpreters, were in high favour at Court and the question of rites which was disadvantageous to other mission- aries, did not impair their credit during the reign of K'ang-hi. Matters were different under Yung Cheng, son and successor of K'ang-hi. who in 17_'t issued an edict exiling to Canton all missionaries with the exception of those occupying various offices at Court; in 1736, an edict of K'ien Lung, son and successor of Yung Cheng, prohibited the preaching of Christian doctrine under penalty of death, i hi 25 June, 1746, a cruel persecution broke out in Fu- kien during which the vicar Apostolic, Bishop Sanz, and four other Spanish Dominicans, Serrano, Alcohar. Royo, and Diaz were martyred. The Jesuits Attimis andHenriquez were putto death at Su-chou on !2Sep1 . 17 is. A great change was made in the christian Church at Peking, the- Jesuits being replaced by the Lazarists.
During the Kia K'ing period (1796-1820), persecution was very severe. A decree was issued 4 Sept., 1811, prescribing a search for foreign preachers, There were bui seven Europeans residing al Court. Ferreira ( Ku Wen-kao); Hiberio (Li Ilung-cheiO; Serra (Kao Sheu-kien), all Portuguese Lazarists in charge of the observatory; Nan Mite, interpreter of the Privy Council; Cajetan Pires (Pei Bo-yuan), a mathematician, and I wo other missionaries too old to be sent home. Monsignor Dufresse, Bishop of Tabraca and Vicar Apostolic of S e-cn'wan, was beheaded 11 Sept.. 1 S25 ; Father Clet, a French
Lazarist, was strangled at Wu-ch'ang (Hu-pe), is Feb., 1820. On 11 Sept., ism. Father Jean- Gabriel Perboyre, a Lazarist, was martyred at
