ROME (AsiaNews): The rediscovery of the missionary style of Father Matteo Ricci and other European Jesuits in the Ming court between the 16th and 17th centuries is a theme that has long returned to prominence in discussions on Christianity in China. Even Pope Francis has often pointed to it as a model for the meeting of dialogue and evangelisation.
There is one aspect, however, that remains little known about this chapter of Church history in Asia: the way in which even some Chinese women were able to receive baptism and become missionaries themselves through their witness.
Their stories are the focus of an article by Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, former director of the Vatican Press Office, published in the new issue of the magazine,La Civiltà Cattolica, and written on the basis of the writings Jesuit missionaries in China left behind concerning their work.
It was by no means a foregone conclusion that Christianity would also reach women. In fact, as Father Lombardi recalls, “in Chinese society women had to lead an extremely withdrawn life and under very strict control of their parents, husbands and family members. Therefore the direct relationship of missionaries with them was practically impossible, indeed to be avoided, so as not to arouse rejection and suspicion. Especially since the Jesuits soon abandoned the clothes and lifestyle of the bonzes—the Buddhist teachers – to assume that of the literati, and while the women frequented the bonzes, the social control over women in the educated classes was most rigid.”
As early as 1589, while at their first residence in China in Zhaoqing, Father Ruggieri and Father Ricci had accomplished no more than 70-80 baptisms, there is mention of the presence in that very small community of “some honoured matrons, who give great credit and sustain Christianity in the houses.”
…in Chinese society women had to lead an extremely withdrawn life and under very strict control of their parents, husbands and family members. Therefore the direct relationship of missionaries with them was practically impossible, indeed to be avoided, so as not to arouse rejection and suspicion
Father Lombardi
But it was probably around 1601, Father Lombardi notes, “that a real turning point took place, welcoming the desire of the neophytes that their wives also be baptised. It was in particular Father Nicolò Longobardo, active in Shaozhou, who pleaded the cause, obtaining Matteo Ricci’s assent.”
This did not erase the practical difficulties, but the Jesuits found that grace worked going beyond all obstacles. It was reported that a Chinese had decided to be baptised, but his mother and grandmother preceded him in baptism. They acted as both catechists and catechumens to one another at the same time. After listening to the catechism classes, they returned home to share among themselves all that they had learned; and so slowly they were catechised very well.
They were baptised on St. Anne’s Day, in the presence of two of their sons. The priest found them very well catechised. Their mother was named Mary and their grandmother Anna.”
Father Lombardi adds that sources report how these baptised Christian women “loved to gather also with other women of lower social status, even peasants, who had also become Christians, treating them ‘as sisters,’ and this was an occasion of ‘great wonder’.”
At one point in time, women would also take on an important role in the spread of Christianity in the Beijing court. It happened when, during the reign of the last Ming emperor, Chongzhen, the German Jesuit Adam Schall von Bell managed to enter into a relationship with the eunuch, Wang, a man of rare wisdom and virtue, who converted to Christianity and was baptised with the name Joseph. Through him the Christian faith spread among the ladies of the court, whom he catechised and eventually baptised, following Father Schall’s instructions.
…a real turning point took place, welcoming the desire of the neophytes that their wives also be baptised. It was in particular Father Nicolò Longobardo, active in Shaozhou, who pleaded the cause, obtaining Matteo Ricci’s assent
By 1640 these Christian ladies of the court had grown to as many as 50 and were being guided spiritually by the Jesuit in writing through Joseph himself, the only one who could have contact with them. In 1644, however, would come the end of the Ming dynasty, which was defeated by the Qing; at that point, this community, too, dispersed as the women returned to their families.
It was not only a hidden contribution, however, that of women to the spread of Christianity in China. And among them, Father Lombardi notes, there were some who, “thanks to favourable family and social conditions, became true pillars of a dynamic Church.”
The best-known name is that of Candida, one of the daughters of James, himself the only son of Xu Guangqi, the best-known and most influential disciple and friend of Father Matteo Ricci, who became a Christian in 1603. Her story was told in Europe as early as 1688 by Father Philippe Couplet, her spiritual father, in a book entitled, History of a Chinese Christian Lady.
Growing up in Sungkiang [Songjang, today a district of the Shanghai metropolis], Candida was given in marriage to a wealthy and influential man who was pagan but respectful of her Christian faith. However, she was widowed at the age of 30 after bearing him eight children. She chose not to remarry and “desired only to be God’s”—that enabled her over the next 40 years to live a very active life serving the Christian community.
While not neglecting the obligations of her family, Candida was a master at making embroidery on silk fabrics, which she made with her sisters, daughters and maids, and thanks to which she collected no small sums, which, wrote Father Couplet, “she secretly employed, according to the counsel of the gospel, to help missionaries, the poor, to build churches and chapels and everything necessary for pious exercises of the new Christians.”
She helped missionaries understand that to convert women, who could not go to church, they must write piety books in Chinese. Which the Jesuits actually do, while Candida goes out of her way to distribute and give them to all the women she can reach. She also insists that there be a church specifically dedicated to women, where at designated times they can go together to attend the celebration of the Eucharist, without the presence of any man other than the priest and an altar boy, and where the priest can preach, although facing the altar and not the women faithful present
Father Lombardi
Thus she did not draw on family property, which was to be the inheritance for her children, but on the fruits of personal labour, which she kept in free and proud conscience to devote to charity.
Between 1647 and 1665 Father Francesco Brancati, a Palermo Jesuit and a great apostle of the Christian community in Shanghai, built as many as 90 churches and 45 oratories. A work to which Candida collaborated with offerings, sacred furnishings and other initiatives.
Father Lombardi writes, “She helped missionaries understand that to convert women, who could not go to church, they must write piety books in Chinese. Which the Jesuits actually do, while Candida goes out of her way to distribute and give them to all the women she can reach. She also insists that there be a church specifically dedicated to women, where at designated times they can go together to attend the celebration of the Eucharist, without the presence of any man other than the priest and an altar boy, and where the priest can preach, although facing the altar and not the women faithful present.”
As her great-grandfather, Xu Guangqi, demonstrated in deeds, inspiring a whole life dedicated to science, wisdom and service to his country, even up to the highest levels of responsibility, so would his granddaughter, Candida. “Christian faith was able to inspire this Chinese woman to serve as a model and inspiration to all her countrymen through her commitment and responsibility.”
Candida died in 1680. According to the custom of the time, she had a silver cross coined with her profession of faith: “I believe, hope, love the Lord of Heaven, a God in three persons, leaning on the sacred merits of Jesus. I firmly believe and fervently hope for the forgiveness of my sins, the resurrection of my body and eternal life.”
Father Lombardi writes that Father Couplet, in concluding Candida’s biography, noted, “All the people of the city of Sungkiang regarded this woman as a saint.” He adds, “So do we.”
