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The Influence of Roman Catholic Mission on Comity Agreements: Development of Territorial Division in Christian Mission History

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The Influence of Roman Catholic Mission on Comity Agreements: Development of Territorial Division in Christian Mission History KOREA PRESBYTERIAN JOURNAL OF THEOLOGY Vol. 52 No. 4 The Influence of Roman Catholic Mission on Comity Agreements: Development of Territorial Division in Christian Mission History BYUN Chang-Uk, Ph.D. Professor, Mission History Presbyterian University and Theological Seminary, South Korea I. Introduction II. Biblical and Historical References to the Territorial Division III. Line of Demarcation between the Two Catholic Powers IV. Patronato Real (Padroado) V. Precursors to Comity Agreements VI. Conclusion Korea Presbyterian Journal of Theology Vol. 52 No. 4 (2020. 11), 159-186 DOI: 10.15757/kpjt.2020.52.4.006 160 KOREA PRESBYTERIAN JOURNAL OF THEOLOGY Vol. 52 No. 4 Abstract This paper examines how the territorial division of the Roman Catholic Church has influenced the mission practices of the Protestant Church. Spain and Portugal, the two Catholic maritime powers, took the lead in pioneering the New World. In 1493, the Pope gave the two kings of the Iberian countries the right (patronato real) to colonize and Christianize the new colonies. The Pope entrusted this task to the kings of Spain and Portugal and divided the world into two regions distributed between them. The kings of Portugal and Spain performed their missions sincerely at first, but as time passed, they failed to fulfill their missions properly. To resolve this situation, the Holy See established the Propaganda Fide in 1622 and granted the jus commissionis (the right of entrustment) to the religious orders. Special authority was granted to the missionary order to carry out mission work in the designated area. Other missionary societies were not allowed to enter the field without the consent of the preoccupying missionary order. The mission policies and methods of the Roman Catholic Church had a great influence on Protestant missions, especially the division of regions and the jus commissionis. During the nineteenth and early twentieth century, the comity agreements, in which major Protestant mission societies participated, modeled after the missionary method of the Catholic Church. As such, the influence of the Holy See’s de- limitation of mission territories and the right of entrustment should be recognized as precursors to the division of mission territories of the Protestant mission. The pioneering attitude of Roman Catholic mission serves as an admonition of encroaching on the territory of others, which may cause ‘evangelistic anarchy’ in the mission field. Keywords Patronato Real (Padroado), Propaganda Fide, Jus Commissionis, Bull of Demarcation, Comity Agreements The Influence of Roman Catholic Mission on Comity Agreements DOI: 10.15757/kpjt.2020.52.4.006 161 I. INTRODUCTION* The concept of occupying territory has evolved since the conquest of the Promised Land of Canaan in the Old Testament. The division of the land among the twelve tribes of Israel is described in the Book of Joshua. This paper examines the biblical and historical references of territorial division. Specifically, the historical background of territorial division of the Roman Catholic mission during the medieval period and its influence on the practices of the division of the field among different mission boards of the Protestant Church. It is the scholarly consensus that several mission methods of the Protestant Church were modeled after those of the Catholic Church. For example, the Protestant converts were often encouraged to settle around the mission in the field, thus establishing a mission compound. This modus vivendi patterned after the medieval abbeys of the Catholic Church. An exemplary case is the jus commissionis (“right of entrustment”) principle of the Catholic mission. Usually, it entrusts a certain missionary order with the exclusive responsibility for the evangelization of vast territories. Hence, the following religious orders could not infringe in the fields which had been assigned to the entrusted missionary order. The purpose of this paper is to draw attention to some of the mission policies in the history of the Catholic Church–including jus commissionis and the territorial division of religious orders–to show how these seemingly disparate practices are interrelated to the denominational divisions of the Protestant mission. In doing so, I expound that the mission principle of jus commissionis of the Catholic Church paved the way for the comity agreements of the Protestant mission practice. This paper will begin with a broad overview of both Biblical and historical references to the territorial division of the Catholic Church and then trace the origin and influence of the comity system on the Protestant Church. * This work was supported by the Research Fund of PUTS, 2020. 162 KOREA PRESBYTERIAN JOURNAL OF THEOLOGY Vol. 52 No. 4 II. BIBLICAL AND HISTORICAL REFERENCES TO THE TERRITORIAL DIVISION The concept of territorial division has evolved since the conquest of the promised land of Canaan. The conquered land of Canaan was allocated among the twelve tribes of Israel (Josh 13:8-17:18). The right of occupation of certain domestic premises was thus guaranteed. Therefore, each tribe was not to interfere with the other tribes’ use or occupation of its land. In the history of the Christian mission, agents and mission agencies have tried to overcome denominationalism in spite of denominational conflicts, competition, and rivalries. The most frequent biblical reference to the cooperation and unity would be the ‘high-priestly’ prayer in John 17 when Jesus prayed that his disciples might all be one. Following this line in the New Testament, the letter of Paul to the Galatians, written at a critical moment in the early Christian movement, showed that Paul strenuously endeavored to secure his own field without overlapping with others. As the gospel for the circumcised had been entrusted to Peter, Paul thought that the gospel for the uncircumcised was entrusted to him (Galatian 2:7-10). Moreover, Paul tried not to infringe on provinces where others were already entrusted with the good work. He stated, “Thus I make it my ambition to proclaim the good news, not where Christ has already been named, so that I do not build on someone else’s foundation” (Rom 15:20). Therefore, Paul could preach to those “who have never been told of him [Christ] shall see, and those who never heard of him shall understand” (Rom 15:21). This key reference has frequently been referred to at several mission conferences held both in the mission field (India, China, etc.) and at home (England, America) during the nineteenth century.1 For example, in the 1877 General Conference of the Protestant Missionaries of China, Carstairs Douglas (1830-1877) of the English Presbyterian Mission argued that “Let no one covet the 1 R. G. Tiedemann, “Comity Agreements and Sheep Stealers: The Elusive Search for Christian Unity Among Protestants in China,” International Bulletin of Missionary Research 36 (January 2012), 3. The Influence of Roman Catholic Mission on Comity Agreements 163 easy but injurious work of building on the foundations laid by others, especially where the field is comparatively limited.”2 A similar practice of work can be found in the Venerable Bede (ca. 673-735)’s writing where Pope Gregory (ca. 540-604) gave instructions to Augustine, a missionary monk, not to encroach on areas where others were responsible for: We give you no authority over the bishop of Gaul… the Bishop of Arles has received the pallium from my predecessors, and his authority is to be in no way infringed. If, therefore, you have occasion to cross over into the province of Gaul, you are to consult with the Bishop of Arles… you may not use the sickle of authority in the field entrusted to another man… no official action is to be taken without the authority of the Bishop of Arles, so that the long-established institutions of our fathers may not fall into disuse.3 Later, the division of jurisdiction based upon a ‘territorial basis’ had become a common practice of the Catholic Church dioceses and in the mission field. III. LINE OF DEMARCATION BETWEEN THE TWO CATHOLIC POWERS The Line of Demarcation came into existence in the fifteenth century as a result of political and religious circumstances. It refers to “an imaginary line” in the Atlantic Ocean separating the zones of exploration, colonization, and missionizing of the Spanish and Portuguese. This demarcation line was originally drawn up by the Holy See to resolve the contingent needs of the two Catholic maritime 2 Records of the General Conference of the Protestant Missionaries of China Held at Shanghai, May 10-24, 1877 (Shanghai: Presbyterian Mission Press, 1877), 447. 3 Bede, A History of the English Church and People, trans. Leo Sherley-Price (Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1965), 75-76. 164 KOREA PRESBYTERIAN JOURNAL OF THEOLOGY Vol. 52 No. 4 powers, Spain and Portugal. It prescribed territorial division between these two countries and sanctioned their legal and religious justification for exploration, conquest, and propaganda or mission. This line was shifted and modified several times in subsequent years depending on the surrounding socio-political situation.4 1. Treaty of Alcáçovas (September 4, 1479) In the fifteenth century, the Portuguese and Spanish were geographically well positioned and technically equipped for explo- ration. While the Portuguese were exploring the west coast of Africa and beginning to settle in Madeira and the Azores islands, Portugal and Spain were disputing control over the Canary Islands.5 The conflicting interests of Spain and Portugal in the eastern Atlantic were resolved with the Treaty of Alcáçovas6 on September 4, 1479. As a result of the treaty, Spain recognized the Portuguese rights to the west coast of Africa, Madeira, the Azores, and the Cape Verde Islands while Portugal recognized the Castilian claim to the Canary Islands.7 The Spanish, 4 Joseph F O’Callaghan, Christopher Columbus and the Age of Exploration: An Encyclopedia (New York: Da Capo Press, 1998), ed.
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