Suppression and Restoration of the Society of Jesus in China
SUPPRESSION AND RESTORATION OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS IN CHINA by Fr Fernando Mateos S.J. Contributor’s Abstract and Profile Fr. Mateos' s thirty-two pages well documented paper is based on Jesuit correspondence and original documents and depicts three main climax periods of the Jesuit exile in China; suppression of the Society, tribulation of its former members and then their final incorporation into the New Society. The paper gives overview of the Jesuits geographical dispersion and activities in various locations in China; it also stresses the crucial role of superiors and their decisions, their sorrows and afflictions especially manifested by Fathers; François Bourgeois, Superior of the French Jesuits and by Jean Amiot, an astronomer and writer. In 1778, Fr. Louis de Poirot, one from five ex-Jesuits who survived in Peking wrote several letters to the Congregation of Propaganda requesting the re-establishment of the Society of Jesus in China. In the end, the 78-year-old de Poirot remained in Peking alone, and peacefully passed away on December 13, 1813, eight months before the solemn publication of Pius VII’s Bull, “Sollicitudo Omnium Ecclesiarum”, restoring the Society of Jesus in the whole world. Here comes account of the revival of the Jesuit presence in China, its circumstances, challenges and opportunities opened to the Chinese mission in the New Society. Fernando MATEOS, SJ, 沈起元 is long date historian of the Chinese Province of the Society of Jesus. He is also a member of the Taipei Ricci Institute. He authored several books: China: mission de dolor, Siglo de las Missiones, Bilbao, 1961; China, Operación Fuga, Mensajero, Bilbao, 1967; China Jesuits in East- Asia: Starting from zero, 1949-1957, TEC, Taibei, 1995; and co-authored Diccionario Español de la Lengua China, Espasa-Calpe, Madrid, 1 Table of Contents I.
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