The Saints of the Vincentian Family by John E

DePaul University From the SelectedWorks of John E Rybolt 2015 The ainS ts of the Vincentian Family John E Rybolt, DePaul University Available at: https://works.bepress.com/john_rybolt/74/ THE SAINTS OF THE VINCENTIAN FAMILY BY JOHN E. RYBOLT, C.M. (A conference prepared for the participants in CIF, Centre International de Formation, held in Paris, France; revised and updated.) INTRODUCTION The purpose of this week of the program is to be faithful to paragraph 50 of the Constitutions, which instructs us about our Vincentian Family. 50. We should cherish devotion to Saint Vincent and to the canonized and beatified members of the Vincentian Family. We should constantly return to the heritage of our Founder, expressed in his writings and in the tradition of the Congregation, that we may learn to love what he loved and practice what he taught. As you can see, we are really interested in just the first sentence of this paragraph. Nevertheless it tells us a great deal. We could approach this subject hagiographically: that is, in the worst sense of the term, to look at these saints and blesseds as the models of every Vincentian virtue, searching their lives for examples of these, marveling at them, and drawing out lesson for our personal daily living. You are certainly free to do so, and during these hours together, I will display several items of interest which could be read, as well as a bibliography. On the other hand, I am going to approach the subject historically, particularly by giving the historical context in which these confreres of ours lived and worked. For this, I have divided the work into three parts: China, the French Revolution, and Ethiopia. There is also a brief appendix which covers some other areas and the pious deaths of several other of our confreres. There are, however, other persons who should be mentioned, and for this I have distributed a list of those “causes” which are in various stages in the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints in Rome. I hope that at the end of this series, you might have more information than you had before, and, more importantly, a new interest in our confreres who in their own times and places followed Christ as he evangelized the poor. Lastly, I hope that during the group discussion you might tell some stories of confreres in your own provinces, whether well- known or not, who can serve also as models for us of Vincentian life. It would be good to share these stories with the rest of us. 2 CHINA This presentation on China follows the outline of periods proposed by Octave Ferreux, C.M., who wrote “Histoire de la Congrégation de la Mission en Chine (1699– 1950).” This appeared in the Annales de la Congrégation de la Mission vol. 127 (1963). Period One covers 1699 to 1783, from the arrival of the first Vincentians in China to the end of the Jesuit period. Period Two covers 1785 to 1855, when Propaganda Fide sent the first Vincentians to China through the persecutions and martyrdom of Francis Clet and John Gabriel Perboyre. Period Three runs from 1856 to 1900, a period of growth and persecution, ending at the start of the Boxer uprisings. Period Four goes from 1900 to 1950, a period of great growth, but marred by the Japanese war (Second World War) and the beginnings of the Communist state. A Period Five has been added, covering 1950 to the present, which deals with the continuation of the China mission in Taiwan and recent attempts to begin contacts again with the Congregation in mainland China. The history of missionary efforts in China is marked by the following main issues: the enormous size and diversity of China (today the world’s most populous nation), the long history of China and its deep-rooted intellectual, scientific and spiritual traditions, and the isolation of China, often self-imposed, from the Western world. PERIOD ONE (1699–1783) The first Vincentian to arrive in China was Ludovico Antonio Appiani (1663–1732) an Italian, sent with a group of 32 religious. His mission was to help form native priests in China. He arrived in 1699. He traveled with Johannes Mullener (1673–1742) a German, who eventually joined the Congregation, made his vows, became a bishop, but who never made a proper novitiate nor lived in a Community house. Stafford Poole treats of Appiani and Mullener at great length in his History of the Congregation of the Mission, 1625–1843 (Santa Barbara, 1973), pp. 308 ff. Suffice it to say that these two pioneer missionaries had much to suffer, both at the hands of the Chinese and at the hands of jealous Europeans, even Jesuits, who imprisoned Appiani. He spent nearly 20 years, at various times, in prison. He died in Macao, 29 August 1732. The third confrere to arrive was the Italian Teodorico Pedrini (1671–1746) chosen for the mission over many others who had expressed interest, because of his musical talents. Pedrini’s charm and abilities to get his way are legendary, as are his exploits in traveling to China via Peru, Guatemala, Mexico, the Philippines, and Macao. Pedrini arrived in Beijing in 1711, and, despite various terms in prison and severe punishments caused by, among other things, the controversy over the Chinese rites, he lived out his life in the highest circles of the imperial court. Some of the music he wrote for the court has been published and commercially recorded in France. He died 10 December 1746 at age 77, having served 37 years in China. The role of the Portuguese Vincentians should not be overlooked in this account, which follows Ferreux’s outline and is overly French and apologetic in its orientation. With the suppression of the Jesuits, Portuguese Vincentians, like their French confreres, were selected to come to China. In this case the first two confreres were Manoel Correa Valente (Portuguese, 1735–1804) and Giovanni Agostino Villa (Italian, 1752–1803). From Goa, part of the Portuguese empire, they traveled to Macao, and there in 1784 helped to refurbish the 3 old Jesuit college into a seminary. Since Macao is on the sea, it offered a gateway through which many other confreres passed on their way beyond into China. PERIOD TWO (1785–1855) The second period in Vincentian missionary activity in China was, in fact, the true beginning of their organized inland mission. The reason was that after the world-wide suppression of the Society of Jesus, Propaganda Fide sought communities to take over their work in the missions. It took ten years, but finally in 1784 King Louis XVI compelled the Congregation of the Mission to undertake the work. Propaganda gave its assent for the Congregation to assume the property of the Jesuits. The superior general then sent two priests, Jean Joseph Ghislain (1751–1812) and Nicolas Joseph Raux (1754–1801) and one novice brother to China. After their arrival in 1785, persecution began, but principally outside of Beijing. At the death in 1801 of the superior, Raux, the mission counted only two French and three Chinese priests, and one French and one Chinese brother–who, it should be noted, was the first Chinese brother, Paul Wang (1751–1827). The French brother, Joseph Paris (1738–1804) was employed effectively as an imperial clock maker. His talent also extended to the making of a pipe organ and carillons for the court. Besides French confreres, Portuguese confreres also arrived in Macao to assume direction of the former Jesuit college there. The otherwise successful history was marred by many problems. One unfortunate, Fernando Manoel de Mattos (1778/1779–1803) arrived in Macao in August of 1802, but, while he was chanting the office of the dead in the seminary chapel there, was himself struck by lightning and died, 28 June 1803. Arriving with him in Macao was Nicolao Rodriguez Pereira de Borja (1777–1845). Nominated bishop of Macao, he died before his consecration. Another confrere in the same situation was Eusébio Luciano (1764–90), named bishop of Nanjing at age 26. He, too, died before his consecration. Another bishop was Joaquim de Souza Saraiva (1774–1818), nominated coadjutor of Beijing. Because of persecution, he could never take possession of his see (1808) and died in Macao ten years later. Another in the same line of Portuguese confreres was Verissimo Monteiro da Serra (1776–1852). A member of the imperial Mathematics Tribunal, he also worked to try to save the property of the French confreres in Beijing. He was forced to leave the city, and returned to Portugal where he founded a seminary. He was named bishop of Beijing by the king, but refused the office. Persecution and decline continued after 1811, and lasted until the death of Francis Regis Clet. He was born 19 August 1748 in Grenoble. After his secondary education, he entered the Congregation in Lyons, 1769. After his ordination, he spent fifteen years teaching moral theology in the seminary at Annecy. He moved to Paris to become the director of the novitiate in 1788, but shortly after, the Revolution broke out. As mentioned above, Propaganda had sought confreres for China and some were sent. Clet had volunteered but had been turned down. But in 1791, as things were going very badly in France, Clet was chosen to go with two students to China. As others had before him, he landed in Macao, a man aged 44. He set himself to learning Chinese, but was never very successful at it. In his period, priests were not permitted to preach publicly, although they could be present in the country.

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