Albert Chan. Chinese Books and Documents in the Jesuit Archives in Rome: A Descriptive Catalogue: Japonica Sinica I-IV.Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, 2002. xliii + 626 pp. Bibliographical references and abbreviations, illustrations, indices. $145.00 (cloth), ISBN 0-7656-0828-6. Reviewed by Eugenio Menegon, Department of Oriental and Slavonic Studies, KatholiekeUniversiteit Leuven, Belgium. Published by H-Asia (February,2003)
AGate to the China Materials in the Roman "orientalists." Nevertheless, the most active Jesuit Archives academic centers of European proto-sinology were Between the late sixteenth century and the elsewhere: Paris, Leiden, Berlin, and St. eighteenth century,Catholic missionaries to Petersburg. China--especially Jesuits--were the only foreign One of the reasons for the scholarly observers allowed in the Chinese empire. Besides marginality of Rome in Chinese studies was the engaging in their religious work, theyalso acted as narrowfocus of the ecclesiastical collections: a the first Western interpreters of China. The books large portion of the Chinese materials found there theypublished in Latin and in a number of wasgathered in the context of the famous--or European languages on the history,geographyand rather notorious--Chinese Rites Controversy.[1] culture of China, based on first-hand experience Starting in the 1650s, Rome became the main site and knowledge of the country,offered to the of a bitter theological struggle overmissionary scholars and "curious readers" of Europe a wide strategies in China, pitting the Jesuits and their range of topics, going from descriptions of the sympathizers against other religious orders (mainly imperial bureaucracy, tothe philosophyof the Dominicans and the Foreign Mission Society Confucius, to Chinese pharmacopoeia. Most of of Paris). The issue of the so-called "Chinese this knowledge was derivedfrom Chinese Rites" crystallized the essence of the diatribe: was informants, but also, to a large extent, from it possible to allowChinese Christians to Chinese books. Besides consulting them in loco, participate in ancestral rituals and in the cult to missionaries also brought or sent Chinese books Confucius, seen as civil ceremonies with no back to Europe, both as curios and as proof of their religious meaning, as the Jesuits thought, or was labors in Asia. European bibliophiles since the late this a way to condone idolatry and superstition, as sixteenth century remained fascinated by these the Dominicans and their allies believed? Other books from China: their physical appearance, the connected issues were the permissibility of thin, almost transparent paper of their pages, the translation of liturgical books and of the liturgy mysterious Chinese characters, all made these itself into Chinese, and the creation of a Chinese- objects a prized collectible. And thus, sometimes Christian theological vocabulary. by chance, sometimes by design, Chinese books Asteady stream of treatises, letters, and found their way to a number of European royal reports from the Chinese missions continued to libraries, as well as to the papal library in Rome. reach the Eternal City,debating the issue of the In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries Chinese Rites, of liturgy and terminology. Rome hosted in the aggregate of its libraries and Subsequently,disputes ensued in the papal archivesone of the largest concentrations of commissions of the Congregation De Propaganda Chinese materials in Europe. Some important Fide (the "Ministry of Missions" of the Catholic collections assembled through the efforts of church), as well as of the Holy Office, the scholarly patrons such as Cardinal Girolamo institution that controlled the purity of the faith and Casanate in the late seventeenth century and ran the Roman Inquisition. Often, along with Cardinal Stefano Borgia in the second half of the reports in Western languages, Catholic books eighteenth century included Chinese holdings, and written in Chinese, as well as other books on were occasionally opened to visiting European Chinese philosophyand religion, were brought H-Net Reviews
back by envo ysofthe twofactions to be used in Collegium Germanicum (German College), at the the battle. These texts were occasionally read by a time in the Borromeo Palace (Via del small number of "old China hands" who had left Seminario).[2] the mission and traveled back to Rome to defend The China materials traveled along. their respective positions in the papal commissions. However, between 1890-1893 all archival Besides the books housed in the Vatican documents were discreetly transferred to Exaten, Library,the twomain collections of China-related the Netherlands, by order of the Jesuit General materials in early eighteenth-century Rome were Luis Martin, who feared further confiscation. found in the hands of the Jesuits and the During the "Dutch exile" the documents were re- Dominicans. The Jesuits kept their collections in ordered, restored (manybyirreversible old the library of the famous Jesuit "Collegio Romano" methods likethe coating of documents with gelatin (Roman College) and in the central Jesuit archives and cellophane), and inventoried. The documents kept at the "Professed House" (seat of the Jesuit remained in the Netherlands until 1939, when they General). The Dominicans, on the other hand, kept were finally transferred again to Rome, in the new theirs in the Biblioteca Casanatense.[3] Even if General Curia, in Via dei Penitenzieri. In 1993, a only a narrowstreet separated their libraries in the newarchivesbuilding, located in the garden of the center of Rome, the twogroups of priests Curia, has been opened to the public. researching the China materials remained bitter The ARSI Chinese materials also migrated and divisive tow ard each other. to the Netherlands in 1893, and it is there that they The old Jesuit China materials today in receivedtheir present classification. These Rome are mainly divided between two materials, remarkably well preserved, all came repositories: the Archivum Romanum Societatis from the old central archivesatthe Professed Iesu (ARSI), i.e. the central archivesofthe Jesuit House, and not from the Library of the Collegio Order,and the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Romano.[4] The Chinese collection of this latter Roma "Vittorio Emanuele II" (Italian Central institution, instead, mostly ended up in the Italian National Library,BNCR). These collections are Central National Library of Rome. Acolorful the survivors of the difficult history of the Society episode regarding the library of the Collegio of Jesus at the end of the Ancien Regime and into Romano shows howthe Jesuits tried with all their the nineteenth century.In1773, due to pressures forces to resist the confiscation of their materials from secular governments all overEurope, and to a by the Italian state. In 1877, four years after the mounting wav e of opposition from within the Collegio Romano had been occupied by the church, the papacydecided to dissolvethe Society Italians, thanks to the information offered by a of Jesus. The Archivesatthe Professed House citizen, the authorities discovered a trapdoor in the where the General resided (in today’sPiazza del library leading to a storage room where theyfound Ges=) were seized by Pontifical authorities, and agreat number of precious manuscripts (overthree remained under the control of the Roman Curia. thousand), rare books and objects, probably hidden Between 1773 and 1814, some of the documents there by the last Jesuit Prefect of the library for kept at the Professed House were taken by safe-keeping. Among them were also some cardinals and other individuals, and ended up in Chinese books, and the manuscript of a Chinese- different collections (such as the archivesof Portuguese dictionary,which had been studied in Propaganda Fide in Rome, the French National 1869 by the Italian orientalist Carlo Valenziani, Library,orthe Chapter Archivesofthe Toledo with the permission of the Jesuits.[5] Cathedral, Spain). Whether the China materials Through their covert transfer operations, the were also partly pilfered, we do not know. After Jesuits had better luck in preserving their archival the restoration of the Society in 1814, part of the records, including today’sARSI Chinese materials. archivaldocuments returned in the hands of the With the publication of Albert Chan, SJ’s Chinese Jesuits, but we knowlittle about those years. In Books and Documents in the Jesuit Archives in 1873, when the newItalian state suppressed the Rome: A Descriptive Catalogue: Japonica Sinica religious corporations in Rome, the Jesuits first I-IV,wefinally have a complete overviewofthose secretly transferred the archivesfrom the Professed Chinese materials. Chinese Books and Documents House to the nearby Torlonia Palace. Later on, the is a handsome hardbound volume of xliii + 626 archiveswere movedtoadepot in the Jesuit pages, the publication of which was sponsored by
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the China and California Provinces of the Jesuit of mostly Latin works on the Jesuit interpretation order,and by the Ricci Institute for Chinese- of the Chinese classics and of Chinese histories Western Cultural History at the University of San and chronologies. Such a diverse collection seems Francisco, with support from the Henry Luce naturally to cluster around enduring themes of the Foundation. After a brief preface by the author Jesuit engagement with China: the study of the explaining the genesis of the volume in the early Chinese Confucian classics (to the detriment of 1970s, a list of the books and documents ordered serious appreciation for the Buddhist and Daoist by signaturae (call numbers), and a list of traditions); the compilation of texts harmonizing bibliographical references and abbreviations, the Catholic doctrine with Confucian sensibilities; text itself starts without preambles, arranged internal discussions on the problems of rites; the mainly by the signatura of the archivaldocuments introduction of Western knowledge to the Chinese and books. Indexesofbook titles in Wade-Giles literati; and the composition of apologetic writings romanization (the system used throughout the attacking Chinese "superstitions," as well as volume) of the ancient Chinese printing houses and glorifying the Jesuit enterprise in China. publishers of the texts, of place names, and of Obviously,this collection is (and has been) subjects and persons, makesearching the volume very precious in exploring the Jesuit interpretation an easier task. Alist of popes, Jesuit Generals, and of Confucianism and its commentarial sources, the the China mission superiors during the sixteenth- scientific approach of the Jesuits in China, as well eighteenth centuries, and a short vita of Albert as the internal debates between Jesuits and their Chan, SJ close the volume. converts on thornyritual issues. Manytexts are not The main text (pp. 1-561) is a detailed unique, and other copies or editions of those texts descriptive catalogue of the materials contained in can be found in the Bibliotheque nationale de the ARSI section Japonica Sinica I-IV.While most France (Paris), the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana of the Japonica Sinica section [i.e. Documents (Vatican City), or elsewhere. But a number of texts from Japan and China, without anyroman in ARSI are unique or very rare, and recently a vast numeral] in ARSI contains Western-languages selection of these texts has been offered to the manuscript letters and reports from East Asia sinological public in the collection edited by written by Jesuit missionaries in the sixteenth to Nicolas Standaert and Adrian Dudink, Yesuhui the eighteenth centuries; the part of Japonica Luoma Dang'anguan Ming-Qing Tianzhujiao Sinica with roman numerals I-II-III-IV mostly wenxian - Chinese Christian Texts from the Roman consists of Chinese-language manuscripts and Archives of the Society of Jesus (Taipei: Taipei printed books (some Japanese items can also be Ricci Institute, 2002), 12 vols. (For a presentation, found, hence the name Japonica). see The present organization of the collection
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and in the Western historical method. Apostolica Vaticana, 1996); Anna Germano and Ihav e only twogeneral criticisms, one on Marco Nocca, eds., La collezione Borgia: the style of the entries, and another on the curiosit= e tesori da ogni parte del mondo secondary scholarship employed. First, there is a (Napoli: Electa, 2001). certain lack of uniformity in the entries, which are [2]. The Archivesofthe Jesuit General sometimes quite long, sometimes too brief, and Procurators, kept in the Collegio Romano after the which offer differing levels of details about the restoration of the Society,howev er, were physical form of the texts (number of folios or confiscated by the Italian government in 1870 pages, dimensions of the pages, number of following the incorporation of Rome into the characters per page, etc.) and their provenance. Kingdom of Italy.In1873 theybecame part of the Secondly,the scholarship cited is not Royal State ArchivesofItaly and were returned to updated to the latest research. After the first draft the Jesuits only in 1924, forming the so-called of the catalogue was completed in the early 1980s, "Fondo Gesuitico" in ARSI. After 1873, the "due to various circumstances" almost twodecades modern section of the Jesuit archivesmovedwith elapsed before publication. Chan therefore the General Curia to Fiesole near Florence, while acknowledges at p. xv that "references to the early section remained hidden in the German catalogues and studies published after the 1970s College in Rome. On the history of ARSI, see e.g. are fewand mainly restricted to the early 1980s." Edmond Lamalle, "L’archivio di un grande ordine Foranupdate on the exciting work in this field religioso. L’Archivio Generale della Compagnia di published in the 1980s and 1990s, readers are Ges=," Archiva Ecclesiae 24-25 (1981-82): pp. advised to turn to the pages of the recent 89-120. Handbook of Christianity in China (edited by [3]. Smaller collections were also kept in Nicolas Standaert; Leiden: Brill, 2001). some Franciscan convents in Rome, and partly In sum, Chinese Books and Documents is a ended up in the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di rich introduction to a variety of materials, covering Roma "Vittorio Emanuele II" (BNCR); see Marina the Chinese classics, Christian-Chinese topics, and Battaglini, "Libri cinesi e giapponesi alla Chinese religions, and offers a convenient and Biblioteca Nazionale [pp. 7-10 "I fondi di origine learned gate to the ARSI materials. It will be a ecclesiastica"]," in Pa gine dall'Oriente.Libri needed addition for anysinological library,and a cinesi e giapponesi della Biblioteca Nazionale, source of research ideas for years to come in the edited by Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale Vittorio fields of Chinese-Western relations and of Emanuele II - Roma (Roma: Bardi Editore, 1996), Christianity-in-China. pp. 7-14. On the library of the Collegio Romano, see Ricardo Villoslada, Storia del Collegio Notes Romano dal suo inizio (1551) alla soppressione [1]. There were exceptions, however. In della Compagnia di Ges= (1773) (Roma: 1684, the Jesuit Philippe Couplet brought to Rome Universit= Gregoriana, 1954); Virginia Carini acollection of Chinese Christian books that was Dainotti, La Biblioteca Nazionale Vittorio donated to the pope as a propaganda move on Emanuele al Collegio Romano (Firenze: Olschki, behalf of the Jesuit mission. Those books are still 1956); on the Chinese materials in the housed in the Vatican Library today.Moreover, Casanatense, see Eugenio Menegon, "The some cardinals collected "exotic" oriental Casanatense Library (Rome) and its China materials, including Chinese ones, in their private Materials. A Finding List," Sino-Western Cultural libraries (for example Cardinal Corsini and Relations Journal XXII (2000): pp. 31-55. Cardinal Casanate in the seventeenth century). [4]. An eighteenth-century catalogue of the Later on, Cardinal Stefano Borgia, Prefect of Chinese books in the old Jesuit archivesisstill Propaganda Fide, became an avid collector of preserved in ARSI: Indexlibrorum Sinensium juxta orientalia and archeological artifacts. His rerum classes distributus,Jap. Sin. 152.2, ff. collection of Chinese books is nowhoused in the 23r-38r; see Chan, Chinese Books,p.436. A Vatican Library; on orientalism in Rome, see, e.g., comparison of the Latin renderings of the titles Paola Orsatti, Il fondo Borgia della Biblioteca kept then in archivesand the today-existing Vaticana e gli studi orientali a Roma traSette e Chinese books and documents could help us Ottocento (Citt= del Vaticano: Biblioteca reconstruct the history of the collection.
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[5]. See Costanzo Bizzocchi, "Il ’ripostiglio’ della Biblioteca del Collegio Romano," Gesuiti della Provincia Romana 2(1971): pp. 17-21; Carini Dainotti, La biblioteca,pp. 68-71. The Library of the Collegio Romano apparently remained intact between the suppression of the Society and its resurrection in 1814. In 1842, an erudite described the library as still rich with 80,000 volumes; see Moroni’s Dizionario di erudizione storico-ecclesiastica,asquoted in Villoslada, Storia,p.193. On the present condition of the Chinese collection in the BNCR, see e.g. Battaglini, "Libri cinesi...," pp. 7-10. [6]. A forthcoming article by Ad Dudink in the journal Monumenta Serica (2002 issue) explores the layering of the ARSI Chinese collection and its archivalstructure. Dr.Dudink wasalso responsible for overseeing the scholarly editing of Albert Chan’s Chinese Books and Documents,and making bibliographic improvements and additions throughout. In the same issue of Monumenta Serica,Paul Rule will offer a reviewofChan’scatalogue, including information on the origins of the Japonica Sinica collection in ARSI. A preliminary version of Rule’sreviewisavailable on the site of the Ricci Institute (University of San Francisco), in PDF format at:
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•Chinese literature--Bibliography.
Citation: Eugenio Menegon. "ReviewofAlbert Chan, Chinese Books and Documents in the Jesuit Archives in Rome: A Descriptive Catalogue: Japonica Sinica I-IV, H-Asia, H-Net Reviews, February,2003. URL: http://www.h-net.msu.edu/reviews/showrev.cgi?path=294851047523464. Copyright © 2003 by H-Net, all rights reserved. H-Net permits the redistribution and reprinting of this work for nonprofit, educational purposes, with full and accurate attribution to the author,web location, date of publication, originating list, and H-Net: Humanities & Social Sciences Online. For anyother proposed use, contact the Reviews editorial [email protected].
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