Includes Latin transcript of: ARSI, Jap. Sin. 158, "Controversiae variae: 1668–1698" ; ff. 51-61v: P. Adr. Grelon SJ. 1a via Cum nota authent. P. Lud. Da Gama, 10 dec. 1668.

Utrum ieiunantes Sinici volentes ad fidem converti obligandi sint ad solvendum ieiunium eique renuntiandum antequam baptismum suscipiant? nec ne? = "Whether Chinese fasters who want to convert to Christianity are obliged to break and renounce the fast before baptism?"

Summary:
From the beginning of the China mission, the Jesuits famously sought to accommodate Christianity to local culture by accepting practices such as the veneration of ancestors. The attempt by some Jesuits to tolerate Chinese vegetarianism is less known but deserves attention because of its cultural, anthropological and religious implications. The controversy which erupted in 1668 between the Jesuits Prospero Intorcetta (1626–96) and Adrien Grelon (1618–97) during the Canton Conference reveals two radically different understandings of the role of vegetarianism in Chinese society, as well as divergent implications for the Christian community. We shall first contextualise the controversy, the relevant documents in the Jesuit archives in Rome (ARSI), and the main arguments that were presented for and against the baptism of those who practise vegetarianism. Since recent scholarship has largely focused on the tenets of accommodation, we decided to translate the text of Grelon, an opponent of accommodation on the question of fasting, followed by the transcription of the original Latin text.

Local access dig.pdf. [Meynard-Fasting.pdf]