Abstract: Canton Conference (1667-1668) is regarded as an important event in the history of Christianity in China. The Conference was held by missionaries from three religious orders, namely, the Jesuits, Dominicans and Franciscans. Together they tried achieving something common to strive for the prosperity of the China mission. It is true that the background and atmosphere of the Conference was influenced and overwhelmed by the Rites controversy. However, another significant part that the conference covered, in a large portion, dealt with wide pastoral issues in the context of Chinese society. The forty two articles in this Conference demonstrate the open-mindedness and a fairly positive knowledge of an approach to Chinese custom. In addition, some recommendations remain open to further inquiries, in the sense that they were still finding a better way to cope with the indigenous affairs. Analysis of the articles as a whole gives light to various aspects of missionary work at that time beyond the controversial article forty-first.

Appendixes: 4.1 List of the missionaries assembled in Beijing for the imperial inquisition. 4.2 List of the missionaries who were not sent to Canton and remained in Beijing. 4.3 List of the missionaries excluded from the imperial inquisition and Canton exile. 4.4 List of the missionaries who were sent to Canton for detention. 4.5 List of the participants in the Canton Conference. 4.2 Excerpt of the Chinese text “Ordonnances de la sainte eglise” 《聖教規程》

Local access dig.pdf. [Martinez Esquivel-Confinamiento.pdf]

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]