The Christian mission in China in the Verbiest era : some aspects of the missionary approach / Noël Golvers (ed.).
Includes bibliographical references.

Contents: Preface / Jeroom Heyndrickx -- Introduction / Noël Golvers -- Ferdinand Verbiest's Qiongli xue 窮理學 (1683 ) / Adrian Dudink and Nicolas Standaert -- Verbiest's introduction of Aristoteles Latinus (Coimbra) in China: new Western evidence / Noël Golvers -- Explaining the sacrament of penance in seventeenth-century China: an essay of Ferdinand Verbiest (1623-1688) / John W. Witek -- The reaction of scholars to the work of Ferdinand Verbiest during the Kangxi-Qianlong reign / Xu Haisong 徐海松 -- The role of the directorate of astronomy in the Catholic mission during the Qing period / Han Qi 韓琦 -- Some aspects of the missionary approach of Francois de Rougemont in Changshu, Jiangnan (1661-1676) / Noël Golvers.

Publishers note-- In this volume, an effort has been made to extend our research to hitherto less developed aspects of the life and work of Ferdinand Verbiest (°1623-+1688). Two of the five papers collected here concern his involvement in the translation of the Latin commentaries on Aristotle published in Coimbra, which had been begun by Furtado, Aleni and others, and which he continued and completed until its 'official' presentation to the emperor in 1683. The contents of this voluminous work, entitled Qiongli xue are analysed by N. Standaert & A. Dudink (Leuven) on the basis of an (incomplete) copy of the manuscript, whereas N. Golvers (Leuven) describes its growth process out of a series of references in 'Western' sources; again each approach complements the other, and the flaws of one type of source are balanced by the virtues of the other. Verbiest's purely pastoral work is represented by this treatise 'on the sacrament of penance' (Goaojie yuanyi [sic], i.e. Gaojie yuanyi), which is analysed in depth by J.W. Witek (Washington DC). On the other hand there is Verbiest's relation to the calendar problem and the Astronomical Bureau (Qintianjian), so often studied without ever exhausting the subject; his work is appropriately described in terms of the 'history of science', as a key moment in the transmission of Western astronomical knowledge to the Far East. In his paper, however, Xu Haisong (Hangzhou) investigates the reception of Verbiest's learning in the milieu of the traditional Bureau, mainly on the basis of Chinese primary sources. The presence of more specific Christian elements in the same Bureau can be pointed out during the seventeenth and eighteenth century, when it even exerts some influence on contemporary Chinese Christianity, in such dossiers as the Rites Controversy. (Han Qi, Beijing). But the Jesuit mission was far more than the mission of Beijing. The scene beyond the capital is present in this issue in a description of the missionary approach applied in Suzhou Prefecture (Jiangnan Province) by Franciscus de Rougemont (°1624-+1676) - a former fellow of F. Verbiest in the Flemish Jesuit colleges, and always in contact with him in China as well. Here again Western documents are the almost exclusive sources, illustrating many aspects of the Jesuit presence in the Chinese interior.

Publishers note--This book reconstructs the life of a Jesuit missionary in a small inland residence in China (Ch'ang-shu, Chiang-nan Province), primarily but not exclusively on the basis of the evidence of a newly (re)discovered private Account Book covering the period from October 1674 to April/May 1676. This 'pocket' note book mainly represents the missionary's private expenses, and, to a much lesser extent, the revenues he received. As such it is an exceptional document in the missionary documentation. Absolutely unique is the part concerning his personal 'spiritual' exercises, his successes as well as failings in that field. After a lengthy introduction, in which both the life of the author and the complex composition of the Account Book are reconstructed, the text is presented, in a bilingual Latin - English edition. In seven chapters the contents are further described and analysed from various angles: the general topographical setting; the author's ten journeys through the region in 1674-1676; the social contacts referred to; the various aspects of priestly and pastoral life; the means of propagation, written as well as pictorial; the material culture of the mission; the financial structure of the whole undertaking, including the patterns of expenditure revealed. All the evidence available in this Account Book is combined with other contemporary information, mainly from unpublished sources, including a large number of quotations from the lost Couplet - Rougemont correspondence that has survived in Estrix's Elogium F. de Rougemont (1690), the text of which is also published here for the first time. Thus the Account Book assumes its place as an exceptional private document with a major relevance for the reconstruction of missionary life in China.

Contents: Introduction - 1. Biography of F. de Rougemont, S.J. - 2. The manuscript of the Account Book - 3. General appreciation of the Account Book c.s. as an historical source - 4. Appendix: conspectus litterarum/de Rougemonts correspondence - Text and translation – Commentaries
1. The topographical setting of the Account Book: The Christian topography of de Rougemont's 'parish' - 2. De Rougemonts movements inside his mission - 3. Social life: De Rougemont in Chines Society - 4. Priestly life - 5. The means of propagation and propaganda - 6. The material culture in the mission - 7. The finances of the mission.