Introduction / Guy Poirier, Marie-Christine Gomez-Géraud et François Paré -- Stratégie missionnaire et casuistique: le sens du relatif dans la culture jésuite (XVI-XVII siècles) / Frédéric Tinguely -- Rabelais en Huronie: les paroles gelées, dégelées, regelées / Claude La Charité -- Confutatio alcorani et édification: les relations des missionnaires jésuites dans l'empire ottoman au XVII siècle / Laubna Khayati -- Un jésuite à la Chine: le pére Alexandre de Rhodes entre récit de pélerinage et mission / Anne-Sophie de Franceschi -- Le cicéronainisme jésuite: un pont entre l'Est et l'Ouest / Robert A. Maryks -- Le tropisme du martyre dans les relations jésuites en Nouvelle-France / Frank Lestringant -- Les 'morts précieuses' dans les écrits des jésuites de la Nouvelle-France: usages, valeurs et temporalité / Isabelle Lachance -- 'Nous avons esté fait un spectacel aux yeux du monde': performance, texte et création des martyrs au Canada, 1642-1652 / Timothy G. Pearson -- Réecritures hagiographiques: Jean-Joseph Surin et Mathias Tanner, lecteurs des relations jésuites de la Nouvelle-France / Adrien Paschoud -- Les relations du père Jean de Brébeuf en Huronie: écriture missionnaire et ethnographie / Yvon Le Bras -- Le discours missionnaire comme scénographie d'un échange imaginaire entre serviteurs du Christ et Indiens d'Amérique / Marie-Christine Pioffet -- Les livres que les missionnaires de la compagnie de Jésus ont apportés avec eux en Nouvelle-France écrire l'histoire d'une bibliothèque jésuite / Johanne Biron -- Écriture de mission, mission de l'écriture: la correspondance de Marie de l'Incarnation / Nathalie Freidel -- Enquête au Labrador / Pierre Berthiaume -- La Chine et la Nouvelle-France comme laboratoire du savoir: l'impasse du figurisme et la stratégie missionnaire jésuite / Andreas Motsch -- Nouveaux mondes (Mexique, Inde) et premières lettres missionnaires imprimées en langue française, 1532-1545 / Vincent Masse -- De la place de l'anecdote dans l'écriture missionnaire du XVI siécles: le modèle de saint François Xavier / Jean-Paul Bachelot -- De la lettre à la littérature? la légende des proto-martyrs japonais / Marie-Christine Gomez-Géraud -- Les récits de Jacques de Bourges au Siam et de Philippe Avril en Sibérie: deux explorateurs missionnaires en quête de la Chine / Ronald S. Love -- Le groupe de recherche sur les lettres du Japon / Guy Poirier et Hanna Wells.

History of the Mongols / by John of Plano Carpini -- The narrative of Brother Benedict the Pole -- The journey of William of Rubruck -- The letters of John of Monte Corvino, Brother Peregrine, and Andrew of Perugia.

PART ONE. GENERAL BACKGROUND STUDIES
1. The Study of the History of Local Churches. Its Importance for the Development and the Future of the Church. 2. The Catholic Missionary Movement from 1492 to 1789. The Catholic Missionary Movement from 1789 to 1962.

PART TWO. MOGUL MISSION STUDIES
3. Persian Works of Jerome Xavier, a Jesuit at the Mogul Court. 4. An Unpublished Letter of Father Christoval de Vega S.J. : Its Importance for the History of the Second Mission to the Mughal Court and for the Knowledge of the Religion of the Emperor Akbar. 5. Franciscan Missions to the Mogul Court. 6. Die Wiederentdeckung der ersten abendländischen Sanskrit-Grammatik des P. Heinrich Roth S.J. 7. Die Schriften der Jesuiten-Missionare Johann Grueber, Heinrich Roth und Antonio Ceschi. 8. The Sanskrit Grammar and Manuscripts of Father Heinrich Roth S.J. (1620-1668): Introduction. Father Heinrich Roth, S.J. (1620-1668) and the History of his Sanskrit Manuscripts.

PART THREE. STUDIES IN CHINESE AND JAPANESE MISSION HISTORY.
9. The People's Republic of China: from Foreignness to Contextualization. 10. Das Christentum aus chinesischem und japanischem Blickwinkel während der 'Jesuitischen Epoche' der Missionsgeschichte Asiens (1549-1773). 11. Policy and Practice in Roman Catholic Missions in Nineteenth Century Asia: China - India – Vietnam. 12. The Reception of Christianity in China. A neglected Field of Study in Interreligious Dialogue. 13. Celso Costantini. Apostolic Delegate in China (1922-1933) The Changing Role of the Foreign Missionary. 14. The First Franciscans in the East. 15. Castoranos 'Brevis Apparatus et modus agendi ac disputandi cum Mahumetanis' in China Eine unbekannte Handschrift aus dem Jahr 1725. 16. Carolo Orazi da Castorano O.F.M. (1673-1775) on the Prophet Muhammad and on the Master Philosopher Confucius.

PART FOUR. MISSION AND AFGHANISTAN IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
17. Mill Hill Missionaries in Afghanistan from 1879 until 1881 and their stay in Quetta-Baluchistan until 1883.

PART FIVE. THE PIONEER OF CATHOLIC EDUCATION IN SRI LANKA.
18. Father Felice Zoppi da Cannobio, O.F.M. in Sri Lanka: 1853-1857. Pioneer of Catholic Education in Kandy. 19. Thirteen Unknown Documents written by Father Zoppi da Cannobio O.F.M. in Sri Lanka from 1853 till 1856.

PART SIX. VARIOUS STUDIES ON INDIA, TURKEY, COCHINCHINE AND TIBET.
20. Indien im Blickwinkel europäischer Missionare. 21. A Letter written by Fr. Petrus Franciscus a Saorgio, O.F.M., from an Indian Prison (1729). 22. Flämische Franziskaner in Konstantinopel, Smyrna und auf der Insel Chios am Ende des 17. Jahrhunderts. 23. Une lettre inédite du P. Valerius Rist, O.F.M., Missionnaire en Cochinchine. 24. Luciano Petech und die katholische Tibet-Mission im 17. und 18. Jahrhundert.

The Luminous Way to the East : texts and history of the first encounter of Christianity with China /  Matteo Nicolini-Zani ; translated by William Skudlarek.

Translated from the Italian: Via radiosa per l'Oriente.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 305-382) and index.

PART I: A History of Encounters
1.“The Luminous Breeze Blew Eastward”: The Church of the East from Persia to China. - The Missionary Dynamism of the Church of the East -- Christian Archaeological Traces in Asia in the First Millennium -- Christian Literature in the Languages of Central Asia -- The Meeting of Religions on the Silk Road.

2. “The Brilliant Teaching Turned toward the Tang Empire”: The Christian Presence in China between 635 and 845 --Chinese Designations of Tang Christianity -- A Chronicle of the Events Attested by the Sources -- The Composition and Structure of Christian Communities -- The Geographical Location of Christian Monasteries

3. “The Scriptures Were Translated”: The First Christian Texts in Chinese -- The 781 Xi’an Stele: A Monument “Celebrating the Eminent and Meritorious Events” -- The 815 Luoyang Pillar: A Memorial Stone “Granting the Luminous Blessings” -- The “Dunhuang” Manuscripts: A Summary of Research -- The Production and Literary Form of the Texts -- The Content of the Texts.

PART II: The Texts in Translation
Notes on Sources -- The Reference Editions of the Translated Texts -- The Transcriptions of Foreign Names
Text A:
Stele of the Diffusion of the Luminous Teaching of Da Qin in China (Da Qin jingjiao liuxing Zhongguo bei 大秦景教流行中國碑)
Text B:
1. Hymn in Praise of the Salvation Achieved through the Three Majesties of the Luminous Teaching (Jingjiao sanwei mengdu
zan 景教三威蒙度讚)
2. Book of the Honored (Zunjing 尊經)
Text C:
Discourse on the One God (Yishen lun 一神論)
I. Discourse on the One Godhead (Yitian lun diyi 一天論第一)
II. Metaphorical Teaching (Yu di'er 喻第二)
III. Discourse of the Honored One of the Universe on Almsgiving (Shizun bushi lun disan 世尊布施論第三)
Text D:
Book of the Lord Messiah (Xuting mishisuo jing 序聽迷詩所經)
Text E:
Book on Profound and Mysterious Blessedness (Zhixuan anle jing 志玄安樂經)
Text F:
Book of the Luminous Teaching of Da Qin on Revealing the Origin and Reaching the Foundation (*Da Qin jingjiao xuanyuan zhiben jing 大秦景教宣元至本經)

"The Missionary Dynamism of the Church of the East It would be an attractive undertaking for the historian to be able to follow in the footsteps of those heralds of the Gospel, who went forth from Antioch with firmness and tenacity in those early days making their way to the East . . . building new centers of Christian irradiation, creating communities and spreading the doctrine of Jesus everywhere. The interest would certainly grow if we were familiar with the challenges faced by these first evangelizers on their way to the Far East. Gaining that knowledge, however, is no easy task. Christ's teaching had to cover immense distances on its road from Antioch towards the East. . . . The details of this diffusion, however, remain obscure. There are no Acts of the Apostles, no Letters of Saint Paul, no contemporary or near-contemporary documents that might tell us how and when Christianity from the region of the Euphrates and the Tigris crossed over the mountainous regions of the Orient, how through Media and Parthia it went south to Herat and Segestan, and how it penetrated eastward, crossing the Margiana (Merv), into the region of the Oxus and the Jaxartes, and finally how it entered today's Russian province of Semireč'e, then Turfan, and then further south into the heart of China"-- Provided by publisher.

Local access dig.pdf. [Nicolini-Zan-The luminous way to the East.pdf]