Celibacy, chastity and self-cultivation in the thought of Jesuits and Chinese Catholics in late Ming and early Qing China / Dai Biyun

Published in Religions 2025, 16(10), 1310

Abstract:
This article examines Catholic celibacy from the late Ming to early Qing dynasty, revealing how Jesuit missionaries and Chinese Catholics interpreted and advocated for chastity. It highlights how missionaries such as Matteo Ricci and Giulio Aleni connected chastity with the ethical knowledge of self-cultivation and the doctrine of salvation, while adapting it to Chinese culture through Confucian concepts like subduing one’s self. The article also explores the conflicts and integrations of chastity ideals among different intellectual traditions, such as the critiques by Buddhist monk Yunqi Zhuhong and Confucian scholar Xu Dashou, as well as how supporters like Yang Tingyun and Zhu Zongyuan reconciled Christian chastity with Confucian ideals of self-restraint and virtuous conduct.

Ding Zhilin 丁志麟, Yang Qiyuan chaoxing shiji 楊淇園超性事跡 (ca. 1628)--pref.

034R ZKW 540.4 (Xu 431) *strip [c] [B 161]
Giulio Aleni and Ding Zhilin 丁 志 麟 , Yang Qiyuan chaoxing shiji 楊淇園超性事跡 (ca. 1628); biography of Yang Tingyun 楊廷荺 ; no title-page; 11 ff. (10/22), ff. 1-8, printed text (slnd., punctuated); ff. 9-11, ms. (not punctuated) -- Cf. Adrian Dudink, "The Zikawei Collection" (Sino-Western Cultural Relations Journal XVIII (1996)), p. 17.

In volume 1 of: Xujiahui cangshulou Ming-Qing Tianzhujiao wenxian 徐家匯藏書樓明清天主教文獻
For a description of all 37 texts, see the catalog of the Fujen Zikawei collection in Sino-Western Cultural Relations Journal XVIII (1996), or search individual records.

Local access dig.pdf. [Standaert-Yang Tingyun.pdf]