The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 15 of 15

Excerpt from The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 15 of 15: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church Tournon, charles-thomas maillard de, papal legate to India and China, cardinal, b. Of a noble Savoyard family at Turin, 21 Dec., 1668; d. In con finement at Macao, 8 June, 1710. After graduating in canon and civil law he went to Rome where he gained the esteem of Clement XI, who on 5 Dec., 1701, appointed him legate a latere to India and China. The pur pose oi this lega tion was: to estab l is h h a r m o n y among the mis sionaries there; to provide for the needs of these ex tensive missions; to report to the Holy See on the general state of the missions, and the labours of the missionaries; and, finally, to enforce the decision of the Holy Office against the further tolera tion of the so-called Chinese rites among the native Christians. These rites consisted chieży in Offering sacrifices to Confucius and the ancestors, and in using the Chinese names lien (heaven) and rang ti (supreme emperor) for the God of the Christians. On 27 Dec., 1701, the pope consecrated Tournon bishop in the Vatican Basilica, with the title of Patriarch of Antioch. The legate left Europe on the royal French vessel Murepas, 9 Feb., 1703, arriving at Pondicherry in India on 6 Nov., 1703. It was with greater zeal than prudence that he issued a decree at this place, dated 23 June, 1704, summarily forbidding the missionaries under severe censures to permit the further practice of the Malabar rites (q. On 11 July, 1704, he set sail for China by way of the Philippine Islands, arriv ing at Macao in China, 2 April, and at Peking on 4 Dec., 1705. Emperor Kang hi received him kindly at first, but upon hearing that he came to abolish the Chinese rites among the native Christians, he de manded from all missionaries on pain of immediate expulsion a promise to retain these rites. At Rome the Holy Office had meanwhile decided against the rites on 20 Nov., 1704, and, being acquainted with this decision, the legate issued a decree at Nanking on 25 January, 1707, obliging the missionaries under pain of excommunication law: sententioa, to abolish the rites. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.