China Rite Controversy and the Cen-tury-Long Suppression of the Church
The development of the Catholic Church did not always go smoothly. From the viewpoint of the external environment of China, the precautions against it and the distrustfulness still ex- isted; from within, a crisis was fermenting. There were disagree- ments in dealing with the Chinese Confucian culture, and this was obvious within the religious orders. The disagreements even- tually caused the lengthy China Rite Controversy. Rome was rather indecisive in dealing with this matter when it first erupted; later, the Pope ended the controversy by ruling against the Jesu- its and forbidding the practice of Chinese rites and ceremonies by paying tribute to the ancestors and to Confucius. This was the cause of the century-long suppression.
The China Rite Controversy mainly focused on two issues. One was ancient Chinese tradition of paying tribute to ancestors and to Confucius. Was this tradition a religious or secular one? The other one was the Chinese terms used for the Creator. Thedisagreements started from withinthe Jesuits. Matteo Ricci"s group denied the religiosity side of Chinese customs and said that Catholics could participate in such ceremonies. All the terms, Shangdi, Tian and Tianzhi, which were common among people, couldbe used in the Church. The other group, led by Nicho-
las Longobardi,thought such cer-emonies should be regarded as idolatry by the Church and, there- fore, should be condemned. In regard to the Chinese term for the Creator, only the latin Deus should be used. A meeting was called in Jiading in 1628 by the Jesuits from China and other countries,and they came to a consensus: paying tribute to ancestors and to Confucius was not idolatry, but was actually in accord with the fourth commandment: namely, to honor one"s parents.
In 1632, the Franciscan Li Andang and the Dominican Li Yufan went on missions to Fujian while all these disputes were again emerging among the faithful. They saw with their own eyes the ceremonies in which Chinese to paid tribute to their ancestors and the funeral rites. They were extremely surprised that the Jesuit priest Ai Rulue allowed the Chinese Catholics to do such things. Li Yufan went to Rome in 1643 and submitted a letter with 17 accusations regarding alleged Jesuit wrongdoings to the Pope. On September 12, 1645, the Vatican decided to for- bid the use of the Chinese term Shangdi for God, neither could Chinese Catholics pay tribute to their ancestors and to Confucius This order greatly disturbed the Jesuits. They decided to send Wei Kuangguo (1614-1661) to Rome to defend their ministry in China. On March 23, 1656, Pope Alexander VII issued an order that Chinese rites and ceremonies were purely cultural and secu- lar rather than religious. As long as these rituals were not against the fundamentals of the Catholic faith, believers could partici- pate in them at their own discretion. They were allowed to be with other non-Christians during those celebrations as long asthe Catholics proclaimed their faith.
During the period of Liyu, the missionaries in Guangzhou, who were under supervision, held a meeting on December 16th1667, during which they discussed 42 questions related to the China missions and agreed to obey the Pope"s 1656 order to the Jesuits. Only Anthony and one other declined to sign the agree- ment. Claudio Grimaldi, a Dominican who participated in the meeting and signed his name, left for Europe where he attacked the Chinese ceremonies as pagan activities, and also criticized the Jesuit stance.