Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 15.djvu/401

 VERBIEST

347

VERBIEST

ho principles of the Christian rehgion. As he says n one of his letters, books which the Chinese always velcomod as gifts, and which were especially esteemed oniing from his pen, were a means of conveying the ruth to persons to whom the missionaries would itherwisc not have access. K'ang-hi recognized the er\ic('s of the missionary by conferring on him ucccssively the highest degrees of the mandarinate. rhe Hbortj' to prcacli, the only reward Father Verbicst ooked for, was almost the sole benefit he derived mm his dignities.

It would seem that the use of the human sciences, rhich had so powerfully a.ssisted Father Ricci to Dund the Chinese mission, and permitted Father 'erhicst to save it, would henceforth not be mis- cpresented. But such was not the case, and, as is w ell nown, it was a missionary from China who consnU u d I his duty to carry to Rome, and by me iiis of liis .•ritings to spread throughout the world, imp is^ioik d ccusations against the methods of the Jesuit misMon- ries. Among the replies elicited by the attack of 'ather Nav.arrele there is one by Father \eibiesl,
 * was not published, but was read at Rome and thence

ame an ample justitication of the worthy mlsslonar^ stronomer. Innocent XI, to whom he had dedicated he Chinese translation of theMis--a! printed at Peking nd .another work containing liis a st re moMiicalobserva- ions, answered him on ;i Dereiiilier, KlSl b\ a Brief ■hich means much more than a commoniilire ( \pies- ion of thanks: "It ha,s pleased us especulh ", says lie pope, "to learn from your letter with whit wisdom nd .season.ableness {qiinm xaiiifiilcr nHpic opjmrtitne) on have made use of the profane sciences for the ilvation of the Chinese peoples and the ad^ ancement nd benefit of the Christian faith: employing them to ^lel the false accusations and calumnies which have een heaped upon the Christian name, opening the ■ay to that high degree of favour with the Chinese ing and his advi.sers, which has obtained both that on yourself should be rielivered from the hai'sh ri-i riiiions which you have long endured with the

1 I ' (ouragr, and the power to recall your fellow- — :iiies from e.xile ami to restore to religion not

nl,\' us former lib("rt.\' and splendour, but to inspire, with the hope of daily progress. ..."

In 1677 Father VerbiesI was a|)pointed vice pro- incial, i. c. superior of all the Jesuit missions of ihina. This nomination w;is a stimulus to seek new leans of developing the work confided to his direc- on, with which oliject he addressed (1.5 .\ug., 167S) a ircular letter to all the members of his order in lurope. In it he set forth the hopes which more than rer were held out to the Faith in China, together ith the impo.ssibility for the missionaries then in the eld, with the fewness of their number and the inad- ^uacy of their resources, to gather in all the harvest. [e then urge<l his bretliren in Kurope by most touch- ig arguments to come in as great numbers as po.ssible ) reinforce this b<idy of overworked latiourers, and Iso to procure for the mission the material resources pccs-sary for founding new Christian coinmunities, ipporting catechists, establishing schools, etc. r'hile seeking assistants in Europe he endeavoured to btain them also in China itself. The question of a alive clergy h.ad arisen at the beginning of the mi.s- on. There were didiculties in the way. Hitherto Chinese had been raised to the priesthood, though lany of them had entered the Society and iiad ren- cred good service to the mission ;i.s catechists. The ersccution of 16f)l, which for nearly five years de- rived the Christians of their Kuropean missionaries, Tiph.i.sized more urgently the need of Chinese priests, 'here is a memoir of the consultation then ordered by le .lesuit superiors; it was dr.iwn up for the father eneral by Father Verbicst, and is dated from Peking,

2 June, 107S. Herein the vice-provincial energetically dvocatcd the necessity of ordaining Chinese priests;

to better assure their perseverance he urged that none be raised to the priesthood save young or mature men who had pre\iously been received and tried in the So- ciety. Moreover, he desired t hat these Chinese priests might be allowed to say Mass and adniiriisiii' ihe sacra- ments in the Chinese language, wlu'li p. i mission had been granted in principle by Paul \, as eai ly as 1615. Among the things which Father Verbiest particularly recommended to Father Couplet, sent to Rome in 1680 as procurator of the missions of China, was a re- quest for a confirmation of this permission. His gift to the pope of the Chinese tiansLition of the Missal by

Verbiest's .Astronomical Instruments at Peking From a drawing by hiiiLscIf engraved in his .A.sfrononiia Enropea

Father BugUo was calculated to support this request , but Father Couplet's negotiations in this respect were without result.

Father Verbiest was more fortunate in his appeal to his brethren in Europe. Well .seconded by F. Cou- plet in his journeys with a Chinaman through Italy, France, and the Low Countries, this appeal amused numerous and ardent volunteers. The strongest con- tingent of aspirants was furnished by France. Louis XIV, who had several times received Father Couplet and Michael, the Chinaman, at Versailles, longed for the glory of founding at his own expense a French mis- sion, which would simultaneously serve the interests of religion and science in the Far East. And his min- isters rightly divined how much France's commercial expansion would gain thereby. Con.sequently, six Jesuits were taken from t he cho.sen st alTof t he college of Paris. Having previously been made fellows of the Academy of Sciences and given the title of mathemati- cians to the king, they set sail from Brest, ;{ March, lliS.^, with the embassy which the king was sending to Siam, Five of them set out from Siam in 1687 and landed at Ning-po in China on 23 July. The authori- zation to penetrate to the interior, which the Viceroy of Chekiangand even the Tribunal of Rites at Peking would have refused them, was granted them by the emjieror at Father Verbiest 's request. The arrival of these recruits was a great consolation to the venerable missionary. Nevertheless he wa.s not to have the joy of receiving them at Peking, which they reached (7 February) ten days after his death. They ar- rived in time for his funeral which K'ang-hi dclaved in order that it might be more .solemn. On 11 ^Iarch Father Verbiest's remains were caiTied to the burial- l)lace formerly given to Father Ricci.

Carton, Notice bioa. sur Ic P. F. Verbiest, missionaire <l la Chine (BruKea. 18,1!)); de Backer-.Iommervogei.. Bibl. de la comp. de Jfms. VIII. .';74-.')SB; Cordier. Bibl. mnica, II, 1098; Greslon, Hist, de la Chine toun la domination dea Tarlares (Paris, 1B7I); Idem, Rfcil des choeea Ics plus remarquables qui Ae xont passles a la cour de Pikin louchant nos pirea el touchanl lea malh6-