Page:Christianity in China, Tartary, and Thibet Volume II.djvu/245

 CONVERSIONS AMONG THE EDUCATED CLASSES. 23 L which this time, it must be confessed, had not been broken by the pagans. The first years succeeding the death of Father Ricci were wonderfully prosperous to the Chinese missions, and Father Nicholas Lombard conunenced his adminis- tration under the happiest auspices. The new residence, on the front of which was inscribed "Imperial liberality," — the pagoda converted into a Catholic church, the splendid funeral of the head of the missionaries, the mausoleum raised in some measure with the ruins of the Buddhist idols, and in the most ])ublic manner, all these things of course made a great noise both at l^ekin and in the provinces. People were asking each other who were these religious strangers who had acquired such astonishing and unheard-of celebrity in the capital of the empire ; tlicy were eager to read the books pub- lished by these men, they ap[)lauded the doctrines con- tained in them, and in all directions a happy movement towards Christianity was perceptible. Conversions were numerous, many even in the higliest rank of the magis- tracy ; and one especially notable was that of Doctor Yang, a celebrated mandarin, who had for seven years held the office of governor in the province of Nankin, and was also one of the most distinguished men of the time. Father Ivicci had, as has been already observed, made some valuable conquests among the most illustrious members of the Han-Lin ; and the zeal and fervour shown by the Doctors Paul and Leon, in seconding the exertions of the missionaries, has been already men- tioned. The latter, having been obliged to retire into the bosom of his family to preside over the funeral rites of his father, and, according to custom, pass the time of Q 1