Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 61 "Matteo Ricci's Rules" and Right Deviation

"Hello, young lady." Xu Guangqi looked calm and saluted with a smile.

"I have met him." Long Huamin didn't want to pay any attention to Zhang Shirui at all, and was even very dissatisfied with Guo Jujing's behavior of making friends with pagans.

Zhang Shirui once again felt unwarranted hostility, this time not only from Long Huamin but also from the other believers around her. However, she still politely greeted each one.

Zhang Shirui's indifferent reaction made Xu Guangqi raise his eyebrows. He was the first to ask, "Miss Zhang, is the Heavenly Master in the mansion now?"

"Your Excellency, my father is ill and stayed in Yingtian. He has not yet arrived in Beijing." Zhang Shirui shook his head.

"I hope the Heavenly Master recovers quickly," Xu Guangqi wished from afar. But inwardly, he was thinking: Sick? Oh, what a time.

"Thank you, sir." Zhang Shirui bowed in thanks.

"Miss, let's go upstairs." Seeing that the greetings were almost over, Ding Baiying walked to Zhang Shirui's side and whispered.

Zhang Shirui sensed an urgency in Ding Baiying's tone. She was puzzled, but she still said goodbye to the Jesuits. "My friends and I are having a dinner upstairs, so I won't disturb you. Goodbye."

"Goodbye." Everyone also said goodbye to Zhang Shirui.

This meeting had come and gone so quickly. As she walked around the screen, Zhang Shirui felt a scrutinizing gaze on her. But when she looked back at Ding Baiying's senior brothers, she saw only a group of ordinary men drinking and bragging.

"Goodbye, Senior Brother." Ding Baiying waved to Lu Wenzhao. But Lu Wenzhao didn't respond, just raised his glass to show that he understood.

He didn't even need to ask where Ding Baiying was, or even bother to look for it. He already had enough information. Ding Baiying was following Miss Zhang, clearly a guard. Although Miss Zhang hadn't introduced herself in detail to Lu Wenzhao, she could still hear him clearly through the screen. So, all he had to do was find the Tianshi Mansion to find Ding Baiying.

"Brother, they've left. Why don't we send two brothers to follow them?" Shen Lian was determined to make a big case.

Lu Wenzhao thought for a moment and said, "Of course. But Zhang Tianshi's affairs are not our responsibility. If we can't get any useful information, the extra expenses will be difficult to reimburse."

"I understand." Shen Lian nodded, but still went up with a captain.

You don’t understand, Junior Sister won’t let Zhang Shirui talk nonsense. Lu Wenzhao thought.

A quarter of an hour later, the Sun and Moon Star Tower began to serve the dishes to Jesus.

"Master Zi, when can we meet the emperor?" Long Huamin toasted Xu Guangqi.

"I'm sorry, but I can't give you a definitive answer right now," Xu Guangqi replied. "You arrived after the deadline for submitting your petition to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Therefore, the Emperor likely doesn't know about your visit to the capital yet. Tomorrow, I will report to the Emperor on behalf of the Ministry of Rites regarding the Jesuit mission and implore His Majesty to grant you an audience. As for when the Emperor will approve your request, and what the outcome will be, that's beyond my control."

Xu Guangqi's claim that the emperor didn't know the Jesuits were coming to Beijing was pure lies. Each of the sixteen gates of the capital was patrolled day and night by the Imperial Guards. From the moment they entered the city, the Imperial Guards began to pass on information to their superiors.

"Then I'll trouble you, Brother Zixian." Long Huamin toasted again to show his understanding.

On December 21, the 28th year of the Wanli reign, Matteo Ricci entered Beijing from Tianjin. Three days later, a memorial, edited by Cao Yubian, a clerk in the Ministry of Personnel, was delivered to the emperor: "Matteo Ricci, your companion from the Atlantic, respectfully presents your native produce to Your Majesty. My homeland is far away, and I have never been able to make contributions. Having heard of the Celestial Empire's teachings and cultural relics, I sincerely wish to be blessed by its influence and to remain a commoner for the rest of my life, so that my life will be worthwhile. Therefore, I have left my homeland and sailed here. It has taken me three years and a journey of over 30,000 miles to finally reach Guangdong."

This polished memorial was extremely humble, and it completely reflected the tone of a distant vassal state seeking divine favor.

The memorials and tributes piqued Shenzong's interest, and he briefly considered meeting these foreigners who had brought their treasures from overseas. However, the emperor hesitated again and again, and ultimately did not break his own rule of "never showing his face to anyone other than eunuchs and concubines."

In the end, Emperor Shenzong did not summon Matteo Ricci. Instead, he sent a painter to paint a life-size portrait of Ricci and relied on eunuchs to pass on the message, thus giving Ricci a "face-to-face meeting" without actually meeting the emperor.

As the successor of Matteo Ricci, Long Huamin was well aware of the difficulty of meeting the emperor.

After three rounds of drinks, Xu Guangqi asked Long Huamin in a chatty tone, "Has the Pope responded?"

Pope? Lu Wenzhao, who was just across the screen, noticed the word. "Now we're getting to the point. Listen carefully." He lowered his voice and pulled out his own book of impermanence.

"Pope Paul V has approved the translation of the Bible into Chinese." Long Huamin knew what Xu Guangqi was asking.

In the first month of the 41st year of the Wanli reign, Long Huamin ordered Father Ginique to return to Europe to report to Pope Paul V on missionary affairs in China and to petition the Holy See to allow the Jesuits in China to celebrate the sacraments and translate the Bible into Chinese. In the 43rd year of the Wanli reign, the Pope issued a bull granting this request.

In the 46th year of the Wanli reign, Ginić arrived in China again with the Pope's edict.

"What does the Pope think of the 'Matteo Ricci Rules'?" Xu Guangqi raised his glass lightly and asked with a smile.

"The Holy See is still debating and has not reached a definite answer." Long Huamin was a little excited.

"What do you think now, President?" Xu Guangqi put down his wine glass, picked up his chopsticks, glanced at Guo Jujing, and then turned his attention back to Long Huamin.

"Of course I still hold the same view. Activities like offering sacrifices to heaven, ancestors, and Confucius contain elements of superstition and worship. They are contrary to the teachings of our religion. Once you are baptized and convert to Christianity, you should abandon them." Long Huamin replied firmly, "Since you have converted to Christianity, you should worship our Lord. What do you think, Paul?"

"Oh." Xu Guangqi did not answer, but turned to ask Guo Jujing. "What do you think of Yangfeng?"

"Niccolò Longobardi! You are betraying me!" Guo Jujing did not want to argue with Long Huamin, the president of the association, but since this issue involved the "Matteo Ricci Rules", Guo Jujing could no longer remain silent.

The so-called "Ricci Rules" actually refer to Matteo Ricci's missionary strategies and methods. Ricci summarized the experiences and lessons of his predecessors in China, such as Xavier, Valignano, and Ruggieri. He realized that to spread Catholicism to China, the first step was to localize Catholic doctrine. This meant combining Catholic doctrine with traditional Chinese Confucianism, a process known as "combining Confucianism," "supplementing Confucianism," and "approaching Confucianism."

Matteo Ricci knew that to spread the Holy Spirit in Ming Dynasty, he had to gain the support of either the emperor or the scholar-officials, or at least not both of them. To this end, he did not hesitate to modify the canon of the church, supplementing the Four Books and Five Classics with the Bible.

Ricci's superiority over his predecessors lies in his deeper observation and understanding of China. He understood that China's worldview, or ideology, is comprehensive, encompassing science, technology, ethics, and philosophy. For Catholic doctrine to be accepted in China, it must become an integral part of Chinese culture—a process of "Sinicization" of Catholicism.

Matteo Ricci personally promoted the "Sinicization" of Catholicism in four aspects: lifestyle, concepts and expressions, moral norms, and rituals and sacrifices.

Matteo Ricci recognized the Chinese Christian custom of offering sacrifices to Heaven, ancestors, and Confucius. In his view, the Chinese concepts of "Heaven" and "God" were essentially the same as the Catholic concept of "the One True God," differing only in expression. Therefore, offering sacrifices to Heaven was itself an act of worshipping God. Meanwhile, offering sacrifices to ancestors and Confucius were merely rituals of commemorating ancestors and honoring philosophers, and they did not interfere with religious beliefs and did not inherently violate Catholic doctrine.

He spent nearly ten years writing a book in Chinese titled "The True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven." His purpose in writing this book was naturally to promote Catholic doctrine. However, throughout the book, he carefully considered the harmony between Catholic doctrine and Confucian thought. For example, Ricci specifically cited Confucian classics to argue that the Western "true God" is the Chinese "Shangdi." He said: "Our Lord of Heaven is the God mentioned in ancient scriptures."

For example, he equates the Christian concept of "love" with the Confucian concept of "benevolence," saying that in true friendship, one should treat others as one would like to be treated oneself.
Such innovation and breakthroughs made his missionary activities receive enthusiastic responses from famous scholars such as Qu Taisu, Feng Yingjing, Xu Guangqi, Li Zhizao, and Yang Tingyun. It also enabled him to enter Beijing for the first time and gain a foothold in Beijing until his death and burial in Beijing.

During Matteo Ricci's lifetime, Long Huamin always adhered to the "Ricci Rule" and never expressed opposition to it on any occasion. In the eyes of Matteo Ricci and other Jesuits, both Chinese and foreign, he was the most loyal supporter of the "Ricci Rule."

However, after Matteo Ricci passed away in the 38th year of the Wanli reign, the new president who took over the church affairs immediately changed his course. He first announced the abolition of words such as "天", "帝", "帝主", and "魂", and adopted transliteration, translating Deus into "抖斯".

Secondly, he declared that the Chinese tradition of offering sacrifices to heaven, ancestors, and Confucius was contrary to the teachings of the Holy Religion, and declared that true followers of the Holy Religion should not continue to carry out these activities that were full of superstition and worship.

This marked the beginning of the "Rites Controversy".

The most direct result of the Rites Controversy was a serious split within the Jesuit order in China. The Macau General Society, led by Long Huamin, engaged in a years-long debate with the various Jesuit orders along the route to the two capitals.

Many people support the "Ricci Rule" and regard the late Matteo Ricci as their spiritual leader, but they do not have a true leader. Although there are fewer people who oppose the "Ricci Rule", Long Huamin is the current president of the Society of Jesus.

The two sides debated back and forth but could not reach a consensus. To prevent the disagreement from escalating into a split, they decided to have Ginni, who had returned to Europe to report on church affairs, submit the issue to the Vatican for a decision.

The Holy See is the absolute authority on church affairs. As long as the Pope issues an edict on the matter, the other party will have nothing to say no matter what the outcome.

But before the Vatican's edict arrived, the emperor's decree had already pronounced the death penalty on the missionary cause.

In the 44th year of the Wanli reign, Shen Sanli, the Vice Minister of Rites and the acting Minister of Rites in Nanjing, reported three times that Jesuit missionaries in China had ties with the White Lotus Sect.

This attack was not without purpose. Shen launched the attack precisely because he saw Long Huamin's change of heart and the internal turmoil within the Jesuit Order. He judged that the emperor at this time would not be as sympathetic to the Jesuit Order as he had been during the reign of Matteo Ricci.

In May, July, and December, Shen submitted three memorials, "Memorials on the Distant Barbarians," which garnered the support of Prime Minister Fang Congzhe and Cabinet Minister Wu Daonan. Fang Congzhe's involvement in the "Nanjing Incident" wasn't just a timely aid to Shen, but rather the icing on the cake. The Prime Minister, having accurately calculated the emperor's intentions, conveniently aided his fellow countryman Shen.

The Prime Minister's support was like a weather vane, and officials, both large and small, who had been neutral or leaning towards the Jesuits, all turned their attention and rushed towards the Jesuits like a flood. Supporters such as Xu Guangqi and Yang Tingyun could not hold their own.

The emperor was persuaded: Since you regard the "Three Sacrifices" as evil and believe that the "One True God" is not "Haotian Shangdi" but something else, then you should get out of the territory of the Ming Dynasty. I am showing you extra mercy by not killing you.

On December 28, the 44th year of the Wanli reign, Emperor Shenzong issued a rare decree stating that Wang Fengsu and others "established a religion to confuse the people and had ulterior motives." They were handed over to the governor of Guangdong for expulsion from the country; missionaries such as Pang Di'e who participated in the calendar revision in Beijing were also ordered to be repatriated.

At this point, all Western missionaries in the two capitals of the north and the south were expelled.

Long Huamin stubbornly believed that the Jesuits were hit by the incident because they were not vocal enough within the government. However, what he did not realize, or was unwilling to realize, was that this attack was not just a matter of whether his voice was loud enough within the government, but also because he himself had made a right-wing mistake.

After the Nanjing Incident, the Jesuits generally believed that Long Huamin's missionary methods were problematic and that the "Ricci Rules" should not be abolished. This put Long Huamin under tremendous pressure.

However, the Jesuits did not practice a senate-style aristocratic republic. In theory, the only authority to appoint and dismiss the president was the Vatican, which was far away in Europe. Matteo Ricci only appointed Long Huamin as president on his deathbed with authorization from the Vatican.

In March of the 46th year of the Wanli reign, the edict from the Holy See finally arrived, but it was meaningless.

Pope Paul V was struggling to maintain peace between the Habsburgs and the French Bourbon dynasty and was attempting to organize another crusade against the Ottoman Empire. He had no extra energy to organize a discussion on missionary work in the Far East.

So the Pope only agreed to the uncontroversial issue of Bible translation and gifted Ginnige a series of books to take back to the Ming Dynasty.

The news brought back by Ginniguel did not bridge the divisions within the Jesuit Order. In the 48th year of the Wanli reign, a month before the death of Emperor Shenzong, Guo Jujing returned to Macau and decided to initiate a final negotiation with Long Huamin on the issue of the "Matteo Ricci Rules."

He had made up his mind that if this negotiation still failed to persuade Long Huamin, he would leave the Macau General Association forever and go to Hangzhou, where he and Matteo Ricci had agreed to meet before they parted, to spend the rest of his life.

But just when the negotiations reached a stalemate, the county government of Xiangshan County, Guangdong, came to the Jesuit Headquarters in Macau, St. Paul's Church, with a letter from the Ministry of Rites.

The invitation from the Ministry of Rites and Xu Guangqi's personal letter convinced Long Huamin that it wasn't his actions to "restore order" that had angered the emperor, but rather his lack of influence within the court. By increasing his support for Xu Guangqi and recruiting other prominent officials with religious sympathies, he could influence the emperor's will. If Matteo Ricci had won the Wanli Emperor's favor with his chiming clock, how could Long Huamin, with tributes far exceeding those of his predecessors, fail to win the new emperor's favor?

But Guo Jujing believed that this was the last chance the emperor gave to the Jesuits. If Long Huamin insisted on his own way and continued to carry out "anti-Confucianism", "anti-Confucianism" and "anti-tradition" activities among Chinese Christians, he would definitely lose this God-given opportunity.

Seeing Guo Jujing standing up from the drunken rage, Xu Guangqi's lips curled up into a smile. His eyes drifted towards the screen, as if admiring the embroidered patterns on it.

Xu Guangqi raised his glass and made a slight salute toward the Forbidden City. He thought to himself: Listen carefully, Jinyiwei, and report this conversation to the Emperor.

(End of this chapter)