Lot 27: A rare account of divisions among Chinese missionaries

[CHINA]

Apologia de' Padri Domenicani Missionarii della China, overo Risposta al Libro del P. le Tellier, Giesuita, intitolato Difesa de'Nuovi Cristiani, ed alla Dichiarazione del Padre le Gobien della medesima Compagnia, Sopra gli onori che i Chinesi fanno a Confusio ed a'Morti. [bound with] Documenta controversiam missionarium apostolicorum Imperii Sinici de culto praestim Confucii... Cologne: Heredi di Cornelio d'Egmond, 1699. Original cream vellum over flexible boards, all edges sprinkled red. 6 1/8 x 3 5/8 inches (15.5 x 9.25 cm); [12] pp., 644, [10] pp. [including terminal blank]; 257, [3] pp.; with a 4 pp. list of errata at the rear. A few leaves rather toned or spotted, but generally a rather pleasing copy, with the duplicate stamp of the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana on the title and final leaf, and various shelfmarks in ink on the pastedown.

An important account of sectarian divisions among the Catholic Church's missionaries to China. Pragmatically, the Jesuit missionaries, who were in favor at the Chinese court, had allowed their converts, the mandarins and princes, to honor their religious obligations to Confucius and their ancestors on certain traditionally appointed days; they otherwise professed Christianity. Dogmatically, the Dominicans and Franciscans absolutely forbade these venerations as a heathen practice, and after a century of dissension, Rome decided against the leeway that the Jesuits had permitted. From that time on Christianity was in decline in China, especially among the elite who had been its strongest proponents.