Belgian Franciscan Friars Minor in China
MISSIONARY WORK AND MODERNITY  

On 11 May 1994, Carine Dujardin, an historian, successfully
defended her thesis 'Missionary Work and Modernity: The Tensions
Between the Science, Policies and Praxis of Missionary Work. The
Vicariate Apostolic of the Belgian Friars Minor in Southwestern
Hubei (China), 1872-1940', at the Catholic University of Louvain
(Belgium). In her thesis, Dr. Dujardin describes the careers of
the 100 Belgian Minor Friars who left for central China in the
period 1872-1940 to undertake missionary work. Although she
devotes some attention to the social context in which the
Church's interest for the Far East was able to take root, the
thesis also sketches the lives of these missionaries, their
motivation, their education, and their activities in the Middle
Kingdom. By basing herself on a variety of Western language
sources, ego-documents (letters, interviews), and audio-visual
materials, the author has attempted to illustrate the practical
aspects of missionary work. The research activities took place
at the Catholic Documentation and Research Centre (KADOC) of the
Catholic University of Louvain and were funded by the Fund for
Collective Fundamental Research.

By Stefan Landsberger

CONVERSION AND MARTYRDOM IN THE `BLOODY MISSION'
In the second half of the 19th century, the Belgian Friars Minor
were drawn into missionary work in China at the request of the
Italian Franciscan Friars Minor. The latter had been active in
China since the 17th century and continued to engage in
missionary work, despite persecution by the Chinese Imperial
government. As the Italians encountered problems in recruiting
missionaries in their own country, they turned to their Belgian
brethren. They, in turn, could fall back on the still extant
religious structures that had been created by the Italians.
The 19th century Roman Catholic missionary had a strong awareness
of sin. He did not see the profane, worldly reality as relevant:
life on earth was merely a `vale of tears,' a passage to eternal
life. For him, faith was the only solution to all the social
problems emanating from the eternal struggle between Good and
Evil, for which he considered this world an arena. Individual
conversion and the salvation of souls were the main aims of his
missionary work. Every baptized convert therefore counted as a
soul which had been saved. It was his divine duty to fight this
omnipresent evil, even if it meant that he had to sacrifice his
own life. Martyrdom was a sign of divine mercy, an entrance
ticket to heaven, and a concept on which the missionary ideal was
partly based.
The Franciscan mission in Southwestern Hubei, discussed by Dr.
Dujardin, was strongly imbued with this ideal. Ten missionaries,
including two bishops, met a violent death in China. Called the
`bloody mission,' the Franciscan missionaries were envied by
contemporaries. 

CULTURAL SUPERIORITY AND ENCULTERATION
After the First World War, the attitude of the Roman Catholic
Church towards Chinese culture, which had been  rather negative,
started to change slowly. Until then, indigenous practices such
as ancestor worship, a vital part of Confucianism, had been
stigmatized as heathen customs by Rome and expressly forbidden.
The Belgian missionaries, who considered Western Christian
culture to be superior and the model that every civilization
should emulate, were not really interested in what they would
find in China. They had a rather negative impression of Chinese
culture, and indigenous and local customs and practices were
frowned upon.
Nonetheless, in those areas that did not touch religion, the
Belgian missionaries adapted themselves to their surroundings
remarkably well. Following the example set by their predecessors,
most specifically the Jesuits, for example, they took to wearing
traditional Chinese clothing. They also adopted Chinese eating
habits, although this may be explained by the fact that the local
kitchen personnel employed by the missionaries had no knowledge
of Western cuisine. When constructing houses of worship or
mission buildings, however, they spurned the local Chinese style
of architecture and remained faithful to the neo-gothic or
neo-classical styles that were prevalent in their mother country
at the time.

DEVELOPMENT OF TRAINING
The training which the first missionaries received before they
started their work of spreading the Roman Catholic faith can
hardly be called adequate. They had to learn `in the field,' by
trial and error. Usually, they were apprenticed to an elderly
colleague, under whom they functioned as assistant priest. After
an apprenticeship of one year or even less, they were given the
responsibility of running a mission station themselves.
In the 1920s and 1930s, a new model for missionary work was
developed, which stressed, amongst other elements, the importance
of instruction adapted to local circumstances. This was to have
a profound influence on missionary theory and on the missionary
policy as formulated by Rome. In 1930, the Friars Minor added an
extra year to the existing curriculum of missionary studies in
Rome; for the first time, missionary trainees now were able to
become acquainted with Chinese language, culture, and history
before taking up their duties. In 1938, the order established a
Chinese language school in Peking, which was also attended by
missionaries from other orders. 
The improvement in the training of missionaries had a positive
effect on their activities on the mission stations. The education
of and health care provided for Chinese converts were
professionalized. Moreover, new, modernized forms of missionary
work were introduced, for example those that were aimed at the
organization of an independent, indigenous Church. As a result,
the Friars Minor entrusted part of their vicariates to the
locally trained clergy in 1938. It must be admitted, these
reforms were controversial and many elderly missionaries resisted
their introduction.

THE EFFECTS OF MISSIONARY WORK
It is hard to estimate what the results of Roman Catholic
missionary work in China in general, and of the Franciscan
missionaries in particular, have been. On the whole, Dr.
Dujardin, who has used an ethnographic focus to draw up a profile
of the archetypical Chinese Roman Catholic convert, states that
the success of the missionaries has been negligible. Upon their
arrival in China in 1870, Southwest Hubei had some 3,000 Chinese
Roman Catholics. In the 1930s, their numbers had increased to
some 34,000. Although this can be seen as a significant growth,
these Chinese Roman Catholics formed less than 0.3 per cent of
the population.

source: Kadoc Nieuwsbrief