CHAPTER VII.

Foreign Missions.—The Beginnings of Propaganda.

An important part in the ecclesiastical activities of Clement VIII was taken by his propagation of the missions in the countries outside Europe. During his pontificate important progress was made in this respect, even in Japan, where a persecution of the Christians had begun in 1587. In March, 1591, the intrepid Jesuit Alessandro Valignani penetrated into the presence of Taikosama, as envoy of the viceroy of the Indies, and obtained permission for the Christian missionaries to remain there; only public religious functions were prohibited. The number of conversions to Christianity continued to increase. Many Christians were to be found in the army with which Taikosama attacked Corea ; two religious of the Society of Jesus acted as military chaplains, who spread the first seeds of Christianity in Corea.

In 1585 Gregory XIII had forbidden all missionaries, except the Jesuits, to set foot in China and Japan, but as Sixtus V, himself a Franciscan, had granted to that Order the mission “to all parts of the Indies,” some Franciscans also went to Japan. Others soon followed them. Into the disputes which then broke out between the two Orders, there also entered the question of nationality, as the Franciscans were Spaniards, and the Jesuits Portuguese.

Taikosama allowed both the Franciscans and the Jesuits to do as they liked. In 1596 he very courteously received the Jesuit Pedro Martinez, who had been appointed bishop, and who presented letters from the governor of the Indies. But in that same year a change took place which put the Christians of Japan, who had now reached the number of 300,000, in a very difficult position. The cause of this change is said to have been the conduct of the pilot of a stranded Spanish ship, who, in order to save his cargo from confiscation, allowed himself to be led into making the most rash statements about the power of his king. Among other things he said that Philip II was sending his priests among the foreign nations, so as first to convert the people and thus facilitate their conquest! These words were reported to Taikosama.1 They were enough for that monarch, who in the spread of a strange religion was every day seeing more and more danger to the national unity which he aimed at, to lead him to take bloody measures. Six Franciscans, the Jesuit Paul Miki, a pupil of the seminary at Ankusiama, two Japanese catechists, and fifteen other Japanese Christians, among them three children, were arrested and condemned to be crucified. On February 5th, 1597, this sentence was carried out at Nagasaki.

In the persecution which then broke out, the Jesuits acted with great prudence; being exiled they only apparently went away. When Taikosama died in September 1598, and his successor Daifusama, whose succession was opposed, showed himself favourable to the missions, better days began for the Christians. The Franciscans as well as the Jesuits were able to resume their work, and the number of Christians increased considerably, even though the persecution still continued in certain provinces. In 1599 40,000 received baptism, and 50,000 in the following year. At the beginning of the seventeenth century it was estimated that there were 750,000 Christians. At Nagasaki in 1605 it was possible to hold the procession of Corpus Domini publicly. The Jesuits, whose college was effectively subsidized by Clement VIII, developed great literary activity: they printed religious books, a Japanese-Portuguese dictionary, and a Japanese grammar with Portuguese explanations. But they neglected to avail themselves of the co-operation of the native secular clergy, and it proved fatal to try and follow European methods in teaching. The number of the Jesuit missionaries was by no means sufficient for their requirements, and therefore Clement VIII, suspending the privilege granted by Gregory XIII, to the Society of Jesus, on December 12th, 1600, granted faculties to all the Mendicant Orders to work as missionaries, both in Japan and China.

The entry of the Christian missions into the Chinese Empire is closely connected with the labours of the talented Jesuit Matteo Ricci, who together with his faithful companion Michele Ruggieri, had reached Tschaoking, in the province of Kwangtung, in the autumn of 1583, and was there held in high esteem, without, however, being able to make more than a few conversions. At the suggestion of the far-seeing Valignani, in 1593 Ricci began to study the Chinese language. At first this was not easy for a man who was already forty, but, as he says in a touching letter, he willingly once more became a schoolboy for the love of Him who became man for the love of us. In an incredibly short time, Ricci, by his determined assiduity, obtained such a mastery of Chinese that in 1595 he was able to publish in that exceedingly difficult and subtle language his book “The true doctrine of God,” which later on was included in the collection of classics undertaken by Khian-lung. After this Ricci continued to labour indefatigably in the field of literature. His works were not confined to religious subjects alone, but extended to all manner of subjects: arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, geography, music and philosophy. Even though it was only an exaggeration when a Chinese viceroy said that Ricci knew all Chinese books, it is beyond question that he was the first profound sinologist. The Chinese called him the “great man of Europe.” But he remained as humble as a child. Witness to this is borne by his own commentaries, in which he has described so attractively the nascent Christianization of China. An additional testimony is to be found in his letters, in which he continually repeats that the easiest way to convert his beloved Chinese was by books.

Ricci was not only an academic scientist, but an eminently practical man. His keen insight did not fail to grasp that the work of the missions would always be in jeopardy owing to the caprice of the officials, unless the Imperial court at Pekin could be won over. The first attempt to penetrate there, made in 1595, came to nothing, as also did the second, in 1598. In spite of this certain important consequences ensued. Ricci succeeded, at Nantschang and Nanking, in entering into important relations with Chinese scientists, and other persons of authority, which rendered possible the establishment of mission stations in those two cities. If greater results than before were now obtained, this was above all the result of the fact that Ricci, in accordance with the prudent advice of his companion Lazzaro Cattaneo, adopted the costume of the Chinese scholars, thus putting an end to his being continually confused with the despised bonzes. The silken attire which the missionaries now adopted in place of their poor habit had also to be accompanied by a more distinguished appearance. Valignani, who was very far-seeing, gave his consent to all this, and also obtained that of the General of the Jesuits and of the Pope.

It was characteristic of this new method of procedure that Ricci, in the house which he built at Nantschang avoided in every way the appearance of a building devoted to divine worship. “ The house in which we preach ” was the simple inscription which he chose for it. He expressly insisted upon his character of scholar, and it was in accordance with this that he resumed his earlier catechism. Though he was indefatigably devoted to the work of explaining to the Chinese scholars and grandees, hitherto unthought of ideas of mathematics and astronomy, Ricci was very cautious in dealing with religious questions. While keeping silence therefore as to the mysteries of Christianity he sought first to convince his hearers of the fundamental truths of the creation of heaven and earth by God, of the immortality of the soul, of the punishment of the wicked and the reward of the good. He openly combated the doctrines of the Buddhists, but the more cultured philosophy of Confucius were treated by him with all due respect.

In the midst of these labours, which produced surprising results, Ricci did not lose sight of his project of reaching the presence of the Emperor at Pekin. In May 1599 he undertook for the third time his journey to that distant capital, accompanied by the Spanish Jesuit, Diego Pantoja, and two brothers of Chinese origin. In spite of the manifold dangers and obstacles of every kind, which would have discouraged anyone else, he at last, in 1601, thanks to his indomitable energy, reached his goal. Ricci excited the interest of the Emperor Wanglie, who was enthusiastic over the gifts which he had brought, striking clocks, a universal geographical map, engravings on copper, and two paintings representing the Redeemer and the Madonna. Although the learning of this stranger, which was superior to that of the mandarins, won the admiration of the Emperor, there nevertheless arose difficulties : the tribunal set up for the surveillance of foreigners demanded that he should be sent away. The Emperor would not consent to this, but for the time being left unanswered the written request which Ricci had made to be allowed to remain permanently. It was only after some time had passed that he caused the learned Jesuit, who had become indispensable to him, to be informed that His Majesty would be very unwilling for him to leave the capital, where he had thought of taking up his abode. Thus Ricci saw himself rewarded in a marvellous way for his perseverance and his unshaken confidence in God.

At last the great plan for the conversion of China, which, as Francis Xavier had already realized, would be of decisive importance for the future of eastern Asia, in view of the supreme influence which that land of ancient culture exercised over Japan and the other neighbouring countries, could be begun with the hope of permanent success. Nobody seemed to be so well suited for this work as Ricci, since the fundamental traits of his character were, as his biographer tells us, courageous and unwearied zeal that was at the same time wise and patient; caution and slowness, followed by action that was equally energetic ; fear of being too daring.

Valignani did all he could to support Ricci. In 1604 he sent him three more fellow-workers, and in 1605 as many more. He also made him entirely independent of the rector of the college at Macao. His successes gradually increased sensibly ; eminent scholars and officials were converted to Christianity with full conviction. At Nanking Father Rocca won over the great statesman and scholar Paul Siu, who became the principal support of the infant Church. In 1605 the first Chinese presented themselves for admission to the Society of Jesus. Their chapel at Pekin was found to be too small, and after a short time there was erected in the Chinese capital a public church, in which the sacred mysteries were celebrated as in Rome and other parts of the Christian world. To this worship of the “Lord of Heaven” there came an ever­increasing number of converts and catechumens, and also of pagans, whose hearts had been touched by divine grace.

The work of the missions in the Philippine Islands developed1 in a very consoling way owing to the labours of the Franciscans, Dominicans and Jesuits, all of whom were able to adapt their unwearied labours to the needs of the native population with wisdom and prudence. Clement VIII especially supported the Jesuits and the Dominicans. On August 14th, 1595, there took place the division of the diocese of Manila, established by Gregory XIII, and which had so far included the whole mission, into four bishoprics, while it was at the same time made into an archbishopric. It retained the central part of the island of Luzon while the northern part was assigned to the new diocese of Neuva Segovia, the southern part to the diocese of Nueva Caceres, and the remaining islands of the archipelago to the diocese of Cebu. This new arrangement proved very advantageous ; it consolidated Christianity in the districts already converted, and gave a vigorous unity to missionary activity in those that were still pagan. The missions prospered so well under the Dominican Michele Benavides, who was appointed Bishop of Nueva Segovia in 1595, that of the three pagan provinces in his diocese in the course of a few years two were almost entirely converted and the third to a great extent. When Domenico de Salazar died in 1602, Benavides succeeded him in the archiepiscopal see of Manila. In this important position the good metro­politan[514] continued to promote the work of the missions with indefatigable zeal. At his death, which occurred on June 25th, 1607, he was lamented as a father by Spaniards and converts alike, and venerated as a saint.

Under Clement VIII, there revived the hope of the conversion of Akbar, the Great Mogul of the Indies. In May 1595 there appeared at Lahore, Fathers Girolamo Xavier, a relative of the Apostle of Japan, and Emanuel Pinhero, where they were courteously received by the Great Mogul. Akbar gave them permission to establish missions at Lahore, Cambaia and Agra, which flourished exceedingly, in spite of the hostility of the Mahometans. At Lahore at Christmas 1599 many catechumens, with palms in their hands, went through the flower-decked streets of the city to the church of the Jesuits to receive baptism. There were among the converts men of exalted station. In 1600 Akbar confirmed in writing his permission for the free preaching of the Gospel, which he had at first only granted orally, and then subsidized the building of the Jesuit church which was erected at Agra in 1602; he also caused a copy to be made of the picture of the Madonna in S. Maria del Popolo which was there, and placed it in his palace. He read with the greatest interest the life of Jesus Christ, which had been translated into Persian by Father Xavier, but could not bring himself to the point of conversion; like a real sceptic he remained until his death in 1605 in a state of hesitation.

The efforts to unite the Nestorian Church (Christians of St. Thomas) to the Catholic Church, which were promoted by the Archbishop of Goa, Alessio de Menezes, with the assistance of the Jesuits, met with a happy result. This prince of the Church, who was compared to Charles Borromeo, won undying fame by his services to the Church in the Indies.1 He at once held a visitation of the whole of the territory subject to him, so that Clement VIII. sent him well-merited praise. In 1599 Alessio held a synod at Diamper, in the kingdom of Cochim, at which the reunion of the Nestorians was effected. At the same time as he confirmed the synodal decrees, Clement VIII. sent by the Jesuit Alberto Laerzio a Syriac printing press, by means of which the Roman Ritual, and some missals and breviaries were printed. The Pope appointed the Jesuit Francisco Roz Bishop of Angamala, which became a suffragan diocese of Goa ; the bishop by his knowledge of the Syriac and Malabar languages had laboured for many years for the reunion of the Nestorians. Roz at once made a visitation of his diocese, and held a diocesan synod, at which the errors of Nestorius were once again condemned. In spite of this the danger of a relapse into schism was not altogether destroyed, and therefore Paul V. transferred the see to Cranganor and made it into an arch­diocese. Roz remained metropolitan, and was assisted by several Jesuits.

Clement VIII further showed his zeal and care for souls by making use, in the interests of the missions, of the rapproche­ment with the European powers which had been brought about, in the interests of the war against the Turks, by the Shah of Persia, Abbas I the Great. The Portuguese Jesuit, Francisco da Costa, informed the Pope in the autumn of 1600 that the Shah was very well disposed towards the Christians, that he wished for the presence of Catholic priests, and had sent envoys to Rome. After mature reflection Clement VIII resolved to profit by this favourable opportunity himself to send an embassy to Persia. For this purpose he entered into communication with the King of Spain, Philip III. When the latter had given his account, in February 1601, two Portuguese, the above-mentioned Francisco da Costa and Diego de Miranda, who had previously been to Persia, were sent, bearing pontifical letters to the Shah. The instructions they were given naturally referred to the common war against the Turks, but above all dealt with religious questions. Costa was instructed to explain to the Shah the truths of Catholic doctrine and to urge him to enter the Church, in which matter it was thought that it would be possible to count upon the assistance of the queen. If the Shah should be unwilling to be converted to the Christian faith, then the envoys must at least obtain from him permission to preach freely, and for the free exercise of the Christian religion, which even the Sultan of Turkey permitted in his kingdom.

While Costa and Miranda were on their way, there arrived in Rome, on April 5th, 1601, the two envoys of the Shah. They brought good news both with regard to the participation of their sovereign in the war against the Turks, and the permission for the Christian mission in Persia. Clement VIII. thanked the Shah on May 2nd, 1601, alluding to his own action and that of the Shah against the Turks, and announcing the sending of missionaries to Persia.

When in 1602 Philip III. sent three Augustinian friars to Persia to promote the war against the Turks, Clement VIII. devoted much attention to the missions there. The Augustinians sent by the King of Spain, in addition to arousing interest in the war against the Turks, also laboured for the propagation of Christianity. In the summer of 1604 the Pope sent six members of the Italian Congregation of reformed Carmelites, which had been founded a few years before, to assist them. Among these there were three of the most distinguished members of the Order: Paolo di Gesu Maria, Giovanni di S. Eliseo, and Vincenzo di S. Francesco. The letters to the Shah with which they were furnished indicated as the primary purpose of their missions congratulations on the victories won against the Turks; the request for permission to preach the Gospel was reserved for oral negotiation. Instead of the long and dangerous sea voyage, the Carmelites chose the land route across Russia. Clement VIII. followed their journey with the greatest interest,1 but their great successes in the Persian kingdom came after his death.

Much more difficult than the journey to Persia, in the then existing conditions, was that to Abyssinia (Ethiopia), as the Turks were masters of the Red Sea, and were fighting the Portuguese wherever they could. In order to provide for the Portuguese Christians and the natives scattered throughout Abyssinia, who were entrusted to the sole care of Francisco Lopez, the last companion of the Patriarch Oviedo, who died in 1577, in February 1589 two Spanish Jesuits were sent, the great linguist Antonio de Monserrato and Pedro Paez, who was burning with youthful enthusiasm. They disguised themselves as Armenian merchants, but were discovered, and taken first to Terim and then to Sana'a in Arabia, where they were kept for five and a half years, two of which they passed in prison, because it was supposed that they were spies. At the end of 1595 they were taken to Mocha, where they were made to serve in the galleys, until a subject of the Indies, representing the rector of the Jesuits at Goa, rescued them. Thus, seven years after their departure, in December 1595, they returned once more to Goa, the place from which they had set out. Both the fathers were ill; Monserrato, the elder, died as a result of the sufferings he had undergone, but Paez recovered. His wonderful spirit of self-sacrifice had not grown less, and he impatiently awaited another oppor­tunity of bringing religious help to his beloved Ethiopians.

During the imprisonment of the two fathers, in the summer of 1594, an Abyssinian priest, Tekla Maryam, who had joined the Catholic Church, had brought more detailed information concerning Abyssinia to Rome. In the following year the Maronite, Abram de Guerguis, who had joined the Society of Jesus in Rome, was charged to go to the assistance of Lopez; he was disguised as a Mahometan, but his companion, a merchant from the Indies, betrayed him, and as he refused to adjure his faith, he was put to death. More fortunate was the Jesuit Melchior da Sylva, an ex-Brahmin priest, who in 1598 reached Maassaua, and thence Fremona, the house of the Jesuits on the north Tigre, near Adua. Lopez had died in the previous year after an apostolate of forty years, and Sylva now took his place.

After a Jesuit college had been established at Diu at the beginning of the XVIIth century, at length in 1603 the hour so longed for by Paez had come. Through great perils and privations he penetrated by way of Maassaua to the interior of the country; at Fremona he encouraged the Catholics in their faith, and finally reached the court of the Emperor Za-Denghel, whose confidence he was all the more easily able to win, as the Portuguese had recently rendered valuable services to that monarch against his enemies. At a private audience Paez learned from the Emperor’s own lips of his intention of accepting the Roman faith, and of entering into a treaty of alliance with the King of Spain. Therefore on June 26th, 1604, Za-Denghel wrote letters to Clement VIII and Philip III, asking for some Jesuits to be sent. In these letters, which were written in the Abyssinian language, nothing however was said for the moment of his willingness to accept the Catholic faith ; Paez had to add this in Portuguese. In spite of this, in Abyssinia, where four other Jesuits had arrived in the meantime, knowledge of the Emperor’s intention had got abroad. Accordingly a rebellion broke out and Za-Denghel was killed. But Paez had also acquired such great influence over the new Emperor Jacob that hopes could be entertained of his conversion.

Of great importance for the missions in west Africa was the establishment by Clement VIII in 1596 of a diocese for that kingdom (San Salvador) at the request of the King of the Congo, this diocese being detached from that of Sao Thome. The Franciscan Rangel was given charge of the new district. This distinguished man, who was consumed with zeal for souls, succumbed prematurely in 1602 to the fatigues to which he had been exposed.

In the case of Angola, which joined the Congo on the south, fair prospects were aroused when in 1599 the king joined himself to the tribal chiefs who had already been converted. The same thing was true of Guinea where the Jesuits effected many conversions, even among the notabilities.

In Mexico, in addition to the Franciscans and Augustinians, the Dominicans and Jesuits were especially active. Both these Orders directed their efforts above all to the Indians. Towards the end of the century the Dominicans had more than sixty houses there. In 1594 the Jesuits penetrated into the north of Mexico, and in 1596 established a mission at Tepuhuanca, and later on another at Topia. Of great assistance to the work of the missions was the support which Clement VIII gave to the university established in the capital. At Puebla de los Angeles he granted to the Dominican school the rights of a university. Towards the end of the century some intrepid Franciscans began the missions in Lower California, New Mexico and Florida, but did not meet with any success, except in New Mexico.

In the great kingdom of Peru, besides the Dominicans, Franciscans and Jesuits, the Augustinians were labouring with fervent zeal. In concert with such excellent bishops as Turibio of Lima, and Francisco de Vittoria of Cordoba (Tucuman), they sensibly raised the tone of ecclesiastical life, supported as far as possible by Clement VIII, who had expressed himself in favour of the liberty of the Indians of Peru. The Peruvian province of the Jesuits, the members of which increased under Clement VIII. from 240 to 340, was repeatedly favoured by the Pope. On account of its immense extent it was then divided into three parts : the central part under the equator remained the true province, to which were added two sub-provinces, one in the north and one in the south. The fact that the Jesuits educated the blind and the deaf and dumb in the city of Cuzco, shows how thorough they were in their mission work. At Quito, where a rebellion against Spain had broken out, the fathers restored peace. Besides this they were indefatigable in preserving the Spanish colonists from complete demoralization.

In 1593 the Jesuits, under the leadership of Father Luis di Valdivia, also reached Chili, where they founded an establishment which soon became very flourishing. They displayed a most beneficial activity among the savage people of the Araucani, who were devoted to hunting and pastoral life, among whom the Franciscans had already laboured from 1541 onwards. The Jesuit Gabriel de Vega, in the midst of his many occupations, found time to compose a grammar and dictionary in the Araucani tongue; in 1602 Luis di Valdivia published a catechism in the dialect of the Alentinos. He and his companion of the same Order, Diego de Torres, who was justly highly praised by Clement VIII, won undying merit by their efforts for the preservation and more humane treatment of the red races; they saved the Araucani from complete extermination.

The Dominicans and Franciscans vied with the Jesuits in the kingdom of the Incas. Among the Franciscans there stood out Francisco Solano, whose figure was soon made the centre of many legends. A man of prayer and mortification, burning with the love of God and his neighbour, this son of St. Francis exercised an extraordinary influence over those round him. Very soon after his death, which took place at Lima on July 14th, 1610, the people venerated him as a saint, and many cities chose him as their patron.

Francisco Solano laboured as an apostle, not only in Peru among the degenerate Spanish colonists, but also among the Indians in the province of Tucuman. During many years (1589-1602) he unweariedly travelled about that plateau, as well as the immense plain of the Gran Chaco. His companion Luis Bolanos was the author of the earliest catechism in the dialect of the Guarani, and the founder of the mission in Paraguay, properly so called. The Jesuits went to Tucuman at the invitation of the Dominican bishop, Francisco de Vittoria. Another Dominican bishop, Alfonso Guerra di Assuncion, had summoned them to Paraguay proper. From their house, established in 1588 in the above-mentioned city, they undertook “mobile missions” among the savage tribes of the immense surrounding territory. As these mobile missions did not prove effective, in 1602 the General of the Order Aquaviva and the visitor Paez ordered the establish­ment of fixed missions, avoiding as far as possible men of alien blood, a step which was approved by the Spanish government.

The Jesuits too in the province of Brazil, where the cel­brated Father Anchieta laboured until 1597, took part in the missions in Paraguay. A law made by the King of Spain, in the year in which Anchieta died, prohibited slavery in Brazil. Thus a great hindrance to the progress of Christianity was removed, and the messengers of the faith now penetrated into the depths of the virgin forests with renewed zeal.

Clement VIII followed with the closest attention the progress of the missions in America, and furthered them by many proofs of his favour. If he heard of the discovery of new peoples, he hastened to exhort the bishop concerned to spread Christian doctrine among them ; if he learned of abuses, he at once intervened.1 His care also extended to civil matters ; thus he urged Philip III not to oppress the natives by taxes.

From a description of Spanish America, published in Madrid in 1601, we learn that at the beginning of the XVIIth century the success of the missions presented externally an impressive appearance; there were five archdioceses, twenty-seven dioceses, two universities, more than four hundred convents of Dominicans, Franciscans, Augustinians, Mercedari and Jesuits, innumerable confraternities and hospitals, parishes and mission stations for the million pagans who had been converted to Christianity. In Mexico and other places the building of magnificent cathedrals had been begun. Naturally there were also abuses and dark places which reacted upon these external signs of progress, a thing which continues down to our own times.

While in the colonies of Spain and Portugal the Church could rejoice in the fullest support and protection of the civil authorities, in all the countries subject to the Turks it had to suffer severely from the Mohamedans and schismatics. In spite of all the efforts of the Latin missionaries of the various Orders there was a perceptible diminution of the Christian population. Clement VIII. did all in his power to remedy this. One of his first cares was to resume the question of the reunion of the Copts which had been begun by Sixtus V but which had been interrupted during the brief pontificates of Urban VII, Gregory XIV and Innocent IX. In March 1592 Clement VIII. sent an envoy to the Patriarch Gabriel of Alexandria1 in the person of Girolamo Vechietti. As a result of this the Patriarch sent representatives to Rome, with a letter of November 22nd, 1593, addressed to the Pope, in which he recognized the primacy. The same was done by the archpriest John of Alexandria, who in a letter dated December 18th, 1593, said that the pitiful state of the Egyptian Church and its harassing by the Turks, was in his opinion a punishment for its schism.

The Coptic envoys reached Rome in June 1594. After the difficulties connected with the differences of rite had been adjusted with the help of the Jesuits, on January 15th, 1595, in the presence of Clement VIII and twenty-four Cardinals they made the Catholic act of faith, and paid homage to the Pope, in the name of those who had sent them. The completion of the reunion was, however, delayed by unfortunate circumstances, and it was only on October 7th, 1602, that Clement VIII could express to the Patriarch of Alexandria his joy at his return to Catholic unity. At the same time he informed him that he had established a Coptic college in Rome, and asked that suitable students should be sent thither; for his part he offered to further the printing of ecclesiastical books in the Coptic language. The archdeacon of the Alexandrian Church, Barsum, was to take this letter with him. In the meantime, unfortunately, the Patriarch Gabriel died, and his successor Mark, to whom Clement VIII. addressed himself in 1604, held different views from those of his predecessor.

Clement VIII showed great affection for the Maronites, whose college in Rome he did his best to help. In June 1596 he sent the Jesuit Girolamo Dandini to Lebanon, where he found certain evils and abuses. In September he held a national council at the monastery of Kanobin, at which the Maronites protested at dogmatic errors being attributed to them. At this assembly certain canons were laid down concerning external worship and the administration of the sacraments; in future they were all to make use of the reformed missal published in Rome by pontifical authority. In 1599 Clement VIII granted to the new Patriarch of the Maronites the confirmation he asked for, and sent him the pallium.

In the Balkan peninsula Clement VIII sought to bring about the reunion of the Serbs with Rome, by means of the Franciscans who were labouring there in a self-sacrificing spirit, but national jealousies prevented the success of his efforts.1 In the principality of Moldavia, which had been reduced to a state of vassalage by the Turks, the efforts of the voivode Peter the Lame, which had been begun under Gregory XIII and Sixtus V to reunite his subjects to the Catholic Church proved vain, since that prince, fearing that the Sultan would forcibly make his son John Stefan embrace Mohamedanism, had taken to flight. Clement VIII repeatedly implored the help of foreign princes for the Christians of Moldavia, Wallachia and the Epirus, who were gravely threatened by the Turks. At the very beginning of his pontificate he had assigned an annual subsidy to the bishop of the Latin Catholics in Moldavia, which was to be paid by the Apostolic Camera.

With a like generosity the Pope made provision for the Latin bishops in the islands of Chios, Andros and Naxos, who found in their poverty an obstacle to their fulfilling their duty of residence. To give spiritual assistance to the Christian inhabitants of the archipelago was all the more near to the heart of Clement VIII, in that the Greeks living there had not as yet formally detached themselves from the Roman Church. For this purpose he made use by preference of the Jesuits. Bishops such as the bishop of Crete, which island still belonged at that time to the Venetians, put difficulties in the way of the fathers, on which account they received severe admonitions. In 1592 Clement VIII sent to Chios the Jesuits Benedetto Muleto and Vincenzo Castanola. When three years later the latter sent to Rome a report of the sad conditions in Chios, it was decided to establish a house for the Jesuits there, for which the Pope gave the necessary funds. Their work in Chios was so beneficial that the inhabitants of the island sent a letter of thanks to Rome. The inhabitants of Naxos also asked that a Jesuit might be sent to them, and Clement VIII entrusted that mission to the learned Vincenzo Cicada, who was a relative of the owner of the island, the Count of Cicada.

In a yet more comprehensive way Clement VIII occupied himself with the condition of the Greeks, a hundred thousand in all, who lived in different parts of Italy, especially in Calabria and the island of Sicily. These consisted in part of old inhabitants, and in part of exiles, who had left their own country on account of the Turkish rule. To these were added a number of Albanians, who had sought a refuge in Italy after the death of their national hero Skanderbeg, but who had nothing in common with the Greeks but their liturgical rite.

In common with all the Italian bishops, those of southern Italy, encouraged by the Holy See, had again commenced to hold regular visitations of their dioceses during the period of Catholic reform. In doing this they had come to know more fully the religious conditions of the Greeks, which frequently called for improvement. Like the magistrates and some of the barons, not a few of the bishops were guilty of grave mistakes in dealing with the Greeks and Albanians ; often almost force was used to compel them to adopt the Roman rite. Faced with this fact, the Holy See held firmly to its ancient principle of energetically protecting the discipline and liturgy of the Greek Catholics, so long as these were not opposed to dogma. Just as Leo X and Clement VII had strongly admonished those Latins who attacked the Greeks on account of their different discipline, so had Paul III forbidden under grave penalties the Bishops of Cassano, Bisignano, Rossano and Anglona-Tursi to disturb the Albanians in the exercise of their liturgy. But as many abuses which affected doctrine had become introduced, especially among the Greeks of Sicily, on February 16th, 1564, Pius IV had expressly recalled the duty of vigilance over their doctrines and worship which was incumbent on the Latin bishops. But both he and Pius V. had insisted on the inviolability of the Byzantine rite. In the Greek college as in all the oriental colleges which he established, he had the students strictly educated in their own rite.

Clement VIII too was guided by the principle that the Byzantine liturgy had its full rights, within the limits assigned by dogma. On August 31st, 1595, he issued a special instruction which dealt exhaustively with the controversy which had arisen concerning the rites and usages of the Greeks. The publication of this document had been preceded by a detailed inquiry by a Congregation expressly intended for the reform of the Greeks. Of decisive importance in this matter were the views of Cardinal Santori, who was very expert in these questions, and had collected detailed information. The instruction aimed above all things at the removal of undoubted abuses, especially in the administration of the sacraments. With regard to sacerdotal ordination, it laid down that the Greeks could only receive this from a bishop of their own rite. It was expressly ordered that one of their bishops should reside in Rome. Clement VIII at the same time renewed the edicts of Innocent IV in 1254, and of Pius IV in 1564, as well as the prohibition issued by Pius V in 1566, of any fusion of the Roman and Byzantine rites. The indefatigable Cardinal Santori remained the advocate of the Greeks in Rome.

Several memorials presented to the Pope show how great was the interest taken at that time in the world-wide mission of the Church. One of these documents treats with great learning and knowledge of the political and religious conditions of the East, and of the principles which must be firmly adhered to in the negotiations of the Holy See with the oriental princes in the interests of a reunion of the Patriarchs of Alexandria and Constantinople. A second memorial makes proposals for missions to be undertaken in Denmark and Norway. A third, whose author through modesty does not make himself known, urges, probably in connexion with a petition from the Bishop of Tournai, Jean Vendeville, presented to Sixtus V in 1589, the establishment of a special Congregation, which may be called the forerunner of “Propaganda fide,” since its suggests to the Pope the erection of a similar institution as the best means of propagating the Catholic faith. The author is of opinion that it would be necessary to employ four or five secretaries, distinguished for their knowledge of languages, their learning and their piety, who should lay proposals before the Congregation and supervise their carrying out. The first of these secretaries, who were also to draw up a list of all persons of importance for the work of the missions, was to be concerned with the spiritual needs of England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Germany, Denmark and Sweden; the second with the Poles, Lithuanians, Russians, Ruthenians, Hungarians and Transylvanians; the third was to be assigned Dalmatia, Bosnia, and in a special way the whole of the Balkan peninsula; the fourth Cyprus, Asia Minor, Syria, Jerusalem, Alexandria and Algeria; the fifth all the missions in the Spanish-Portuguese colonies in America and Asia.

The memorial also treats in detail of the training to be given to the missionaries in Rome. This work was to be divided between the Franciscans, Dominicans and Jesuits. The author attaches great importance to the spread of Catholic books translated into the languages of the various peoples. He suggests that there should be interested in this work, besides the Generals of the above-mentioned Orders, the Latin Bishops of Cattaro, Ragusa, Crete and Corfu, the nobles who had remained loyal to the Church in Andros and Chios the many merchants who traded with the east, and their consuls at Pera, Alexandria and Aleppo. At the end the author remarks that if the city of Geneva alone had been able  in a short space of time, by means of books and writings, to win over so great a number of souls to Calvinism, how much more reason there was to hope for the winning, by the help of God, of so many immortal souls, for which Christ had shed His blood; it was only essential for attention to be drawn to this argument, while the necessary power was not wanting in Rome.

This memorial contains the germ of the great idea of Propaganda, and it is the undeniable merit of Clement VIII. that he sought to realize it. The Pope had already in 1594 established a similar Congregation for the missions in Abyssinia, and in 1595 for the Italo-Greeks. In continuance of the efforts of Pius V, in 1599 he established a Congregation composed of nine Cardinals, which was to concern itself principally with the propagation of the faith. The president was Cardinal Santori, together with Baronius and Bellarmine, who also formed part of the new Congregation, but he was undoubtedly the most important and zealous Cardinal of his time. Besides this indefatigable supporter and proved expert in the work of the missions, there were also added Medici, Borromeo, Visconti, Antoniano, and Pietro and Cinzio Aldobrandini. The constitution of the Congregation took place on August nth, 1599, in the presence of the Pope; on August 16th the members held their first meeting at the palace of the president, Santori. Unfortunately only the notes of the first ten meetings have been preserved; the last took place on August 14th, 1600. The acta were written by a secretary, and in the margin Cardinal Santori wrote with his own hand the Pope’s replies to the decisions of the Congregation. The procedure was the same as that followed by the German Congregation of Gregory XIII, and later on by Propaganda.

At its first three sessions the Congregation was called “Congregatio super negotiis sanctae fidei et religionis catholicae” and later on “ De propagatione fidei ” or “De propaganda fide.” In this latter title its scope was concisely expressed. In accordance with a decision arrived at at the first congregation, the meetings were to be held twice a month. The questions proposed were discussed and decided. After each meeting Cardinal Santori went to the Pope to tell him of the decisions come to. The Pope’s replies were communicated to the Congregation at the next meeting, and carried out in accordance with his wishes.

The matters discussed by the Congregation were very varied and related to every country ; the faculties of the Archbishop of Goa, the Philippines, New Mexico, Scandinavia, Africa, the Greeks in south Italy, the Nestorian Christians in the Indies, Transylvania, Moldavia and Wallachia, and Persia. Above all a fresh impulse had to be given to the missions in the East, in which Sixtus V. had placed little hopes. The colleges founded by Gregory XIII. were also placed under the Congregation, which was in all ways similar to Propaganda. There was no possibility of the Congregation being dissolved, in view of the zeal of Clement VIII for the missions; the death of Santori, which occurred in 1602, brought about an interruption, but this was of short duration, as Clement VIII ordered the Congregation to resume its labours in 1604. Thus the Aldobrandini Pope must be given the credit for having for the first time created in Rome a central control for the missions, the ends and objects of which corresponded with those of Propaganda, founded by his second successor.

CHAPTER VIII.

The Great Jubilee of 1600.