NOTES

Introduction

1.  King, “Couplet’s Biography,” 43. On Couplet’s trip to Europe, see Foss, “The European Sojourn.”

2.  After the French version, which I will mainly use, enhanced translations into Spanish, Flemish, and Italian of The Story of a Christian Lady of China appeared, making it a comparably well-known book. For an overview of the events of the rites controversy, see HCC, 680–88. On “Confucius, the Chinese philosopher,” see Meynard, Confucius Sinarum Philosophus.

3.  Indeed, The Story of a Christian Lady of China corresponds to the highly popular literary genre of women’s religious life-narratives written by their confessors (see Amsler, “Fromm, aber unfrei?”).

4.  On the proto-ethnographic style in the Jesuits’ writings, see Mungello, Curious Land, 13–14, and Rubiés, “Travel Writing.”

5.  It was translated into Chinese by a Chinese nineteenth-century scholar, the Jesuit Xu Caibai (see Xu, Xu taifuren zhuanlüe), and served as a primary source on women for several studies of seventeenth-century Catholicism. See the bibliography in HCC, 393–98.

6.  Couplet, Histoire, 7. All English translations are mine if not indicated otherwise.

7.  See Couplet, Histoire, 107, passim.

8.  See Sangren, “Female Gender,” 21. On the worship of household deities, see McLaren, “Women’s Work,” 177. On life-cycle and seasonal rituals, see Mann, Precious Records, 55–75, 175–79. On domestic ancestor worship, see Freedman, “Ritual Aspects,” 283.

9.  The practices that were part of Chinese Catholic women’s domestic religion were characterized by a striking diversity that is probably best understood with the help of recent research on the nature of Chinese religion. This has highlighted the socially fragmented, dynamic, and practice-orientated nature of Chinese religiosity. Adam Yuet Chau distinguishes five overlapping modalities of doing religion in China and proposes that we understand the Chinese religious landscape as “competitions between different modalities … as well as competitions within each modality” rather than competitions between the textual religious traditions (Chau, “Modalities of Doing Religion,” 548). On the flexibility of Chinese devotees, see Thoraval, “The Western Misconception.”

10.  On urbanization and monetization, see Brook, The Confusions of Pleasure, 153–237. On printing culture, see Chow, Publishing, Culture, and Power.

11.  On late Ming culture of luxury and consumption, see Clunas, Superfluous Things. For a portrait of the living circumstances of the late Ming elite, see Spence, Return, 13–136.

12.  See Berling, The Syncretic Religion, and de Bary, “Individualism.”

13.  On the Manchu conquest, see Wakeman, The Great Enterprise. On the installation of the new elite, see Crossley, “The Conquest Elite.” On Ming loyalists’ retrospection on the late Ming era, see Huang, Negotiating Masculinities, chapter 4.

14.  See Ko, Teachers, 9, 12.

15.  See Sheieh, Concubines; Gates, “The Commoditization”; and, on wife-selling, Sommer, Polyandry.

16.  See T’ien, Male Anxiety, and Lu, True to Her Word. For an eighteenth-century perspective, see Theiss, Disgraceful Matters.

17.  See Goossaert, “Irrepressible Female Piety,” and Zhou, “The Hearth.”

18.  See Ko, Teachers; Widmer and Chang, Writing Women; and Idema and Grant, The Red Brush.

19.  See Wang, “Ming Foreign Relations.”

20.  See Wills, China and Maritime Europe.

21.  See Boxer, South China.

22.  On the history of the Society of Jesus during the first decades after its founding, see O’Malley, The First Jesuits. On Francis Xavier, see Schurhammer, Francis Xavier.

23.  For an overview on the place of the Society of Jesus within the post-Tridentine church and the Catholic world, see O’Malley, Bailey, Harris, and Kennedy, The Jesuits. On the Council of Trent and the Tridentine reform’s implementation, see Bamji, Janssen, and Laven, The Ashgate Research Companion to the Counter–Reformation.

24.  See Moran, The Japanese.

25.  On Ruggieri’s and Ricci’s years in Macao and Zhaoqing, see Hsia, A Jesuit, 51–96.

26.  On the Portuguese Padroado in the Chinese missions, see HCC, 286–87.

27.  The monopoly of the Jesuit mission under the Portuguese Padroado ended in the 1690s, when French Jesuits started their own mission in China (see Brockey, Journey, 182–83; Hsia, Sojourners, chapters 5–8). The Propaganda Fide was a curial congregation founded in 1622 to strengthen the Pope’s control over the overseas missions. On its difficulties to do so in the China mission, see Margiotti, “La Cina.”

28.  On the difficulties of government and information management over long distances, see Brendecke, Imperium und Empirie. On the duration of travel between Europe and China in the early modern era, see Golvers, “Distance.”

29.  On the Nanjing incident, see Kelly, The Anti-Christian Persecution, and Dudink, “Nangong shudu (1620).” On the Calendar Case, see Menegon, “Yang Guangxian’s Opposition,” and Chu, “Scientific Dispute.” For an overview and contextualization of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century anti-Christian movements, see HCC, 503–33.

30.  See HCC, 382–83. The numbers of Jesuits also increased over the course of the seventeenth century, albeit less significantly, from a handful in the 1610s to twenty or thirty later in the seventeenth century (see HCC, 307).

31.  For comments on this change, see Rule, “From Missionary Hagiography.” For an overview on the state of research, see HCC.

32.  On lay people and lay institutions, see Brockey, Journey, chapters 9–10, and Yan and Vanhaelemeersch, Silent Force. On Chinese peoples’ views on Catholicism, see Sachsenmaier, Die Aufnahme, and Standaert, Yang Tingyun. On Chinese Catholic literati’s identities, see Huang, Liangtoushe, and Xu, “Seeking Redemption and Sanctity.” For an exemplary study of a Jesuit’s embeddedness in Chinese social networks, see Hsia, A Jesuit. For studies of several of the Jesuits’ Chinese publications, see Li, Yishu; Meynard, Confucius Sinarum Philosophus; and Li and Meynard, Jesuit Chreia.

33.  See Standaert, The Interweaving of Rituals, esp. 220–21.

34.  For a comment on the lack of research on Chinese Catholic women, and a review of existing literature, see HCC, 393–98.

35.  See Menegon, Ancestors, chapter 8; Zhang, Guanfu, 271–91; Entenmann, “Christian Virgins”; and Li, God’s Little Daughters. See also the contributions to Lutz, Pioneer Chinese Christian Women, and Bays, Christianity in China, part 3.

36.  For a case study on women’s piety in post-Tridentine Catholicism, see Laqua-O’Donnell, Women and the Counter-Reformation. For overviews, see Fairchilds, Women in Early Modern Europe, chapters 4, 9–11, and Wiesner-Hanks, “Women and Religious Change.”

37.  On clerical masculinities, see Thibodeaux, The Manly Priest, and Le Gall, “La virilité des clercs.” On the Jesuits’ masculinity, see Strasser, “ ‘The First Form and Grace.’ ” On their relationship to women, see Mostaccio, Early Modern Jesuits, chapter 4; Molina, To Overcome Oneself, chapters 2 and 7; and Bilinkoff, Confessors and Their Female Penitents. See also the contributions to Laven, “The Jesuits and Gender,” which contains two articles on the early Jesuits’ close ties to elite women. Other important studies on this topic are Valone, “Piety and Patronage”; Hufton, “Altruism and Reciprocity”; and Kirkham, “Laura Battiferra.”

38.  For an insightful synthesis, see Brownell and Wasserstrom, Chinese Femininities. On elite women, see Ko, Teachers; Mann, Precious Records; and Bray, Technology and Gender. See also, on female authors, Widmer and Chang, Writing Women, and Idema and Grant, The Red Brush. On discourses and practices of female chastity in China, see Theiss, Disgraceful Matters, and T’ien, Male Anxiety. On the status of women from the perspective of legal history, see Sommer, Sex, Law, and Society.

39.  For overviews on late imperial women’s religiosity, see Grant, “Women, Gender, and Religion”; Huang, Valussi, and Palmer, “Gender and Sexuality”; and Jia, Kang, and Ping, Gendering Chinese Religion.

40.  On early modern European concepts of gender, see Wunder, He Is the Sun. On late imperial Chinese views, see Brownell and Wasserstrom, “Introduction: Theorizing Femininities and Masculinities,” esp. 34, and Rowe, “Women and the Family,” 2–7.

41.  On the “legitimizing function” of gender, see Scott, “Gender: A Useful Category,” 1070. For case studies on intercultural situations, see Montrose, “The Work of Gender,” and Vigarello, “Le viril et le sauvage.”

42.  On masculinity as an “inherently relational” concept, see Connell, Masculinities, 76–86.

43.  Although seventeenth-century Chinese gentry women had a high degree of literacy, no seventeenth-century sources on Catholicism written by women are known today. For an overview on sources about Chinese Catholicism, see HCC, 113–237.

44.  On the Jesuits’ journey to China, see Hsia, A Jesuit, chapter 2. On their curriculum in Europe as well as their subsequent studies of Chinese in the Middle Kingdom, see Brockey, Journey, chapter 6.

45.  See HCC, 309–10.

46.  For an exemplary study of the Society’s administrative and organizational work in Europe, see Friedrich, Der lange Arm.

47.  See Brockey, Journey, 73–77.

48.  For a list of the China mission’s vice-provincials, visitors, and procurators, see Dehergne, Répertoire, 314–23. For a study of André Palmeiro, visitor to China in the late 1620s, see Brockey, The Visitor.

49.  On the exchange of written documents of the Jesuits in China and Europe, see Golvers, Building Humanistic Libraries.

50.  See Friedrich, “Government and Information-Management,” and idem, “Circulating and Compiling.”

51.  Already in 1907, Bernhard Duhr pointed to the problematic nature of the annual letters circulating in the German provinces (Duhr, Geschichte der Jesuiten, vol. 1, 674–78). For a recent work that rejects the annual letters as sources on local realities, see Paschoud, Le monde amérindien, 11.

52.  More than 65 percent of all Catholics lived in Jiangnan toward the end of the seventeenth century (see HCC, 560). On the economic importance and cultural centrality of the Jiangnan region during the late imperial period, see Naquin and Rawski, Chinese Society, 147–57. For studies focusing on Jiangnan elite women, see Ko, Teachers, and Mann, Precious Records. On Jiangnan Catholicism, with one chapter dedicated to women (211–60), see Zhou, Shiqi, shiba shiji.

53.  There will be no separate discussion of the small community of converted Ming palace women that existed from circa 1630 to 1644, because this was a rather marginal phenomenon in seventeenth-century Chinese Catholicism (see HCC, 439). On the conversion of one empress of the Southern Ming dynasty, which received some attention in contemporary Europe, see Boym, “Briefve relation de la Chine,” and Struve, Voices, 235–38.

54.  On Jesuit missionaries’ preference for cities over rural areas, see HCC, 538–40. On rural circuits, usually conducted for several months every year, see Brockey, Journey, 94–98, passim.

55.  On Chinese women’s non-Christian domestic religious cultures, see Mann, Precious Records, chapter 7, and McLaren, “Women’s Work.”

56.  Information on these two groups of people is unequally distributed. While much biographical data is available on missionaries, many of the Chinese women whose activities are discussed remain nameless or are only known by their Christian names.

1. Clothes Make the Man

1.  The entry-level exam (yuanshi) did not yet qualify a candidate for office, but was merely a qualification for taking the provincial exam. See Miyazaki, China’s Examination Hell, 26–32. See also Elman, A Cultural History of Civil Examinations.

2.  Fonti Ricciane, vol. 1, 336.

3.  See Fonti Ricciane, vol. 1, 336.

4.  See Heijdra, “The Socio-Economic Development,” 552–54.

5.  On temple renovation, see Brook, Praying for Power, esp. parts 2 and 3. On irrigation projects, see Heijdra, “The Socio-Economic Development,” 564–67. On charitable institutions, see Smith, The Art of Doing Good.

6.  See Spence, Return, esp. 13–46.

7.  Since the indispensable missiological work of Johannes Bettray (Bettray, Die Akkommodationsmethode, esp. 1–10), the Jesuits’ change of dress has been interpreted by historians as the starting point of Jesuit accommodation. See Hsia, “From Buddhist Garb,” and Peterson, “What to Wear?”

8.  Fonti Ricciane, vol. 1, 338.

9.  Sociologists have pointed out that this view of attire is true not only for the early modern period but also for more recent times. See Barthes, “Histoire et sociologie du vêtement,” 440, and Simmel, “Die Mode.”

10.  See Dinges, “Von der ‘Lesbarkeit der Welt.’ ”

11.  On European regulation of clothing, see Iseli, Gute Policey, 39–43. On China, see Yuan, Dressing the State, 50–51.

12.  Yuan, Dressing the State, 51.

13.  See Rowe, “Women and the Family.”

14.  See Dinges, “Von der ‘Lesbarkeit der Welt,’ ” 94–98.

15.  See Rublack, Dressing Up, 7, 15.

16.  See Brook, The Confusions of Pleasure, and Clunas, Superfluous Things.

17.  See Pantoja, “[Letter to] Ludovicus Guzmanus,” 72. On the regulations of the Collected Statutes of the Ming Dynasty, see Dauncey, “Illusions of Grandeur,” 47.

18.  Ye Mengzhu, Yueshi bian (Notes on crossing an era), 1700, cited in Yuan, Dressing the State, 167. The blurring of social boundaries coincided with a significant rise of the number of holders of bachelor’s degrees during the Ming, from around thirty thousand in the fourteenth century to about five hundred thousand in the sixteenth century. See Heijdra, “The Socio-Economic Development,” 561.

19.  See Li, Fen shu, 35.

20.  On standardized religious garments, see Rublack, Dressing Up, 81.

21.  See von Severus, “Habit.”

22.  Levy, “Jesuit Identity,” 140.

23.  See “The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus” (1558), part VI, chapter 2, article 15, in Padberg, The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus.

24.  See Hsia, “From Buddhist Garb,” 144.

25.  The Society’s high degree of interiorization of religious norms has also been highlighted in Molina, To Overcome Oneself, and Reinhard, “Gegenreformation als Modernisierung?,” esp. 240.

26.  See Levy, “Jesuit Identity.”

27.  Roberto de Nobili, famous for his accommodation to the Indian Brahmanic culture, was most explicit in separating religious from civil customs. See Županov, Disputed Mission, chapter 1.

28.  See Fonti Ricciane, vol. 1, 338.

29.  This preference was remarked on by Peter Paul Rubens, who painted Nicolas Trigault in his literati attire when he passed through the Southern Netherlands in 1617. See Logan and Brockey, “Nicolas Trigault, SJ,” 157.

30.  On the great variety of literati clothing styles, see Hsia, A Jesuit, 179, and Huang, Negotiating Masculinities, 81.

31.  On the dress worn by the Jesuits in Rome, see O’Malley, The First Jesuits, 341–42.

32.  Trigault, “Lettera Annua della Cina del 1610,” 50.

33.  See Prospero Intorcetta to the Propaganda Fide, Rome, 10 December 1671, APF, SOCG, vol. 432, 19r–20r. On the China Jesuits’ preference for selecting mature men as candidates for priesthood, see HCC, 462. On the establishment of Chinese indigenous priests—a project especially promoted by the Propaganda Fide—see Bornet, “L’apostolat laïque.” Also in Europe, lay brothers were not allowed to wear the same dress as ordained priests. See Menegon, “The Habit.”

34.  While the Dominicans wore Chinese robes from the beginning of their mission, Franciscans continued to wear their cassocks and European attire during their first years in China. This, however, led to conflicts that prompted them to cede this practice. See Menegon, Ancestors, 83.

35.  A local leader from the city of Fu’an, Fujian, thus denounced the mendicants as sorcerers (yaoren) and criminals (zuiren), while all the while respecting the Jesuits as literati (xiansheng). See Juan Bautista Morales to the Propaganda Fide, Philippines, 4 April 1649, APF, SOCG, vol. 193, 222r. For an analysis of the events that led to this letter, see Menegon, Ancestors, 99–102.

36.  See Fonti Ricciane, vol. 1, 337. On the differences between informal and ceremonial dress, see Menegon, “The Habit.” In fact, there was an internal debate among the Jesuits about whether silk should be worn on a daily basis. See Brockey, The Visitor, 305.

37.  See Brockey, Journey, 95, and Hsia, “From Buddhist Garb,” 149–50.

38.  On the jijin, see anon., “Une pratique liturgique.”

39.  See Brook, The Confusions of Pleasure, 153–73, and Spence, Return.

40.  During the first decade of the seventeenth century, no fewer than ten servants attended to the missionaries’ needs in the Beijing residence. See Ricci, Lettere, 392.

41.  On Ricci starting to use sedan chairs, see Hsia, A Jesuit, 136.

42.  Couplet, Histoire, 16–17.

43.  See Brockey, Journey, 32, 46, and Menegon, “Amicitia Palatina.”

44.  See Clunas, Superfluous Things.

45.  See Mungello, The Forgotten Christians, 11–12.

46.  See the anonymous, undated letter filed in BNCR 1383, 385r.

47.  See Brockey, Journey, 46.

48.  See Golvers, François de Rougemont, 629–30.

49.  Le Comte, Nouveaux mémoires, vol. 1, 103.

50.  On the Jesuits’ translation of ru, see Standaert, “The Jesuits Did NOT Manufacture ‘Confucianism,’ ” 118–19.

51.  See Brockey, Journey, 243–86 (chapter 7).

52.  See Brockey, Journey, 257.

53.  See Meynard, introduction to Confucius Sinarum Philosophus, 10.

54.  On prior translations of the Four Books into European languages, see Meynard, introduction to Confucius Sinarum Philosophus, 4–10.

55.  On the concept of lumen naturale in the China mission, see Amsler, “ ‘Sie meinen,’ ” 95. On its role in early modern mission on a global scale, see Milhou, “Die neue Welt,” 283.

56.  See Brockey, Journey, 212, 264, and O’Malley, The First Jesuits, 216. On the influence of Latin and Greek authors on the Jesuits’ spirituality, see Maryks, Saint Cicero.

57.  On the comparability of Chinese and European notions of antiquity during the early modern period, see the contributions in Miller and Louis, Antiquarianism.

58.  See Rowe, “Women and the Family,” 2–6.

59.  Fonti Ricciane, vol. 1, 338.

60.  See Hsia, A Jesuit, 212–14.

61.  Although the text claimed to describe courtesies in use throughout Chinese society (cf. Fonti Ricciane, vol. 1, 71), Ricci focuses in fact exclusively on those of the literati.

62.  Fonti Ricciane, vol. 1, 72.

63.  Sabatino de Ursis, “Rellaçam [sic] da morte do P[adr]e Matheos Ricio da Companhia de JESUS, que entrára no Reino da China, com algumas couzas de sua vida,” Beijing, 20 April 1611, BA-JA 49-V-5, 103r–116r, 108v.

64.  Trigault, “Lettera Annua della Cina del 1610,” 16.

65.  One way to manage this tension was to establish different institutions for different social strata. Some religious congregations the Jesuits founded were reserved for members of the literati class, while others were open to “more humble people” (see Trigault, “Lettera Annua della Cina del 1610,” 16).

66.  See Laven, Mission to China, 181. Mary Laven’s chapter “Jesuits and Eunuchs” (161–93) is the only current attempt to analyze Jesuits in China within the framework provided by the concept of masculinities. Laven gives much room to an analysis of Matteo Ricci’s view of Chinese eunuchs and his apology for celibacy. She does not address, however, the Jesuits’ adoption of literati masculinity.

67.  On Chinese criticism of late Ming masculinities, see Huang, Negotiating Masculinities, 78–81. In contrast to Chinese effeminate masculinities, the Jesuits described Manchu masculinities as fierce and brave. See anon., “Relatione della Conversione alla nostra Sta fede della Regina, e Prencipe della China … l’anno 1648,” s.l., s.d., ARSI, Jap. Sin. 125, 139r–153r, 149r. Later accounts also noted the Sinicization of Manchu masculinities in the second half of the seventeenth century. See Thomas-Ignatius Dunyn-Szpot, “Historia Sinarum Imperii, 1641–1687,” ARSI, Jap. Sin. 103, 107r.

68.  For a discussion of Aristotle’s views of Asians, see Frank, A Democracy, 30–32. On the importance of European classical authors for early modern travel writing, see Osterhammel, Die Entzauberung, 152.

69.  Fonti Ricciane, vol. 1, 72.

70.  Fonti Ricciane, vol. 1, 98.

71.  See Matteo Ricci to Girolamo Costa, Nanjing, 14 August 1599, in Ricci, Lettere, 362.

72.  It seems unlikely, on this view, that the Jesuits’ remarks about Chinese effeminacy served primarily to develop a sense of European masculine superiority, as was the case for those later authors—with their colonial and imperial mind-sets—studied by Hellman, “Using China at Home,” and Sinha, Colonial Masculinity.

73.  According to Song Geng, it was the “signifier of the official masculinity in traditional China” (Song, The Fragile Scholar, 97).

74.  On cultured and martial masculinity, see Louie and Edwards, “Chinese Masculinity.”

75.  Song, The Fragile Scholar, 93.

76.  See Song, The Fragile Scholar, 93.

77.  As an ideal promoted by Confucius, sagehood was the goal pursued by a gentleman in Confucian moral discourse. “Disciple of the sage” was therefore synonymous with “gentleman.” See Song, The Fragile Scholar, 89.

78.  Translation by Kelly, The Anti-Christian Persecution, 295. A jinshi is a successful candidate in the highest imperial examination.

79.  See Kelly, The Anti-Christian Persecution, 306–7.

80.  Translation by Hsia, A Jesuit, 193.

81.  See Höllmann, “Ein Zeichen.” Beards were, however, not only positive symbols. According to a different line of interpretation, they were also attributes of barbarians. Nineteenth-century anti-Christian controversialists often drew on this interpretation. See Dikötter, The Discourse of Race, 45.

82.  See Song, The Fragile Scholar, 89.

83.  See Fonti Ricciane, vol. 1, 337.

84.  The Annual Letter of 1621, for instance, mentioned that the missionary Johannes Ureman had started to grow his beard upon arrival in Macao, implying that he could enter China only after having attained the right look. Cf. Trigault, “Litterae Annuae 1621” (1625), 227.

85.  “Treslado de hum itinerario, que o Padre Andre Palmeiro mandou ao Padre Geral, composto por elle,” s.l., s.d. [1628], BA-JA 49-V-8, 507r–536r, 521v. On Palmeiro, see Brockey, The Visitor; on Palmeiro’s beard, see esp. 252–53.

86.  “Treslado de hum itinerario, que o Padre Andre Palmeiro mandou ao Padre Geral, composto por elle,” s.l., s.d. [1628], BA-JA 49-V-8, 507r–536r, 522r.

87.  See Fonti Ricciane, vol. 1, 104–7.

88.  Mish, “Creating an Image,” Chinese text 12, English translation 48–49.

89.  See Huang, Negotiating Masculinities, 135. On the broad acceptance of homosexuality in Ming society, see Hinsch, Passions, chapter 6. In contrast to the Ming, the Qing were rather hostile against homosexuality. See Sommer, “The Penetrated Male.”

90.  The identification of the “talented scholar” as the masculine antitype in Jesuit writings somewhat differs from the reading proposed by Mary Laven, in which she suggests that eunuchs were regarded by the Jesuits as the primary embodiment of vicious Chinese masculinity (see Laven, Mission to China, 161–93). Laven is certainly right that the Jesuits sometimes borrowed Chinese stereotypes about eunuchs (179). However, the hypothesis that missionaries had a depreciative view of eunuchs in general is not convincing. In fact, the Jesuits heavily relied on eunuchs for converting palace ladies, and some of the most famous Catholics of the Ming court were eunuchs (see HCC, 438–43).

91.  For references to homosexuality, see, for instance, Aleni, Dizui zhenggui lüe, 397, and Brancati, Tianshen huike, 111–13.

92.  Fonti Ricciane, vol. 1, 98. Translation adapted from Spence, The Memory Palace, 220–21.

93.  Ricci, The True Meaning, 349.

94.  On the publication of Master Cheng’s Ink Garden and Ricci’s contribution, see Spence, The Memory Palace, esp. 11; Clarke, The Virgin Mary, 37; and Clunas, Pictures and Visuality, 173–74.

95.  Translation by Spence, The Memory Palace, 203. Chinese wording in Duyvendak, Review of Le origini dell’arte Cristiana Cinese, 394.

96.  Ricci was not the only missionary presenting the story of Sodom to a Chinese audience. It was also included in Brancati, Tianzhu shijie quanlun shengji, 52v.

97.  See Vitiello, “Exemplary Sodomites.”

98.  On friendship in late Ming discourse, see Huang, “Male Friendship,” 2. On the Jesuits’ praise of friendship, see Xu, “The Concept of Friendship.” On the importance of homosocial bonds in the Society of Jesus, see Strasser, “ ‘The First Form and Grace,’ ” esp. 48–49.

99.  Cited by Vitiello, “Exemplary Sodomites,” 250.

100.  Ricci, On Friendship, 119. For an interpretation of this warning as a criticism of homoeroticism, see Vitiello, “Exemplary Sodomites,” 251.

101.  Translation by Legge, The Works of Mencius, chapter 14.

102.  See Laven, Mission to China, 184–90; Lin, Wan Ming zhongxi xinglunli de xiangyu, 77–89; and Menegon, “Child Bodies,” 199–205. Only a few non-Catholic literati appreciated celibacy as a sign of self-cultivation, comparing the Jesuits with other religious specialists rather than with the literati class. One of them was Zhang Dai, who admiringly noted in his memoirs that in Europe “all those engaged in academic pursuits never marry” (cited in Spence, Return, 132).

103.  Shi, Fujian xunhai dao gaoshi, 32a. A similar accusation was made by a literatus named Li Can. He claimed that Ricci should have brought his family with him to China, just as Zengzi, a student of Confucius, had, traveling together with his parents, wife, and children. See Li, Pixie shuo, 26b. Both accusations were published by the Nanjing magistrate Shen Que in a collection of pamphlets titled Documents from the Southern Palace (Nangong shudu), which was reproduced with minor omissions by the lay Buddhist Xu Changzhi under the title Collection Destroying Heresy (Po xie ji) in 1639. In the following, I cite from Collection Destroying Heresy, which circulated more widely than Documents from the Southern Palace. For a detailed analysis of both editions, see Dudink, “Nangong shudu (1620).”

104.  See Menegon, Ancestors, 312.

105.  See Fonti Ricciane, vol. 2, 383–84. The case was mentioned in several Jesuit letters. For an earlier accusation against Michele Ruggieri, see Bartoli, Dell’historia, 212–15.

106.  See Ricci, The True Meaning, 349–51. For detailed recapitulations and analyses of Ricci’s argument, see Laven, Mission to China, 185–90, and Spence, The Memory Palace, 228.

107.  Ricci, The True Meaning, 434–35.

108.  Ricci’s idea of filiality was directly attacked by Fujian literatus Chen Houguang. See Chen, Bianxue chuyan, 4a.

109.  See Menegon, “Child Bodies,” 205.

110.  See Vagnone, Qijia xixue, 496.

111.  Translation adapted from Menegon, “Child Bodies,” 205.

112.  Vagnone, Qijia xixue, 496.

113.  See Bake, Spiegel.

114.  For a similar reading of the misogynous passages in Pantoja’s Seven Victories, see Menegon, “Child Bodies,” 203.

2. A Kingdom of Virtuous Women

1.  On the emergence of the practice of female seclusion in the Song dynasty, see Ebrey, The Inner Quarters.

2.  Hinsch, “The Origins,” 602.

3.  See Mann, Precious Records, 50. On houses in early modern Europe, see Eibach, “Das offene Haus.”

4.  Cited by Ebrey, The Inner Quarters, 23–24.

5.  See Ko, Teachers, 13. For how the categories inner and outer referred not only to physical spaces but also to a functional differentiation between the sexes, see Rosenlee, Confucianism and Women, chapter 4.

6.  On people and goods transgressing the boudoir door, see Bray, Technology and Gender, 54.

7.  In China, a newborn child was considered to be one sui of age. Age was calculated by adding one year at each Chinese New Year’s Day.

8.  See Bray, Technology and Gender, 130. Several events in seventeenth-century rural Shandong recounted in Spence, The Death, illustrate this practice (see 56, passim).

9.  On Han literati’s representations of gender relations among non-Han populations in southern China and Taiwan, see Teng, “An Island,” and Miles, “Strange Encounters.”

10.  On the Kingdom of Women, see Teng, “The West,” 101–2. On the late imperial cult of female chastity, see Carlitz, “Desire, Danger, and the Body”; T’ien, Male Anxiety; and, with a focus on the eighteenth century, Theiss, Disgraceful Matters.

11.  Zheng is a key term in late imperial Confucian discourse on religious doctrines. There is a broad scholarly debate about its many meanings. A starting point was Yang Ching Kun’s definition of zheng as politico-moral orthodoxy (Yang, Religion, 196). In response, other Sinologists have highlighted the importance of understanding zheng also as “orthopraxy” and have started to speak of an “orthopraxy-orthodoxy continuum” (see Watson, “Orthopraxy Revisited,” 154). See also the contributions in Liu, Orthodoxy.

12.  For this characterization of the Chinese idea of heterodoxy, see Cohen, China and Christianity, 5, 16–17. See also the contributions in Liu and Shek, Heterodoxy.

13.  For a discussion of the Confucian elite’s reactions to women’s temple visits, see Goossaert, “Irrepressible Female Piety,” and Zhou, “The Hearth.” On the control imperial institutions imposed on Buddhism and Taoism, respectively, see Yü, “Ming Buddhism,” 904–5, and Berling, “Taoism,” 960–70. For reflections on the process of labeling movements as heterodox, see ter Haar, The White Lotus Teachings.

14.  On the emergence of popular Buddhist movements in the late imperial era, see Overmyer, Folk Buddhist Religion.

15.  On the tensions between the Buddhist sangha and the Confucian model of society, see Zürcher, “Buddhismus,” 217–18.

16.  See Mann, Precious Records, 191–93, and Grant, Eminent Nuns, 1–4.

17.  See Zhou, “The Hearth,” 120.

18.  See Goossaert, “Irrepressible Female Piety,” 222.

19.  See Zhou, “The Hearth,” 110.

20.  See Taylor, “Official Religion,” 886–88. On the topos of the promiscuous monk, see Durand-Dastès, “Désirés, raillés, corrigés.”

21.  Trigault, “Lettera Annua della Cina del 1610,” 50.

22.  Couplet, Histoire, 8.

23.  The term moral topography is based on the idea that people rely on individual or socially shared “mental maps” when navigating in social space (see Gould and White, Mental Maps).

24.  I am primarily interested in Sino-Western interactions taking place in China and, in the following, do not discuss the Jesuit writings’ reception in Europe. For an insightful study on representations of Chinese gendered virtue in eighteenth-century England, see Yang, Performing China.

25.  The term bonze was derived from the Japanese term bozu (Chinese fashi). It was mostly used to refer to Buddhist monks (see Dalgado, Glossário, vol. 1, 138–39). Although the Jesuits often distinguished Buddhist “bonzes” from Taoist “sorcerers,” they often failed to draw clear distinctions between Buddhist and other religious specialists, and therefore it is not always clear which sort of ritual expert is denoted by the term.

26.  The first missionaries in China had even maintained that Buddhist communities might have been perverted remnants of St. Thomas’s ancient mission to China. See Gonzales de Mendoza, Historia, 37–39, and Fonti Ricciane, vol. 1, 123–24. On the Jesuits’ accommodation in Japan, see Moran, The Japanese.

27.  See Hsia, A Jesuit, 97.

28.  See Michele Ruggieri to Claudio Acquaviva, Zhaoqing, 30 March 1584, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 9 II, 263r–264r, 264r. Ruggieri’s rendering of this name as “Church and New Flower of the Saints” (Ecclesia e Fior Novello Degli Santi) is an incorrect translation.

29.  Alessandro Valignano to Claudio Acquaviva, Macao, 10 November 1588, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 11 I, 1r–8r, 1v.

30.  On the gentry’s use of monastic space, see Brook, Praying for Power, 107–19.

31.  See Brook, Praying for Power, 29–34.

32.  Ricci, Lettere, 8.

33.  Alessandro Valignano to Claudio Acquaviva, Macao, 10 November 1588, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 11 I, 1r–8r, 1v.

34.  Brockey, Journey, 410. Lionel Jensen has argued that the Jesuits were uninterested in the corpus of Buddhist texts because of its lack of systematization, which made it difficult for them to navigate. See Jensen, Manufacturing Confucianism, 31–76.

35.  See Matteo Ricci to Claudio Acquaviva, 4 November 1595, in Ricci, Lettere, 297–321, 309.

36.  See Simão da Cunha, “Apontamento para annua de [1]648 da Christandade de Kien yam, Vui xan cum, Tin cheu, Kien nim hien, Tai nim hien,” s.l., s.d., BNP, CÓD. 722, 365r–373r, 371r. On the Tridentine cloistering of Catholic nuns’ convents, see Strasser, “Cloistering Women’s Past.”

37.  Fonti Ricciane, vol. 1, 126; Diogo Motel, [Beijing?], 1675, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 125, 111r–111vvv [sic], 111v–111vv. A similarly general accusation about such associations was also brought forward by the visitor André Palmeiro during his stay in China in the 1620s. See Brockey, The Visitor, 227.

38.  See Greslon, Histoire, 31–32. For other accounts criticizing the bonzes’ immoral behavior, see Semedo, Histoire, 131–32; Le Comte, Nouveaux mémoires, vol. 2, 173–74; and various letters in the Lettres édifiantes (e.g., vol. 9, 339; vol. 29, 86–101).

39.  See Yü, The Renewal, 4.

40.  See Yü, The Renewal, chapter 7, quotation 182.

41.  On masters of reform in Buddhism in late Ming China, see Yü, “Ming Buddhism.”

42.  See Zhou, “The Hearth,” 113.

43.  See Zhou, “The Hearth,” 113.

44.  See the translation in Roy, The Plum in the Golden Vase, vol. 1, 165–66. See also Roy, The Plum in the Golden Vase, vol. 3, chapter 51, and Shi, The Water Margin, 561–62.

45.  See Durand-Dastès, “Désirés, raillés, corrigés,” 98.

46.  It is noteworthy that the Jesuits inscribed themselves into this Confucian discourse primarily in their writings aimed at a European readership. This suggests that it was not a strategical move aimed at persuading Chinese literati of their Confucian identity, but rather was the result of the Jesuits’ strong identification with the Confucian viewpoint.

47.  See Brockey, Journey, 287.

48.  On the connection between immorality and idolatry in early modern Catholic discourse, see Županov, Missionary Tropics, 8, 26.

49.  See Wunder, He Is the Sun, 96–117. On how eighteenth-century enlightened authors saw gender segregation in non-European societies as a sign of cultural inferiority, see Stollberg-Rilinger, Europa, 145–46.

50.  Semedo, Histoire, 92–93.

51.  On Aleni’s accompanying Ma to Shanxi, see Margiotti, Il cattolicismo, 83. For the identification of Ma, see HCC, 421.

52.  Trigault, “Litterae Annuae 1621” (1625), 237.

53.  See Couplet, Histoire, 7.

54.  See Semedo, Histoire, 48.

55.  See Kircher, China Illustrata, 115.

56.  See Magalhães, Nouvelle relation, 126.

57.  See Mann, Precious Records, 49, and Li, Women’s Poetry, 20–51.

58.  Semedo, Histoire, 47.

59.  Semedo, Histoire, 48. This trope is also found in late imperial Chinese literary sources, such as the eighteenth-century novel Dream of the Red Chamber (Honglou meng). See Cao, The Story of the Stone, vol. 2, 148–49.

60.  The women’s delicate body shape, their ways of hiding their hands within the sleeves of their robes, and their modestly bowed heads belong to a Chinese visual tradition of depicting guixiu—young, beautiful women of good family. See Wu, “Beyond Stereotypes,” 350, passim. For the identification of European elements in the two pictures, see Staatliche Schlösser und Gärten Potsdam-Sanssouci, China und Europa, 157.

61.  Couplet, Histoire, 110.

62.  Kircher, China Illustrata, 115. Several other authors expressed a wish that Europeans would also adopt the Chinese abhorrence of nudity. See Couplet, Histoire, 110–11, and Magalhães, Nouvelle relation, 126–27. In their praise for Chinese women’s modest dress, the Jesuits failed to acknowledge the great diversity of women’s sartorial practices in the vast Chinese empire. As shown by a set of costume pictures, printed without commentary in Kircher’s China Illustrata (figures Aa 2 and Aa 3), dresses worn by women in the southern provinces of Zhejiang and Fujian offered rather revealing views of the women’s necks and hands, with the Fujian woman even depicted with naked feet.

63.  In contrast to the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century ethnographic writings examined by Patricia Buckley Ebrey (Ebrey, “Gender and Sinology,” 20–21), the Jesuits’ accounts did not mention footbinding’s sexual connotations. That women’s feet were regarded by the Chinese as an intimate body part was discussed, however, in the context of the administration of extreme unction, when the Jesuits abstained from anointing them (see, for instance, Couplet, Histoire, 104). On the cultural meanings of footbinding in the late imperial period, see Ko, Cinderella’s Sisters.

64.  See Pantoja, Relatione dell’entrata, 78.

65.  Fonti Ricciane, vol. 1, 89. Although the Jesuits’ suggestion that footbinding prevented female mobility was too simple, they were right to assert a connection between seclusion and footbinding. Indeed, Susan Mann has maintained that “the desirability of footbinding and the spread of women’s home handicrafts in peasant households were systematically related.” Mann, Precious Records, 168. This hypothesis has recently been confirmed by anthropological fieldwork. See Bossen and Gates, Bound Feet.

66.  See, for instance, Pantoja, Relatione dell’entrata, 78.

67.  See Semedo, Histoire, 47, and Martini, Novus Atlas Sinensis, vol. 1, 7. These critical voices qualify Ebrey’s hypothesis that Western perceptions of footbinding were directly related to perceptions of Chinese civilization (see Ebrey, “Gender and Sinology”). Although it is true that “those who largely had good things to say about China, like Marco Polo and the Jesuits” tended to describe Chinese women in positive terms (Ebrey, “Gender and Sinology,” 10), it was not the case that all Jesuits approved of footbinding.

68.  On the cult of female chastity, see Theiss, Disgraceful Matters; Lu, True to Her Word; and Carlitz, “Desire, Danger, and the Body.”

69.  Semedo, Histoire, 41.

70.  Magalhães, Nouvelle relation, 59–60.

71.  See T’ien, Male Anxiety; Ropp, “Passionate Women”; and Lu, True to Her Word, chapter 5.

72.  André Ferram, “Annua da Vice-Provincia da China [1656],” Macao, 29 January 1659, BA-JA 49-V-14, 62r–93r, 73r. On the conflict between Confucian and Christian understandings of suicide, see Huang, “ ‘Liangtoushe zu’ de suming,” 468.

73.  See, for instance, Semedo, Histoire, 48, and Pantoja, Relatione dell’entrata, 78.

74.  See Fonti Ricciane, vol. 1, 98; Pantoja, Relatione dell’entrata, 53; and Semedo, Histoire, 104. For an analysis of women as objects of exchange in late imperial China, see Gates, “The Commoditization of Chinese Women.”

75.  For rare exceptions, see Fonti Ricciane, vol. 1, 98, and Martini, Novus Atlas Sinensis, vol. 1, 104.

76.  Interestingly, Jesuit writings contain relatively few remarks about Manchu women in general. The most detailed seventeenth-century Western account of Manchu women was written, therefore, not by a Jesuit, but by a member of a Dutch embassy, Johan Nieuhof (see Nieuhof, Die Gesandschaft, 117, 122–23, 163–64, 394–95).

77.  Pantoja, Relatione dell’entrata, 78.

78.  Couplet, Histoire, 7.

79.  Las Cortes had been working as a missionary in the Philippines for twenty years, when, early in 1625, he was sent on a diplomatic mission to Macao. The mission ended in a shipwreck some 350 kilometers east of Macao (see Girard, introduction to Le voyage en Chine, 21–26).

80.  See Las Cortes, Le voyage en Chine. On women’s temple visits, see 69, 291, 332.

81.  See Girard, “Les descriptions,” 174–77, 184.

3. A Source of Creative Tension

1.  See Chau, “Modalities of Doing Religion,” 558.

2.  See Standaert, The Interweaving of Rituals, 222–28, and Thoraval, “The Western Misconception.”

3.  See Goossaert and Zuber, “Introduction: La Chine,” 14.

4.  See Rosner, “Frauen als Anführerinnen.” The association of baptism with the rituals of Chinese secret societies was even clearer because of similar initiation ceremonies practiced by the latter. See Bays, “Christianity,” 41.

5.  Zürcher, “Confucian and Christian Religiosity,” 650. See also idem, “A Complement.”

6.  Zürcher, “Confucian and Christian Religiosity,” 632.

7.  See Fonti Ricciane, vol. 2, 261.

8.  João da Rocha to [?], Nanjing, 5 October 1602, BA-JA 49-V-5, 10r–16v, 13v. Da Rocha was Ricci’s successor as superior of the Nanjing residence. For biographical data, see Dehergne, Répertoire, 223.

9.  Longobardo initiated this change of strategy with the consent of his superiors (see Guerreiro, Relaçam annal, bk. 2, 20r). The first women baptized by Longobardo were the mother and grandmother of a Shaozhou literatus named Zhong (see Fonti Ricciane, vol. 2, 205). On Longobardo’s evangelization strategy, see Brockey, Journey, 293–96. For biographical data, see Dehergne, Répertoire, 153–54.

10.  See Fonti Ricciane, vol. 2, 202.

11.  See Guerreiro, Relaçam annal, bk. 2, 20r–20v.

12.  See Fonti Ricciane, vol. 2, 338.

13.  Guerreiro, Relaçam annal, bk. 2, 20r.

14.  The importance of Chinese men’s confidence is especially highlighted by João da Rocha. See da Rocha to [?], Nanjing, 5 October 1602, BA-JA 49-V-5, 10r–16v, 13v.

15.  This precondition did not mean that these men had to be Catholic themselves. In many cases, women were baptized earlier than their male relatives, who nevertheless consented to the women’s conversion.

16.  Guerreiro, Relaçam annal, bk. 2, 20v.

17.  On Jesuits preaching in the countryside, see Brockey, Journey, 293–96.

18.  On the Jesuits’ stay in Yang Tingyun’s residence in Hangzhou, see Trigault, “Litterae Annuae 1621” (1625), 270–71. On their residence in the Xu ancestral home in Shanghai, see Trigault, “Litterae Annuae 1621” (1627), 218.

19.  See Trigault, “Litterae Annuae 1621” (1625), 345.

20.  On strategies of indirect conversion, see also King, “Spaces for Belief.”

21.  In the Annual Letter of 1627, Manuel Dias the Younger (1574–1659) described a scene of children instructing country women in a village near Ningbo. Dias was delighted that the children, “who had learned more rapidly,” shuttled between their mothers and fathers, instructing them in making the sign of the cross. See Manuel Dias Jr., “Litterae Annuae 1627,” Shanghai, 9 May 1628, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 115 I, 119r–153v, 147v.

22.  See Du Jarric, Histoire, vol. 3, 1064.

23.  Cf. Trigault, “Lettera Annua della Cina del 1610,” 49–52. It seems that some Chinese elite women, especially widows commanding over a household, also had close contact with male servants.

24.  Trigault, “Lettera Annua della Cina del 1610,” 49.

25.  HCC, 439.

26.  For an overview of this group of female court converts, see HCC, 438–43. For a detailed contemporary account, see Bernard, Lettres et mémoires d’Adam Schall S.J., 46–65. Additional information on the community is provided by João Monteiro, “Annua da Viceprov[inci]a da China do anno de 1637,” s.l., 16 October 1638, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 115 II, 369r–435v, 382r–384r. This letter suggests that the converted palace ladies were in fact not imperial consorts (fei), as suggested by previous research cited by Standaert, but rather were low-ranking female officeholders; most of them were part of a group called “responders” (daying), who were “a low-status group of palace women, ranking below ‘Worthy Ladies’ (guiren)” (see Hucker, A Dictionary of Official Titles, 475). I would like to express my thanks to Dr. Ellen Soulliere, who shared her thoughts about Monteiro’s letter with me in written correspondence.

27.  For a Catholic woman converting non-Catholic women in her neighborhood, see João da Costa, “Annua da Christandade da China do anno de 1614,” s.l., 10 August 1615, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 113, 372r–392r, 377v. For a woman demanding baptism after receiving efficacious devotional objects from a neighbor, see Dias Sr., “Litterae Annuae 1619,” 52. According to Patricia Buckley Ebrey, transmission of religious teachings among women was also usual in Song-dynasty lay Buddhism. See Ebrey, The Inner Quarters, 128.

28.  On mixed marriages, see von Collani, “Mission and Matrimony.”

29.  On Catholic communities producing devotional objects without involving missionaries, see Spence, The Memory Palace, 245–47.

30.  Couplet, Histoire, 38.

31.  See HCC, 609–12.

32.  For the full table of contents of Ricci’s catechism, see Dudink, “Tianzhu jiaoyao,” 48.

33.  On the mixed success of this strategy in Europe, see Hsia, The World, 52–53.

34.  See King, “The Gospel for the Ordinary Reader.”

35.  See Couplet, Histoire, 38. The term apostolate through books (Apostolat der Presse) was coined by Johannes Bettray (see Bettray, Die Akkommodationsmethode, 191–213). For the English expression, see HCC, 600–631. On Chinese elite women’s ability to read and write, see Ko, Teachers. On literacy in late imperial China in general, see Rawski, Education.

36.  Letters written by Candida Xu to her confessor, Philippe Couplet, are mentioned in Couplet, Histoire, 27–28.

37.  For lectures at women’s congregations, see Pedro Marquez, “Missao da Ilha de haynão,” Hainan, 13 August 1634, BA-JA 49-V-10, 348v–355r, 352r.

38.  See HCC, 809–22, for an overview.

39.  See Brockey, Journey, 400.

40.  “Ordens que o P. André Palmeiro Visitator de Japao, e China deixou a Viceprovincia da China vizitandoa no anno de 1629,” s.l., 15 August 1629, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 100, 20r–30v. On similar rules applied in certain localities in Catholic Europe, see Tippelskirch, “Der Kleriker,” 262, 280.

41.  See Trigault, “Lettera Annua della Cina del 1610,” 50.

42.  See Fonti Ricciane, vol. 2, 338.

43.  See Couplet, Histoire, 106. On the spread of the confessional in Europe, see Hersche, Muße und Verschwendung, vol. 2, 685.

44.  See Dias Sr., “Litterae Annuae 1625,” 180, and HCC, 534–75.

45.  See Menegon, “Popular or Local?,” 260.

46.  On Tridentine gender arrangements in European churches and the difficulties to enforce them, see Hersche, Muße und Verschwendung, vol. 2, 707–10.

47.  See Niccolò Longobardo, “Litterae Annuae 1612,” Nanxiong, 20 March 1613, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 113, 215r–263r, 228r. The HCC, interestingly, does not mention oratories in its essay on church buildings in China (see HCC, 580–91). Instead, it only mentions the multifunctional rooms where rural missions celebrated Mass (HCC, 580). Source evidence shows, however, that oratories established in the urban households of comparably rich Chinese converts differed from the multifunctional rooms used during rural missions.

48.  See Michele Ruggieri, “Relatione del Successo della missione della Cina del mese di Novembre 1577 alli 1591 del P. Roggieri al nostro P. Generale,” s.l., s.d., ARSI, Jap. Sin. 101, 8r–111r, 109r.

49.  See Fonti Ricciane, vol. 2, 207–8.

50.  Fonti Ricciane, vol. 2, 246.

51.  Fonti Ricciane, vol. 2, 263.

52.  Gabriel de Matos, “Ordens dos Vizitadores e Superiores universaes da Missao da China com algumas respostas de nosso R. P. Geral,” s.l., 1621, BA-JA 49-V-7, 229r. Probably at the same time, the missionaries reaffirmed the rule that women should not visit churches. See anon., “Alguas Couzas que se cao de guardar na Igreja Missas, baptismos, e enterramentos, para em todas as cazas aver conformidade,” s.l., s.d. [1621?], BA-JA 49-V-7, 315r–317r, 315v.

53.  See Goossaert, “Irrepressible Female Piety,” and Zhao, Kuanghuan yu richang, chapter 9.

54.  See Zhou, “The Hearth.”

55.  The hypothesis that the Christian “oratory” might have been combined with the ancestral altar in poor households has been advanced by Erik Zürcher. See Zürcher, “Confucian and Christian Religiosity,” 631–32. For supporting source evidence, see Bernardus Regius, “Annuae ex V[ice]provincia Sinarum An[no] 1629,” s.l., s.d., BA-JA 49-V-8, 608v–627v, 611r. On the Jesuits’ permissive attitude toward domestic ancestor worship, see Dehergne, “Les tablettes.” Since Chinese women were responsible for domestic ancestor worship, the Jesuits’ tolerance toward the latter was a crucial precondition for women’s conversion to Catholicism. A study on Protestants in nineteenth-century Guangdong, conversely, has found that the Protestant missionaries’ prohibition of ancestor worship prevented many women from conversion. See Klein, Die Basler Mission, 206.

56.  See Francesco Brancati, “Annua da Residencia de Xam hai do anno de 1647 do Rey Xun Chi 4.° anno,” s.l. [Shanghai], s.d., BA-JA 49-V-13, 458v–464v, 459v.

57.  See João Froes, “Annua da V[ice]provincia da China do anno de 1633, China,” s.l. [Hangzhou?], 20 September 1634, BA-JA 49-V-11, 1r–99v, 37r. It is probable that, in cases like the one described by Froes, the woman had converted to Catholicism together with her native family.

58.  See de Gouvea, Cartas Ânuas, 411. On Buddhist altars on the dew platform, see Bray, Technology and Gender, 105, 133–35.

59.  On gentry women’s inclination to practice Buddhist devotions, see Mann, Precious Records, 187–98, passim.

60.  See HCC, 382–84.

61.  See Couplet, “Breve relatione dello stato e qualità delle missioni,” ARSI, Jap. Sin. 125, 164r–199v, 189r.

62.  See Brockey, Journey, 326–27.

63.  On the Jianchang church, see João Froes, “Annua da V[ice]provincia da China do anno de 1633,” s.l. [Hangzhou?], 20 September 1634, BA-JA 49-V-11, 1r–99v, 75v. For Jiangzhou, see João Froes, “Carta Annua da Missao da China do anno de 1634,” Hangzhou, 8 September 1634, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 115 II, 266r–317r, 281v. For Nanjing, see Thomas-Ignatius Dunyn-Szpot, “Historia Sinarum Imperii, 1580–1649,” ARSI, Jap. Sin. 102, 244r. For Xi’an, see Stephan Fabre, “Pontos da Annua da Residencia da Provincia de Xensi 1638,” Xi’an, 20 January 1639, BA-JA 49-V-12, 263r–275r, 265r.

64.  João Monteiro, “Annuae Sin[ae] 1639,” s.l., 8 October 1640, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 121, 221r–313r, 222r.

65.  See PQD, 136v–137r.

66.  Giandomenico Gabiani, “Incrementa Sinicae Ecclesiae,” 1667, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 108, 19r.

67.  On Yanping, see Simão da Cunha, “Rol[o] das Igrejas e Christandades,” Yanping, 25 January 1647, BNP, CÓD. 722, 50v–51v. On Hangzhou, Shanghai, Songjiang, and Beijing, see Couplet, “Litterae Annuae Vice-Provinciae Sinicae ab 1677 ad 1680,” s.l., s.d., ARSI, Jap. Sin. 116, 214r–275r, 272r–275v. The use of some of these churches had to be given up or suspended. The Yanping church, for instance, seems to have been abandoned in the 1650s due to the turmoil of the Manchu conquest and pirate attacks. It was probably revived by Inácio da Costa in 1667 (see Pfister, Notices biographiques, 219).

68.  For a women’s church established in an existing building bought for this purpose, see Manuel Jorge, “Annua da V[ice]provincia da China 1657,” Nanjing, 12 May 1658, BA-JA 49-V-14, 148r–169v, 167r.

69.  “Extrait d’une lettre du P. Fontanay au P. la Beuille,” Beijing, 28 October 1693, APF, SOCP, vol. 20, 471r–472r, 471r. Some women’s churches were also sizable structures, especially when women’s congregations were able to take over former men’s churches. See Brockey, Journey, 364.

70.  Couplet, “Breve relatione dello stato e qualità delle missioni,” ARSI, Jap. Sin. 125, 164r–199v, 189r. The Hangzhou women’s church also fell prey to anti-Catholic repression between 1688 and 1692, when it was permanently transformed into a non-Catholic temple. See Pfister, Notices biographiques, 324.

71.  See Juan Antonio Arnedo, “Litterae Annuae Missionis Sinicae ab Anno 1685 ad An[num] 1690,” Ganzhou, 30 September 1691, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 117, 203r–228v, 221v.

72.  Inácio da Costa, “Annua da Viceprov[incia] do Norte na China do ano 1647,” s.l., s.d., ARSI, Jap. Sin. 122, 282r–304r, 290v. The women’s churches also remained closed for an extended period in many places after the calendar case of 1664. See Christian Herdtrich, “Annua Viceprovinciae Sinensis Societatis Jesu Anni 1662,” Shanxi, 24 August 1663, BA-JA 49-V-16, 356r–381v, 361r.

73.  See João Froes, “Annua da ViceProvincia da China do anno de 1632,” Hangzhou, 1 August 1633, BA-JA 49-V-10, 76r–130r, 91v.

74.  See João Froes, “Carta Annua da Missao da China do anno de 1634,” Hangzhou, 8 September 1634, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 115 II, 266r–317r, 285r, and João Monteiro, “Annua da Viceprovincia da China de 1638,” s.l., 20 September 1639, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 121, 142r–193r, 174r.

75.  See Manuel Dias Jr., “Carta Annua da China de 1635,” Nanchang, 1 September 1636, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 115 II, 321r–344r, 323r.

76.  See Fonti Ricciane, vol. 2, 263, and Niccolò Longobardo, [“Littera Annua 1612”], Nanxiong, 20 March 1613, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 113, 215r–263r, 228r.

77.  See PQD, 137r.

78.  Matias da Mathos to [?], s.l., s.d. [between 1664 and 1667], ARSI, Jap. Sin. 124, 47r–54v.

79.  See Brockey, Journey, 79.

80.  See Juan Antonio Arnedo, “Litterae Annuae Missionis Sinicae ab Anno 1685 ad An[num] 1690,” Ganzhou, 30 September 1691, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 117, 203r–228v, 213v. On rural circuits, see also Brockey, Journey, 93–98.

81.  Nevertheless, annual letters occasionally report peasant women’s trips to missionary residences. See, for instance, Christian Herdtrich, “Annua Viceprovinciae Sinensis Societatis Jesu Anni 1662,” Shanxi, 24 August 1663, BA-JA 49-V-16, 356r–381v, 361v.

82.  See João Froes, “Carta Annua da Missao da China do anno de 1634,” Hangzhou, 8 September 1634, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 115 II, 266r–317r, 285r.

83.  The situation in China thus resembled the situation in many parts of Europe before the Tridentine reforms had had their effect. How long it took the rituals of the reformed church to gain a foothold in the predominantly rural societies of early modern Catholic Europe has been shown by Forster, The Counter-Reformation.

84.  Studies such as Standaert’s The Interweaving of Rituals and Standaert and Dudink’s Forgive Us have only recently started to turn our attention toward Chinese Catholic ritual practice. An overview of Chinese Catholic rituals, in general, and sacraments, in particular, is still lacking.

85.  Some other authors have mentioned the adaptation of sacraments to Chinese gender norms, but none has yet discussed it in any greater depth. See HCC, 393–98; Touboul-Bouyeure, “Famille chrétienne,” 964; and Margiotti, Il cattolicismo, 344–48. On similar debates among the Jesuits in Vietnam, see Brockey, The Visitor, 343–44.

86.  Of the two sacraments analyzed in this chapter, baptism—which was indispensable for anyone who wished to become Catholic—was administered more frequently than extreme unction. Because of baptism’s initiatory character, it was especially important that it did not deter women or their relatives from converting to Catholicism. This explains why baptism was discussed in greater detail than extreme unction, which was only occasionally administered.

87.  They sometimes, moreover, deliberately refrained from administering the sacrament of extreme unction to women (see Collectanea S. Congregationis, 31–32).

88.  The privileges are mentioned in Antonio Rubino and Diego Morales, “Resposta as calumnias que os Padres de S. Domingos, e de S. Francisco impoem aos Padres da Companhia de Iesus, que se occupao na conversao do Reino da China,” 1641, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 155, 67r–74v, 67v. On the breve Ex pastorali officio issued by Gregory XIII in 1585 and the constitution Ex Debito Pastoralis Officii issued by Urban VIII in 1633, see HCC, 296–97. These privileges had been granted to the missionary orders ad perpetuum and gave them great freedom with regard to circumstantial adaptations. The Propaganda Fide tried to adjust the faculties’ scope in the seventeenth century. However, this attempt was only partially successful. Only Propaganda missionaries felt obliged by the new rules. See Pizzorusso, “I dubbi sui sacramenti,” esp. 40–49. See also Broggio, Castelnau-L’Estoile, and Pizzorusso, “Le temps de doutes.”

89.  On Juan Bautista Morales’s stay in Fujian and the beginning of the rites controversy, see Cummins, A Question of Rites, 58–62.

90.  On the central issues of the rites controversy, see Rule, K’ung-tzu or Confucius? Adaptions of sacraments in the context of early modern missions in general triggered major debates in the Roman Curia. For recent research on the topic, see the contributions to Broggio, Castelnau-L’Estoile, and Pizzorusso, Administrer les sacrements.

91.  See Canon XIII of the seventh session of the Council, in Perceval, The Roman Schism, 216–18. The doctrine that grace was conferred during the sacraments “by the actual performance of them” (ex opere operato) was recorded during the seventh session of the Council (1547) in Canon VIII.

92.  See Dowdall, “A Study,” 62.

93.  Dowdall, “A Study,” 77.

94.  On physical contact as a means of transmitting spiritual goods, see Classen, The Deepest Sense, 31.

95.  On the literati elite’s aversion to physical contact, see Song, A Fragile Scholar, 83. On the Chinese notion that the female body was a pure realm, see Edwards, “Women in Honglou meng.” On how the literati elite regarded the mingling of the sexes as a feature of heterodox sects, see Rosner, “Frauen als Anführerinnen,” and Bays, “Christianity,” 41.

96.  On this collection of pamphlets, published under the title Documents from the Southern Palace (Nangong shudu), see Dudink, “Nangong shudu (1620).” On the Nanjing incident, see Kelly, The Anti-Christian Persecution.

97.  Shen, Faqian yuanyi huizou shu, 3b.

98.  See Xu, Huishen Zhong Mingren Zhang Cai deng fan, 16b–17a. On Zhong Mingren, a Jesuit lay brother known under the Christian name Sebastian Fernandes, see Hsia, A Jesuit, 129. On Xu Congzhi, see Dudink, “Nangong shudu (1620),” 260–61.

99.  Xu, Shengchao zuopi, 18a. The translation is from Dudink, “The Sheng-ch’ao tso-p’i,” 114–15.

100.  Xu, Shengchao zuopi, 135a–135b. The translation is from Dudink, “The Sheng-ch’ao tso-p’i,” 114–15.

101.  See [Yu?], Po Li yi jian tian wang shi, 15b. On the stereotyped view of these sectarian movements by the literati class, see ter Haar, The White Lotus Teachings, esp. the introduction. On the history of these movements, see Liu and Shek, Heterodoxy.

102.  Later sources mention how the Jesuits’ adaptation of sacramentals was implemented by the Visitors Francesco Pasio (Visitor in 1611–12) and André Palmeiro (Visitor in 1626–35) (see Antonio Rubino and Diego Morales, “Resposta as calumnias que os Padres de S. Domingos, e de S. Francisco impoem aos Padres da Companhia de Iesus, que se occupao na conversao do Reino da China,” 1641, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 155, 67r–74v, 69v–70r). It was only possible to identify a part of the respective instructions in the archives. An anonymous and undated document, probably issued in 1621, instructed missionaries that if the salt of baptism was given to women, it should be done by a male relative. See anon., “Alguas Couzas que se cao de guardar na Igreja Missas, baptismos, e enterramentos, para em todas as cazas aver conformidade,” s.l., s.d. [1621?], BA-JA 49-V-7, 315r–317r, 315v. An instruction issued by Visitor André Palmeiro in 1629, furthermore, told them to omit the administration of extreme unction to Chinese women except when they and their husbands or fathers both wished it expressly and were present during the ritual. See “Ordens que o P. André Palmeiro Visitator de Japao, e China deixou a Viceprovincia da China vizitandoa no anno de 1629,” s.l., 15 August 1629, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 100, 20r–30v, 27r.

103.  On earlier efforts by the Roman authorities to reach a decision on the controversy, see Margiotti, “I riti cinesi.”

104.  The discussion about sacramental adaptation took place in the context of the rites controversy, which extended, in a first stage, to a broad range of questions concerning positive church law. On the respective tasks of the Propaganda Fide and the Holy Office in the examination of missionaries’ questions, see Metzler, “Orientation,” 185–96, and Windler, “Uneindeutige Zugehörigkeiten,” 334–39.

105.  Collectanea S. Congregationis, 31–32. The qualificatores were outside experts assigned by the Holy Office to give their opinion on theological questions. See Schwedt, “Die römischen Kongregationen,” 97–99.

106.  See Collectanea S. Congregationis, 38.

107.  Memorial presented by Martini and votes of the qualificatores, ACDF, S.O., St. St., OO 5 f, 275r–296v, 280r–280v, cited by Vareschi, “Martino Martini,” 239–53, 242.

108.  Vareschi, “Martino Martini,” 239–53, 242.

109.  For the statements of the qualificatores, see Vareschi, “Martino Martini,” 242–44. For an overview of the genesis of the 1656 decree, see Vareschi, “The Holy Office’s Decree.” The decree has been reprinted in Collectanea S. Congregationis, 38.

110.  On the Calendar Case, see Chu, “Scientific Dispute.” The resolutions were published in 1678 in Rome. See Constitutiones Apostolicae.

111.  The first seven of the forty-two resolutions all concerned the sacrament of baptism, and four of them were related to the baptism of adult women. For an overview of the content of the resolutions, see Metzler, Die Synoden, 22–35.

112.  PQD, 136v.

113.  See Navarrete, Tratados historicos, 470, 495–96. On the fact that the group of missionaries gathered in Canton was not as harmonious as the resolutions resulting from it suggest, see Cummins, A Question of Rites, 152.

114.  On Pallu, see Baudiment, François Pallu. Prior to Pallu’s arrival, the Holy Office had already taken notice of the Canton resolutions through the Jesuit procurator Prospero Intorcetta (see Intorcetta, “Informationes,” BA-JA 49-IV-62, 331v–336r) and the Dominican Domingo Navarrete (see Cummins, A Question of Rites).

115.  On Pallu’s meeting with Navarrete, a participant in the Canton gathering, during his stay in Madagascar in 1671, see Cummins, A Question of Rites, 175–76.

116.  “Scritture originali della Congregazione della China de 26. Aprile 1678, E: Estratto di molte lettere concernenti gli affari spirituali della China fatto dal Vescovo d’Eliopoli con alcune sue Petitioni,” APF, Fondo di Vienna 21, 130r–135v, 133r–134v. The missionaries in Canton were, indeed, aware that their conference lacked legitimacy thanks to the absence of the Vicar Apostolic. They had therefore sought to obtain faculties from the Jesuit Visitor Luis de Gama and the Dominican Vicar provincial Francisco Varo, who both approved of the gathering. See Metzler, Die Synoden, 23.

117.  “Observationes Episcopi Heliopolitani in Quosdam Articulos Coetus Missionariorum Cantoni in Sina Coacti An[no] 1669,” APF, Fondo di Vienna 21, 130r–135v, 142r–146r, 143v.

118.  See the answer of the Holy Office dating from July 1678, in APF, Fondo di Vienna 21, 160r–163v, 160r–160v. The same document is also filed in ACDF, S.O., St. St., L 5 d, 280r–283v.

119.  See Margiotti, “La Cina,” 615–25.

120.  Launay, Lettres, 567–79, 572. For how the Dominicans in Fujian also changed their attitude toward the adaptation of sacraments in the late seventeenth century, see Menegon, Ancestors, 311.

121.  On the difficulty of ruling over dominions situated at great geographic distance, and the role of information in the practice of ruling, see Brendecke, Imperium und Empirie. On the importance of information management within ecclesiastical structures, see Friedrich, Der lange Arm.

122.  “Resposta as calumnias que os Padres de S. Domingos, e de S. Francisco impoem aos Padres da Companhia de Iesus, que se occupao na conversao do Reino da China,” 1641, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 155. The Portuguese Diego Morales figures as coauthor of the treatise. According to Asami Masakazu, it is probable that the treatise was written by Morales, with Rubino responsible for its content (see Masakazu, “Solutions,” 128). On Rubino, see Perera, The Jesuits in Ceylon, 163–64.

123.  “Resposta as calumnias que os Padres de S. Domingos, e de S. Francisco impoem aos Padres da Companhia de Iesus, que se occupao na conversao do Reino da China,” 1641, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 155, 69r.

124.  See Lach and Van Kley, Asia, vol. 3, 382–83. The treatise seems to have widely circulated in manuscript form and can today be found in various European archives (see ARSI, Jap. Sin. 155, and BA-JA 49-V-12, 449r–476v. According to S. G. Perera, further versions can be found in the Biblioteca Vittorio Emanuele in Rome as well as in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris (see Perera, The Jesuits in Ceylon, 164).

125.  Pizzorusso, “I dubbi sui sacramenti,” 60. The Roman theologians’ change of attitude toward empirical knowledge coincides with a comparable change of attitude in travelogues. See Osterhammel, Die Entzauberung, 152. On the limits of the change, see Menegon, “European and Chinese Controversies,” esp. 221.

4. Strengthening the Marital Bond

1.  Fonti Ricciane, vol. 2, 481.

2.  Coronae were rosaries “with thirty-three beads commemorating the number of barbs in the crown of thorns as well as the years in Christ’s life.” Brockey, Journey, 398.

3.  Fonti Ricciane, vol. 2, 481–82.

4.  Stuart and Rawski, Worshiping, 47.

5.  The question of whether ancestral rites were religious rituals was a key issue in the rites controversy (see HCC, 680–88). Recent research, however, has shown that the European concept of “religion”/“religious” is problematic in the Chinese context (see Chau, Miraculous Response, 74, passim). Nevertheless, it seems clear that ancestors occupied a far more central place in Chinese visions of the spiritual/transcendent world than they did in Europe.

6.  Translation by Ebrey, The Inner Quarters, 45. See also Legge, The Lî Kî, part 2, 428.

7.  See Bernhardt, “A Ming-Qing Transition,” 53–54. For a discussion of social practices of divorce, see Ebrey, The Inner Quarters, 250–60.

8.  See Holzem, “Familie und Familienideal,” 254.

9.  On contradictions between social and religious sets of norms in early modern Europe, see von Thiessen, “Das Sterbebett.”

10.  See Westphal, Schmidt-Voges, and Baumann, Venus und Vulcanus, 10.

11.  See Fairchilds, Women in Early Modern Europe, 229–32.

12.  Fonti Ricciane, vol. 1, 85.

13.  Magalhães, Nouvelle relation, 86–87.

14.  For case studies, see Leacock, “Montagnais Marriage,” and Županov, Missionary Tropics, chapter 5.

15.  In contrast to divorce and polygyny, mixed marriages and marriages going against the Catholic interdictions of affinity were less pressing problems. The Jesuits found workable solutions for them by way of papal dispensations. For privileges regarding the disparity of cult, see “Facultas ad Dispensandum in Impedimento Disparitatis Cultus, ad Decennium,” 23 May 1616, BA-JA 49-V-5, 193r–193v, and “Japoniae, et Synarum Facultates,” ACDF, S.O., St. St., OO 5 a, 71r–96r. See also Margiotti, Il cattolicismo, 361, note 129. On the dispensations regarding affinity, see “Petunt Patres Societatis Jesus, qui versantur in Missionibus Indiae Orientalis …,” ACDF, S.O., St. St., E 4 f, 244r–244v, and Castelnau-L’Estoile, “Le mariage,” 102–3.

16.  See Couplet, “Breve relatione dello stato e qualità delle missioni,” ARSI, Jap. Sin. 125, 164r–199v, 190r, and PQD, 140r.

17.  See André Palmeiro to the father general, Macao, 20 December 1629, ARSI, F.G. 730, cited by Margiotti, Il cattolicismo, 360, note 124. See also Couplet, Histoire, 15.

18.  Martini, Novus Atlas Sinensis, vol. 1, 9.

19.  See Touboul-Bouyeure, “Famille chrétienne,” 968–69, as well as Margiotti, Il cattolicismo, 360, note 128.

20.  See Gabriel de Matos, “Ordens dos Vizitadores e Superiores universaes da Missao da China com algumas respostas de nosso R. P. Geral,” s.l., 1621, BA-JA 49-V-7, 217r–232r, 230v.

21.  PQD, 140r.

22.  Several Jesuit authors wrote accounts of the ceremonies observed during Chinese marriages (see, for instance, Fonti Ricciane, vol. 1, 85–87; Pantoja, Relatione dell’entrata, 54; and de Gouvea, Asia Extrema, vol. 1, 275–79). In the following, I refer to the account in Semedo, Histoire (106–7), which stands out for its great detail.

23.  Semedo, Histoire, 106.

24.  Semedo, Histoire, 106–7.

25.  See Fonti Ricciane, vol. 1, 94–95.

26.  See Couplet, Histoire, 12–13.

27.  See “Pluria alia dubia, et quaesita circa idem a variis proposita in pluribus foliis pro Missione,” ACDF, S.O., St. St., UV 47, 381r–381v. It seems that these accusations did not produce a response from the Roman Curia.

28.  See Couplet, Histoire, 13. That this suggestion was sometimes followed is testified to by the Annual Letter of 1661. See Johann Adam Schall von Bell, “Annua Pequinensis Antiquae Ecclesiae Societatis Jesus Anni 1661,” s.l. [Beijing?], s.d., BA-JA 49-V-15, 45r–54r, 48r–48v.

29.  See Dias Sr., “Litterae Annuae 1625,” 149–50.

30.  See Luiz Pinheiro, “Carta annua da V[ice]provincia da China do anno de 1654, Macao,” [Macao?], 3 December 1654, BA-JA 49-VI-61, 229r–326r, 314v.

31.  For one such case, see Rodriguo Girolamo Joann[is?], “Annua da China do anno de 1613 [sic],” Macao, 20 February 1615, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 113, 310r–331v, 323r.

32.  On the treatment of matrimony in Chinese catechetical literature, see HCC, 626. Matrimony also played a marginal role in European catechetical texts (see Holzem, “Familie und Familienideal,” 248). One significant omission in Chinese catechetical texts was that they did not cover premarital sexuality, a major topic in their European equivalents (see Holzem, “Familie und Familienideal,” 263–69). Because male premarital sexuality was widely accepted by the late Ming scholar-gentry (see Zurndorfer, “Prostitutes and Courtesans”), the Jesuits seem to have judged it premature to ask converts to change such habits.

33.  See Vagnone, Qijia xixue.

34.  On Vagnone’s time in Jiangzhou, see Margiotti, Il cattolicismo, 89–105.

35.  For an overview of Vagnone’s publications, see Pfister, Notices biographiques, 91–95. On Vagnone’s collaborative work with literati, see Meynard, “Aristotelian Ethics,” 146–47.

36.  These subjects allude to the three opening sentences of The Great Learning: “The ancients who wished to illustrate illustrious virtue throughout the kingdom, first governed well their own countries. Wishing to order well their countries, they first governed their families. Wishing to regulate their families, they first cultivated their persons.” See Verhaeren, “Un livre inédit du P. Vagnoni,” 39.

37.  See Huang, Negotiating Masculinities, 185–91, and Furth, “The Patriarch’s Legacy.”

38.  On European oeconomica texts, see Eibach and Schmidt-Voges, Das Haus, esp. 643–742.

39.  See Meynard, “Illustrations,” 112.

40.  A possible inspiration may have been Juan Luis Vives’s famous Advice for Husbands (see Vives, De Officio Mariti). For a broad analysis of the genre of marriage treatises, see Bake, Spiegel.

41.  See Vagnone, Qijia xixue, 505, 530. On the prevalence of those two analogies in European advice literature, see Bake, Spiegel, 69, 93. The comparison with the oxen was especially evident in Latin, because the Latin term for marriage (coniugium) literally referred to the yoke (iugium).

42.  See Vagnone, Qijia xixue, 496, 516. For the common use of these couples as negative examples in European treatises on marriage, see Bake, Spiegel, 224, 286.

43.  The respective Chinese names are Baladuo, Buluda[ge], Diarinuo, and Jiaduo.

44.  See Meynard, “Illustrations,” 115–16.

45.  Yi yin yi yang zhi wei dao. James Legge translates this phrase as “The successive movement of the inactive and active operations constitutes what is called the course (of things).” Legge, The Yî King, 355.

46.  Vagnone, Qijia xixue, 494. Vagnone’s interpretation of this formulation transformed yin and yang from alternating forces into clearly circumscribed entities that could be weighed against each other.

47.  Vagnone, Qijia xixue, 494–95. The reference is to the “Tuanzhuan” commentary on the jiaren (household) hexagram, which says that in this hexagram “the wife has her correct place in the inner (trigram), and the man his correct place in the outer.” Translation by Legge, The Yî King, 242.

48.  Vagnone, Qijia xixue, 503. The passage probably refers to Lunheng (Balanced inquiries), chapter 46, which states that “the man is yang and the woman is yin.” On the Thrice Following, see Ko, Teachers, 6.

49.  See Vagnone, Qijia xixue, 503. On this metaphor in European marriage literature, see Wunder, He Is the Sun, 9–10.

50.  On the debate, see Maihofer, “Die Querelle des femmes.” For the topos of dangerously uncontrolled women in early modern European popular culture, see Zemon Davis, “Women on Top.”

51.  For an example of the manual’s misogynist stories, see Vagnone, Qijia xixue, 510–11.

52.  Many authors of household instructions saw women, who entered their husbands’ families as strangers, as a threat to the patrilineal family and warned male family members against the “divisive influence of wives” (Furth, “The Patriarch’s Legacy,” 196–97). The misogynist stances within household regulations thus reflected women’s problematic place within the Chinese family system. See Huang, Negotiating Masculinity, 187, and Bossler, “ ‘A Daughter,’ ” 77.

53.  Vagnone, Qijia xixue, 495.

54.  Vagnone, Qijia xixue, 530.

55.  Vagnone, Qijia xixue, 496–97, 500. The idea that marriage was a misfortune for a man was a classical topos of the querelle des femmes. See Roth, “An uxor ducenda.”

56.  On Catholic views on marriage, see Signori, Von der Paradiesehe, 55–56.

57.  Vagnone, Qijia xixue, 504.

58.  See Vagnone, Qijia xixue, 497–99.

59.  On the concept of the inner helpmate, see Ebrey, The Inner Quarters, chapter 6. On the “cult of qing,” see Ko, Teachers, 18, 69–111.

60.  Vagnone, Qijia xixue, 494.

61.  Even a close collaborator and admirer of Vagnone, the Jiangzhou Christian Han Lin, in his Book of the Bell (Duoshu, 1641), disapproved of families in which the spouses were closer to each other than the father was to the son. See Sun and Xiao, “Duo shu” jiao zhu, 65.

62.  Manuel Dias Sr., “Informatione … circa il matrimonio,” s.l., s.d., ACDF, S.O., St. St., D 4 a, 187r–189r, 187r. It is difficult to assess how frequently divorce was actually practiced in Chinese society. It is, however, probable that it was more frequent in the lower strata of society because men of humble financial means were unable to buy concubines (see Ebrey, The Inner Quarters, 258). On the illegal, but apparently rather frequent, practice of wife-selling, see Sommer, Sex, Law, and Society, 57–64.

63.  Manuel Dias Sr., “Informatione … circa il matrimonio,” s.l., s.d., ACDF, S.O., St. St., D 4 a, 187r–189r, 189r. On the Pauline Privilege, see von Collani, “Mission and Matrimony,” 17.

64.  For an overview of how early modern Catholic missionaries tackled this question, see Castelnau-L’Estoile, “Le mariage.”

65.  See Castelnau-L’Estoile, “Le mariage,” 96.

66.  See Castelnau-L’Estoile, “Le mariage,” 100–102.

67.  The indissolubility of marriages had already been discussed in Japan during the sixteenth century, where no consensus was reached. See López Gay, El matrimonio, 19.

68.  Semedo, Histoire, 99. This sentence was not included in the Spanish edition. See Semedo, Imperio de la China, 161–67.

69.  See Fonti Ricciane, vol. 1, 85, and Pantoja, Relatione dell’entrata, 54.

70.  Intorcetta, “De Matrimonio Sinensium,” 24 July 1668, ARSI, Opp. NN. 147–48, 1r–15v, 14v.

71.  In this regard, Intorcetta’s defense of Chinese marriage resembled the position of missionaries in the New World who wanted to show that the Indians were ready for conversion. See Castelnau-L’Estoile, “Le mariage,” 104.

72.  See PQD, 140r.

73.  See Navarrete, Tratados historicos, 72. Nicolas Trigault had, indeed, presented Manuel Dias’s “Information … about Marriage” to the Roman College, whose theologians explained that the Chinese law’s justification of divorce was “against the essence of marriage” and that Chinese marriages were therefore invalid. This response was transmitted in Nicolas Trigault to Francesco Pasio, Rome, 21 March 1614, BA-JA 49-V-5, 151v–152r.

74.  See Navarrete, Tratados historicos, 72.

75.  See Cummins, A Question of Rites, 179.

76.  Navarrete, Tratados historicos, 497.

77.  See Intorcetta, “De Matrimonio Sinensium,” 24 July 1668, ARSI, Opp. NN. 147–48, 1r–15v, 14v.

78.  See Intorcetta, “De Matrimonio Sinensium,” 24 July 1668, ARSI, Opp. NN. 147–48, 1r–15v, 10v.

79.  Intorcetta, “De Matrimonio Sinensium,” 24 July 1668, ARSI, Opp. NN. 147–48, 1r–15v, 6v. Intorcetta provided a (fairly accurate) translation of the phrase “Yi yu zhi qi, zhongshen bu gai. Gu fu si bu jia.” Zheng, Liji, vol. 3, juan 8, 10a. James Legge has translated this phrase as “Once mated [joined (qi)] with her husband, [the wife will] all her life not change (her feeling of duty to him), and hence, when the husband dies she will not marry (again).” Legge, The Lî Kî, part 1, 439.

80.  See Zheng, Liji, vol. 3, juan 8, 10a.

81.  Intorcetta, “De Matrimonio Sinensium,” 24 July 1668, ARSI, Opp. NN. 147–48, 1r–15v, 6v.

82.  On Four Books for Women, a Ming-period collection including four classical moral treatises written by women for women, see Kelleher, “Confucianism,” 158.

83.  See Intorcetta, “De Matrimonio Sinensium,” 24 July 1668, ARSI, Opp. NN. 147–48, 1r–15v, 10r. The Chinese characters rendered by Intorcetta are identical with the wording in The Complete Collection of Illustrations and Writings from Ancient and Modern Times. See Chen and Jiang, Gujin tushu jicheng, “Guiyuan dian,” juan 3, 3a. Translation adapted from Ebrey, “The Book,” 59. For information on the Nü xiaojing, see Ebrey, “The Book,” 47–49.

84.  Intorcetta, “De Matrimonio Sinensium,” 24 July 1668, ARSI, Opp. NN. 147–48, 1r–15v, 10r. The injunction is taken from the “Jinsheng” chapter. See Fan, Houhan shu, 2784–91. On Ban Zhao, see Raphals, Sharing the Light, 236–46. On Ban’s legacy in the late imperial period, see Mann, Precious Records, 78–80.

85.  See Meynard, Confucius Sinarum Philosophus.

86.  Navarrete, Tratados historicos, 497.

87.  López Gay, El matrimonio, 19. On the Holy Office’s strategy of nondecision, see Windler, “Uneindeutige Zugehörigkeiten,” 334–39.

88.  The polygyny of China’s sage kings was a thorny issue. To state that polygyny had made Yao and Shun endure hell insulted the Chinese (see, for instance, Xu, Shengchao zuopi, 17b–18a). Jesuits therefore chose their words prudently when speaking about the issue. See, for instance, Zürcher, Kouduo richao, vol. 1, 345–47.

89.  Since the ceremonies with which a concubine was welcomed to her master’s house were far less formal than those accompanying marriage to the legitimate wife, the term polygyny is preferable to polygamy (see McMahon, Polygyny, and Bray, Technology and Gender, 351–58). On the institution of polygyny in late imperial China, see Sheieh, Concubines. On Chinese polygyny and Catholicism, see Amsler, “ ‘Ein yin, ein yang’?”; Touboul-Bouyeure, “Famille chrétienne,” 958–61; HCC, 659–67; Kang, “Lun Ming Qing”; and Tian, “Mingmo tianzhujiao.”

90.  See Huang, “Rujiahua de tianzhujiaotu.”

91.  Matteo Ricci to Girolamo Costa, Beijing, 10 May 1605, in Ricci, Lettere, 395–400, 397. See also Francisco de Petris to Claudio Acquaviva, 15 November 1592, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 11 II, 341r–342r.

92.  See Francisco Furtado, “Carta Annua da China,” Hangzhou, 1622, BA-JA 49-V-5, 309r–325v, 320r–320v; João Froes, “Annua da V[ice]provincia da China do anno de 1633,” s.l. [Hangzhou?], 20 September 1634, BA-JA 49-V-11, 1r–99v, 16v; Niccolò Longobardo, “Annua [1609?],” Shaozhou, 21 December 1609, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 113, 91r–104v, 91v.

93.  See Couplet, Histoire, 122–23, and Francisco Pimentel, “Breve relação da jornada que fez a Corte de Pekim o Senhor Manoel de Saldanha Embaxador extraordinario del Rey de Portugal ao Emperador da China e Tartaria,” s.l., s.d. [1670], BA-JA 49-VI-62, 715r–732r, 731v. On Tong Guoqi, see Crossley, A Translucent Mirror, 111–13. Unlike principal wives, concubines were usually only admitted to baptism if they made a vow of chastity. See Duteil, “L’évangélisation et les femmes,” 250; and anon., “Annua da Viceprovincia da China de 1629,” s.l., s.d., ARSI, Jap. Sin. 115 I, 197r–207v, 203r. For a Catholic girl to be married as a concubine was, in the view of the missionaries, tantamount to apostasy. See Gabriel de Magalhães, “Annuas das Rezidencias do Norte da Viceprovincia da China do anno 1658,” Beijing, 20 September 1659, BA-JA 49-V-14, 224r–265v, 259r.

94.  Conversion to Christianity in China often “involved the addition of beliefs and practices, not their replacement.” See Jordan, “The Glyphomancy Factor,” 294.

95.  See Standaert, The Interweaving of Rituals, 226–27.

96.  Standaert, Yang Tingyun, 54.

97.  For two such cases, see Couplet, “Litterae Annuae Vice-Provinciae Sinicae ab 1677 ad 1680,” s.l., s.d., ARSI, Jap. Sin. 116, 214r–275v, 240v, and Lazzaro Cattaneo, “Annua da Vice-Provincia da China de 1629,” s.l., 12 September 1631, BA-JA 49-V-8, 581r–593v, 598r.

98.  Spence, Return, 103.

99.  See, for instance, André Ferram, “Annua da Vice-Provincia da China [1656],” Macao, 29 January 1659, BA-JA 49-V-14, 62r–93r, 64r. For an opponent criticizing the Jesuits for encouraging people to repudiate their concubines, see Xu, Shengchao zuopi, 18a.

100.  See Couplet, “Litterae Annuae Vice-Provinciae Sinicae ab 1677 ad 1680,” s.l., s.d., ARSI, Jap. Sin. 116, 214r–275v, 254r, and Francesco Furtado, “Annua della Viceprovincia della Cina del 1643,” Beijing, 24 December 1643, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 119, 1r–20v, 13r.

101.  See João Froes, “Annua da Viceprovincia da China do anno de 1632,” Hangzhou, 1 August 1633, BA-JA 49-V-10, 76r–130r, 87r–87v, quotation 87v.

102.  See André Ferram, “Annua da Vice-Provincia da China [1656],” Macao, 29 January 1659, BA-JA 49-V-14, 62r–93r, 75r, 89r.

103.  On Wang Zheng, see Huang, “Rujiahua de tianzhujiaotu,” and Peterson, “Learning from Heaven,” 124–26.

104.  Wang, Qiqing jiezui qigao, 834. Situations such as that encountered by Wang Zheng could also occur in less affluent families. See anon., “Carta Annua do Collegio de Macao e Missao das Residencias de Cantao do anno de 1692,” s.l., s.d., BA-JA 49-V-22, 97r–125r.

105.  See Fonti Ricciane, vol. 1, 86–87, and Pantoja, Relatione dell’entrata, 54.

106.  Semedo, Histoire, 104.

107.  Semedo, Histoire, 104–5.

108.  Semedo, Histoire, 104–5. Society, indeed, expected literati to take a concubine after examination success or career advancement, as is shown by Xu Guangqi’s example. See Fonti Ricciane, vol. 2, 252–53. Literati were sometimes, furthermore, presented with concubines by friends. See João Monteiro, “Annua da Viceprov[inci]a da China do anno de 1637,” s.l., 16 October 1638, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 115 II, 369r–435v, 401v.

109.  For an analysis of The Seven Victories in the context of late Ming moral books (shanshu), see Waltner, “Demerits.”

110.  The Jesuits often compared the Chinese with the Hebrews, who also practiced polygyny due to extraordinary consideration for the continuation of the descent line. See, for instance, André Ferram, “Annua da Vice-Provincia da China [1656],” Macao, 29 January 1659, BA-JA 49-V-14, 62r–93r, 89r.

111.  Pantoja, Qike, 1043.

112.  Mish, “Creating an Image,” Chinese text 16, English translation 58.

113.  See Pantoja, Qike, 1044–48; Fonti Ricciane, vol. 1, 98.

114.  See Brancati, Tianshen huike, 113. By labeling concubine marriage a breach of filiality toward the Christian God, Brancati promoted a Christian understanding of filiality that had already been proposed by Matteo Ricci (see chapter 1).

115.  See Castelnau-L’Estoile, “Le mariage,” 105.

116.  See Ebrey, The Inner Quarters, 225, passim.

117.  See Diogo Antunes, “Annua do Collegio da Madre de D[io]s da Comp[anhi]a de Jesu de Machao, e Residençias da China do anno de [1]602,” s.l., 29 January 1603, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 46, 318r–322v, 321r.

118.  Manuel Dias Sr., “Informatione … circa il matrimonio,” s.l., s.d., ACDF, S.O., St. St., D 4 a, 187r–189r, 188v.

119.  See Manuel Dias Sr., “Informatione … circa il matrimonio,” s.l., s.d., ACDF, S.O., St. St., D 4 a, 187r–189r, 189r. For the Jesuits’ criticism of the treatment of concubines as servants, see Pantoja, Qike, 1046.

120.  See Thomas-Ignatius Dunyn-Szpot, “Historia Sinarum Imperii, 1580–1640,” ARSI, Jap. Sin. 102, 174r–174v; Standaert, Yang Tingyun, 54; and Trigault, “Lettera Annua della Cina del 1611,” 135.

121.  Sending a woman back to her native family (gui zong) was especially dishonorable; the practice often served as penalty for adulterous women. See Sommer, Sex, Law, and Society, 174.

122.  See Niccolò Longobardo, “Appontamentos a cerca da Ide do nosso P[adr]e Procurador a Roma,” Nanxiong, 8 May 1613, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 113, 301r–309r, 304v–305r. Longobardo’s proposal is interesting because it conceptualizes moral norms as personal, interiorized norms.

123.  In 1612 Longobardo had already addressed the Society’s visitor of Japan and China, Francesco Pasio, asking for the same dispensation. See Niccolò Longobardo, “Informação da Missao da China, pera o P[ad]re Fran[cisco] Pasio da Comp[anhia] de Jesu, Visitador de Japao e China,” Nanxiong, 20 November 1612, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 113, 265r–281r, 269r.

124.  See the protocol of the Congregatio Particularis held on 28 January 1669, Acta CP, 1A, 25r–34r, 31r, and Pierre Brindeau (Missions Étrangères de Paris, MEP), “Relatio Cuiusdam Missionarii … de Partibus, et Regnis Chinae Anno 1670,” s.l., s.d., BAV, Borg. Lat., Ms. 93, 136r–194r, 193v–194r.

125.  That women were of secondary importance has also been stated by Touboul-Bouyeure, “Famille chrétienne,” 960.

5. Praying for Progeny

1.  On the killing of female infants, see King, Between Birth and Death; Mungello, Drowning Girls; and Sachdev, “Contextualizing Female Infanticide.”

2.  See Bray, Technology and Gender, part 3.

3.  On Chinese naming practices, see Watson, “The Named,” 626–27. Margery Wolf has argued that motherhood was also an important way for a woman to create her own network within the family (Wolf, Women and the Family, esp. chapter 3). For, while the bond between husbands and wives was usually weak, strong emotional bonds could be forged between mothers and sons.

4.  See Ebrey, The Inner Quarters, chapter 9. The dangers and contingencies of childbirth made it a ritually polluting event. See Ahern, “The Power and Pollution.”

5.  On medical pluralism in late imperial China, see Wu, Reproducing Women, 18. On similar phenomena in premodern Europe, see Gentilcore, Healers and Healing.

6.  See Wicks, “The Art of Deliverance.” For an ethnographic case study, see Overmyer, Local Religion, 11, 14, 175–76. For a Catholic literatus’s criticism of Buddhist rituals performed to ensure male offspring, see Zürcher, “Xu Guangqi,” 161.

7.  See Furth, A Flourishing Yin, 106–16.

8.  See Wu, Reproducing Women, 18.

9.  See Furth, A Flourishing Yin, 106–16; on the disappearance of ritual obstetrics during the Ming, see 174–75. On the important role played by various sorts of religious and nonreligious female healers who specialized in childbirth, see Wu, Reproducing Women, 18–19, 178–86.

10.  See Spence, Return, 78. The bodhisattva Guanyin will be a recurrent theme in what follows. She was the Chinese transformation of the Indian bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, whose gender changed from male to female in the process of Sinification. See Yü, Kuan-yin.

11.  See Wu, Reproducing Women, 54–65.

12.  On Jesuits in China as medical specialists, see Zhang, “The Metaphor of Illness.” Interestingly, this study of French Jesuits’ medical work in eighteenth-century Fujian shows that women and children made up the largest group of patients treated by the missionaries (591).

13.  See Ruggieri and Ricci, Dicionário Português-Chinês.

14.  Spiritual remedy (remedio spiritual) is a term used by the Jesuits to designate devotions and devotional objects that people turned to for solving a particular problem or illness (see, for instance, João Froes, “Annua da Provincia da China do anno de 1631,” s.l., s.d., BA-JA 49-V-10, 1r–32v, 24v). They fit well into the devotions classified by Adam Yuet Chau as the “immediate-practical modality” of doing religion (see Chau, “Modalities of Doing Religion,” 551–52).

15.  This convergence was not readily acknowledged by the missionaries, who often ridiculed Chinese efficacy-based religiosity, pointing to the lack of respect paid by Chinese deities to their “false gods.” See, for instance, Boxer, South China, 215.

16.  On Chinese ideas of efficacious response (ling), see Chau, “Efficacy, Not Confessionality”; idem, “Modalities of Doing Religion”; and Sangren, History and Magical Power. On Catholic sacramentals (sacramentalia), that is, objects and rituals that were used as spiritual remedies against the adversities of everyday life, see von Thiessen, Die Kapuziner, 411–49; Hersche, Muße und Verschwendung, vol. 2, 873–79; and Kürzeder, Als die Dinge.

17.  See Chau, “Modalities of Doing Religion,” 549.

18.  See Furth, A Flourishing Yin, 274–75. For a discussion of Buddhist medical specialists treating women in their homes, see Chen, “Buddhism,” esp. 282–84.

19.  Juan Antonio Arnedo, “Litterae Annuae Missionis Sinicae ab Anno 1685 ad An[num] 1690,” Ganzhou, 30 September 1691, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 117, 203r–228v, 205v.

20.  Manuel Dias the Elder reported this story, with minor differences, in two different annual letters. See Manuel Dias Sr., “Carta Annua da Missam da China do anno de 1618,” Macao, 7 December 1618, BA-JA 49-V-5, 232v–264v, 263r, and idem, “Litterae Annuae 1619,” 87–88.

21.  The approach focusing on Chinese women’s uses of Catholic sacred objects hinges on recent research on material culture. The latter proposes understanding objects as expressions of relations among people (see Findlen, “Early Modern Things,” 5). It points to the social construction of religious objects’ efficacy (see Bynum, Christian Materiality) and demonstrates that objects are gendered in various ways (see Kirkham and Attfield, introduction to The Gendered Object).

22.  Matteo Ricci to Ludovico Maselli, Zhaoqing, 20 October 1586, in Ricci, Lettere, 123.

23.  The city prefect was Wang Pan, a devout Buddhist who acted as a patron for the Jesuits during the early decades of the mission. See Hsia, A Jesuit, 79–112, passim, and esp. 88 (on the birth of a son to Wang).

24.  Thomas-Ignatius Dunyn-Szpot, “Historia Sinarum Imperii, 1580–1640,” ARSI, Jap. Sin. 102, 84v–85r. That Chinese observers sometimes indeed mistook the Holy Virgin for the Christian God is suggested by a passage in the History of Poems without Words (Wusheng shishi, ca. 1640) by Jiang Shaoshu, who wrote that “Li Madou [Matteo Ricci] brought from the Western Regions an image of the Lord of Heaven, being a woman holding a small boy.” Translation by Clunas, Pictures and Visuality, 177.

25.  See Pedro Canevari, “Pontos da Annua de Ciuen Cheu do anno de 1643,” Quanzhou, 30 December 1643, BNP, CÓD. 722, 256r–265r, 262v.

26.  See João Monteiro, “Annuae Sin[ae] 1639,” s.l., 8 October 1640, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 121, 221r–313r, 282r.

27.  On paintings of the Virgin brought to China by the first Jesuits, and the reproductions made by Chinese converts and others, see Spence, The Memory Palace, 245–47. For two Chinese paintings of the Christian Virgin, see Schüller, Die Geschichte, 19–21, and Clarke, The Virgin Mary, 212, note 98. On Chinese reprints of European devotional pictures and their circulation via temple fairs and book markets, see HCC, 811, and Clunas, Pictures and Visuality, 173.

28.  Guanyin’s son-granting power was praised in the twenty-fifth chapter of the Lotus Sutra. See Wicks, “The Art of Deliverance,” 139, and Yü, Kuan-yin, 259. The resemblance between depictions of the Holy Virgin and Guanyin was also remarked upon by Catholic missionaries. See Las Cortes, Le voyage en Chine, 131, and Boxer, South China, 213.

29.  On Guanyin’s power to facilitate conception and childbearing, see Reed, “The Gender Symbolism,” esp. 166–70. On iconographical similarities between Guanyin and the Virgin Mary, see Bailey, Art on the Jesuit Missions, 89; Laamann, “Von Bodhisattva Guanyin”; and Song, “Between Bodhisattva and Christian Deity.” Specialists of Buddhist art assume that the iconography of the son-granting Guanyin developed under the influence of the European Marian iconography that had reached China by that time. See Yü, Kuan-yin, 258–59.

30.  In particular, “Holy Mother” was also a common title of address for the famous son-granting “Lady of the Azure Cloud” (Bixia Yuanjun) revered on Mount Tai. See Sangren, “Female Gender,” 9 (for titles of address), and Pomeranz, “Power, Gender, and Pluralism,” 193 (for the deity’s son-granting power). For an anthropological study of one single child-protecting goddess, see also Baptandier, The Lady of Linshui. On the multiplicity of Chinese local goddesses, see Watson, “Standardizing the Gods,” 298–99.

31.  Niccolò Longobardo to [?], Shaozhou, 18 October 1598, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 13 I, 174r–177v, 177r.

32.  See Vagnone, Shengmu xingshi, 1497–1503. For an analysis of this chapter from the perspective of literary studies, see Li, “San mian Maliya,” 185–91.

33.  For the terms dali and ling, which were usually also applied to describe the power of non-Catholic deities, see Vagnone, Shengmu xingshi, 1502. On the phenomenon of the miraculous revival of stillborn children in Catholic Europe, see Gélis, Les enfants des Limbes.

34.  As a case in point, the Atlas Marianus (1672, first edition 1655), a compendium of approximately twelve hundred Marian miracle tales published by the German Jesuit Wilhelm Gumppenberg, registers only two miracles connected with delivery (Gumppenberg, Atlas Marianus, 571, 894).

35.  Vagnone, Shengmu xingshi, 1489–99. This passage is also cited in Li, “San mian Maliya,” 185.

36.  Vagnone, Shengmu xingshi, 1502. It is possible that this comment relates to a local cult of relics that Vagnone knew of from his years as a student of theology in Milan (see Pfister, Notices biographiques, 85). On the relics of the Infant Jesus, see Oosterwijk, “The Swaddling Clothes.”

37.  On the pictures displayed in Rules for Reciting the Rosary and their adaptation to Chinese visual conventions, see Qu, “Song Nianzhu Guicheng.” For reflections on these pictures’ relationship to Chinese elite women’s religiosity, see Lin, “Seeing the Place.”

38.  On parallels between Catholic vows (vota) and the Chinese vows (xuyuan, huanyuan), see Li, “San mian Maliya,” 187.

39.  See Wicks, “The Art of Deliverance,” 139 (on prayers), and Overmyer, Local Religion, 175 (on vows taken by son-seeking women).

40.  On how Chinese female deities were worshipped predominantly by women, see Sangren, “Female Gender.”

41.  Alternative expressions for nomen and imago were firma (“signature”) and veronica. See Alfonso Vagnone and Michel Trigault, “Annua da Caza Kiam cheu de 1639,” s.l. [Jiangzhou], s.d., BA-JA 49-V-12, 431r–438r, 434r.

42.  Nomina printed on paper are mentioned in Kirwitzer, “Litterae Annuae 1624,” 99. These probably resembled prayer cards used in post-Tridentine Europe (see Kürzeder, Als die Dinge, 171–77).

43.  A medal is mentioned in João Frois, “Carta Annua da Missao da China do anno de 1634,” Hangzhou, 8 September 1634, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 115 II, 266r–317r, 304v. It was usual for Jesuits who were sent to China to carry relics in their baggage (see Spence, The Memory Palace, 238). Relics of St. Ignatius are referred to in the writings of Johann Adam Schall von Bell. See Schall von Bell, De Ortu et Progressu Fidei, 269–71.

44.  See Dias Sr., “Litterae Annuae 1619,” 52–55; João Froes, “Annua da Provincia da China do anno de 1631,” s.l., s.d., BA-JA 49-V-10, 1r–32v, 24v; Alfonso Vagnone and Michel Trigault, “Annua da Caza Kiam cheu de 1639,” s.l. [Jiangzhou], s.d., BA-JA 49-V-12, 431r–438r, 434r; anon., “Annuas do Chan cheu Prov[incia] Kiamsi dos annos 1658, [16]59, e [16]60,” s.l., s.d., BA-JA 49-V-14, 555r–555v, 648r–658v; Juan Antonio Arnedo, “Litterae Annuae Missionis Sinicae ab Anno 1685 ad An[num] 1690,” Ganzhou, 30 September 1691, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 117, 203r–228v, 205v.

45.  See João Froes, “Annua da V[ice]provincia da China do anno de 1633,” s.l. [Hangzhou?], 20 September 1634, BA-JA 49-V-11, 1r–99v, 25r (Shanxi) and 91v (Fujian).

46.  It is noteworthy that St. Francis-Xavier, the first Jesuit missionary to China, who was known for his efficacious intercession during childbirth in Europe (see Schreiber, “Heilige Wasser”), did not figure as a patron saint of parturient women in China.

47.  The first recorded case of Ignatian intervention during childbirth dates back to the early 1600s, when the Roman noblewoman Vittoria Delfina Altieri, mother of the future pope Clemens X, was rescued from perilous bloodshed during delivery after she was provided with an image of Ignatius by her confessor. See Bartoli, Della vita, vol. 5, 580–81.

48.  The Ignatian devotion of parturient women in German-speaking countries has been particularly well researched. See Schreiber, “Heilige Wasser,” 203, and Sieber, Jesuitische Missionierung, 124, passim. However, Ignatian sacramentals were also used in Italy, Spain, and France as remedies during difficult childbirth. See Bartoli, Della vita, vol. 5, 582, passim.

49.  See von Thiessen, Die Kapuziner, 428–29.

50.  See Harrison, “Rethinking Missionaries and Medicine,” 138–39.

51.  See Furth, A Flourishing Yin, 117–18, 175. The swallowing of small images of saints was also practiced by early modern Catholics. See Kürzeder, Als die Dinge, 78, note 249; 129–30.

52.  See von Thiessen, Die Kapuziner, 425, 439. On the ways European Jesuits used popular religious culture when introducing post-Tridentine sacramentals, see Johnson, “Blood, Tears, and Xavier-Water,” 198.

53.  Hagiographic writing on St. Ignatius supports the view that the use of Ignatian sacramentals in China can be understood as not merely the result of a transfer of European religious culture to China but rather the result of a single process of dissemination of post-Tridentine religious culture on a global scale. Vigilio Nolarci’s Compendio della vita di S. Ignatio, dating from 1680, contained birth and pregnancy miracle stories worked by the saint from various European countries, but also from Tenerife (Canary Islands), Persia, and the Philippines, testifying to how devotion to Ignatius as an intercessor for birthing women had spread globally by the close of the seventeenth century.

54.  Vagnone, Tianzhu shengjiao shengren xingshi, juan 4, 45a.

55.  On the birth chamber as a strictly female space and how ritual knowledge and objects concerning childbirth were passed on in predominantly female networks, see Furth, “The Patriarch’s Legacy,” 202. In this respect, social practices surrounding birth in seventeenth-century China closely resembled practices in contemporary Europe. See Rublack, “Pregnancy.”

56.  Dias Sr., “Litterae Annuae 1619,” 52.

57.  Such was, indeed, also the case with the Hangzhou woman, who became Catholic after being saved by the sacramental.

6. Domestic Communities

1.  The first volume of the Handbook of Christianity in China uses the christianitas concept for the analysis of Christian communities, following Joseph Dehergne’s definition of “Christian community.” See HCC, 536–37. On the Chinese Catholic ritual community, see Standaert, The Interweaving of Rituals, 110–15.

2.  For discussion of one such huigui, see Brockey, Journey, 388–92.

3.  See Väth, “Die Marianischen Kongregationen,” and, on Marian congregations in Europe, Châtellier, L’Europe des dévots.

4.  Standaert, The Interweaving of Rituals, 111. See also Brockey, Journey, 328–401. This differentiation, however, did not apply to women’s congregations.

5.  See Brockey, Journey, 332–33.

6.  The term communities of effective rituals is introduced in Standaert, The Interweaving of Rituals, 222–28.

7.  See anon., “Pontos da annua do Singan fu Metropoli da Provincia Xen si anno de 1649,” s.l., s.d., BA-JA 49-V-13, 493r–502r, 496v. See also Gabriel de Magalhães, “Annua das Residencias do Norte da Provincia da China anno de 1659,” Beijing, 20 November 1661, BA-JA 49-V-14, 513v–551r, 547r–547v.

8.  See Standaert, Yang Tingyun, 63–64.

9.  See Smith, The Art of Doing Good, 5–6. On gentry women’s participation in poetry clubs, see Ko, Teachers, 232–42.

10.  For one case of especially close links between a Catholic men’s congregation and a benevolent society, see Zürcher, “Christian Social Action.”

11.  This increase in women’s lay Buddhist congregations is particularly true for the urbanized lower Yangzi. See Yü, The Renewal, 91.

12.  See Dudbridge, “Women Pilgrims.”

13.  On women’s lay Buddhist associations in twentieth-century China and Taiwan, see Sangren, “Female Gender,” 8, passim. On extra-domestic autonomy, see Dudbridge, “Women Pilgrims”; Zhou, “The Hearth”; Zhao, Kuanghuan yu richang, 259–96; and Naquin, Peking, 278–80.

14.  On the rivalry between Jesuits and indigenous religious specialists, see Brockey, Journey, 410.

15.  Manuel Dias Jr., “Annua 1627,” Shanghai, 9 May 1628, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 115 I, 119r–153v, 146r. Pusa is the Chinese term for bodhisattva. Amida (Sanskrit: Amithaba) is spelled by Monteiro “o mi to fe,” which refers to the Chinese Amituofo. See João Monteiro, “Annua da Viceprov[inci]a da China do anno de 1637,” s.l., 16 October 1638, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 115 II, 369r–435v, 379r.

16.  On vegetarianism, see, inter alia, João da Costa, “Annua da Christandade da China do anno de 1614,” s.l., 10 August 1615, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 113, 372r–392r, 377r; Dias Sr., “Litterae Annuae 1619,” 74; and Bartolomeo da Costa, “Carta Anua do Collegio de Macao, e rezidencias a elle anexas … de [16]63, e [16]64,” Macao, 21 November 1664, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 22, 183r–187r, 185v. Vegetarianism was also an aspect of Taoist “inner alchemy” (neidan; see Mann, Precious Records, 71), and it is therefore not always clear whether these examples refer to Buddhist practices. On Chinese women’s recitation of the Buddha’s name, see João Monteiro, “Annua da Viceprov[inci]a da China do anno de 1637,” s.l., 16 October 1638, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 115 II, 369r–435v, 379r.

17.  On women’s contact with Buddhist monks, see Alfonso Vagnone, “Annua della China del 1618,” Macao, 20 November 1618, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 114, 152r–163v, 160r–160v. The expression “pagodenta” is recurrent in the writings of the Jesuits. See, for instance, Manuel Dias Jr., “Annua 1627,” Shanghai, 9 May 1628, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 115 I, 119r–159v, 127v. It is difficult to ascertain the nature of the Chinese group hidden behind this expression, but it is probable that it refers to some sort of women’s lay Buddhist congregations, even more so because the sources sometimes mention that the members of these “diabolical confraternities” often maintained a strictly vegetarian diet.

18.  See, for instance, João Monteiro, “Annua da Viceprov[inci]a da China do anno de 1637,” s.l., 16 October 1638, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 115 II, 369r–435v, 415v.

19.  See João Monteiro, “Annua della Viceprovincia della Cina dell’anno 1641,” s.l., 7 September 1642, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 118, 5v.

20.  Thomas-Ignatius Dunyn-Szpot, “Historia Sinarum Imperii, 1641–1687,” ARSI, Jap. Sin. 103, 7v.

21.  Thomas-Ignatius Dunyn-Szpot, “Historia Sinarum Imperii, 1641–1687,” ARSI, Jap. Sin. 103, 8r.

22.  See anon., “Annua da Caza de Ham cheu del 1645,” s.l. [Hangzhou], s.d., BNP, CÓD. 722, 298r–304r, 302r.

23.  See Inácio da Costa, “Annua da Viceprov[inci]a do Norte do ano 1647,” s.l., s.d., ARSI, Jap. Sin. 122, 282r–304r, 288v. The transformation of congregations from non-Catholic to Catholic took place mainly among female organizations (for one exception, see anon., “Annua da Residencia de Han Chum na Provincia de Xen Si anno de 1644,” s.l., s.d., BA-JA 49-V-13, 205r–213r, 212v). That was probably because men were often involved in the worship of territorial deities, whose close links with the political organization of the community precluded their replacement with a different cult (see Sangren, “Female Gender”).

24.  The annual letters of earlier periods report the conversion of single members of “idolatrous congregations” but not the conversion of whole congregations. See, for instance, Nicolas Trigault, [“Littera Annua 1612?”], Cochinchina, 1613, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 117, 2r–10v, 6v. On the mid-seventeenth-century crisis in China, see Struve, Voices, 2.

25.  On Buddhist groups’ activities, see Zhao, Kuanghuan yu richang, 259–96, and Mann, Precious Records, 188, passim.

26.  See Sangren, “Female Gender,” 17, and Naquin, Peking, 278–80, 555–58.

27.  See Huang, “Christian Communities,” 10.

28.  See Lazzaro Cattaneo, “Annuae Sin[ae] 1630,” s.l., 12 September 1631, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 121, 132r–141r, 136v.

29.  For early references to women’s congregations, see Ricci, “Litterae Annuae 1606–1607,” 180–81, and Francisco Furtado, “Annuae Sinae et Cochinchina[e] 1618,” Macao, 1 November 1620, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 114, 220r–233r, 228r. See also Margiotti, “Congregazioni mariane,” 134 (on a 1611 foundation in Nanjing). On the multiplication of congregations during the 1630s, see Brockey, Journey, 275.

30.  Anon., “Breve relação da Christandade da Corte de Pekim,” s.l., s.d. [1692], BA-JA 49-V-22, 140r–145v, 141v.

31.  See Inácio da Costa, “Annua da Viceprov[incia] do Norte na China do ano 1647,” s.l., s.d., ARSI, Jap. Sin. 122, 282r–304r, 285v–286r. There are, however, references to separate congregations for women in rural areas. See, for instance, André Ferram, “Annua da Vice-Provincia da China [1656],” Macao, 29 January 1659, BA-JA 49-V-14, 62r–93r, 68v.

32.  For an early reference, see Kirwitzer, “Litterae Annuae 1620,” 138–39.

33.  On male huizhang, see Brockey, Journey, 343. For the terms for female lay leaders in European languages, see Gaspare Ferreira, “Missione fatta a certi luoghi vicini [di Beijing],” in Ricci, Lettere, 431–54, 447.

34.  See Gaspare Ferreira, “Missione fatta a certi luoghi vicini [di Beijing],” in Ricci, Lettere, 431–54, 447.

35.  Fonti Ricciane, vol. 2, 249–50.

36.  See Juan Antonio Arnedo, “Litterae Annuae Missionis Sinicae ab Anno 1685 ad An[num] 1690,” Ganzhou, 30 September 1691, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 117, 205v.

37.  P. Steven Sangren has argued that Chinese elderly women’s religious activities should be seen as a form of “ritual postparenthood,” which provided women’s lives with a new center of gravity after their children had grown up. See Sangren, “Female Gender,” 17. On the noble origin of leaders of women’s congregations, see Gaspare Ferreira, “Missione fatta a certi luoghi vicini [di Beijing],” in Ricci, Lettere, 431–54, 447.

38.  On female congregational leaders’ charity, see Francisco Furtado, “Annua delle Provincie della Cina spettanti al Norte del 1643,” Beijing, 10 August 1643, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 119, 21r–38r, 32r–32v.

39.  See Zürcher, “The Jesuit Mission,” 419.

40.  See João Froes, “Annua da V[ice]provincia da China do anno de 1633,” s.l. [Hangzhou?], 20 September 1634, BA-JA 49-V-11, 1r–99v, 13v. See also José Soares, “Annuae Litterae Collegii Pekinensis. Ab Exitu Julii Anni 1694 ad Finem Usque Julii Anni 1697,” Beijing, 2 July 1697, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 116, 277r–301v, 279r.

41.  See anon., “Annua da Viceprovincia do Norte dos annos 1643, 1644, 1645,” s.l., s.d., BA-JA 49-V-13, 102v–122r, 116r; anon., “Pontos da Annua da Caza de Ham cheu de 1648,” s.l. [Hangzhou], s.d., BA-JA 49-V-13, 609r–612v, 609r. See also Standaert, The Interweaving of Rituals, 112.

42.  See Bernardus Regius, “Annuae ex V[ice]provincia Sinarum An[no] 1629,” s.l., s.d., BA-JA 49-V-8, 608v–627v, 616v.

43.  See anon., “Carta Annua da Collegio de Macao e Missao das Residencias de Cantao do anno de 1692,” s.l., s.d., BA-JA 49-V-22, 97r–125r, 141v. On the Rosary, see Lazzaro Cattaneo, “Annua da Viceprovincia da China de 1629,” s.l., 12 September 1631, BA-JA 49-V-8, 595r–608r, 605r. On Chinese Catholics’ habit of chanting (rather than murmuring) prayers, see Manuel Dias [Jr.?], “Annua 1626,” s.l., s.d., ARSI, Jap. Sin. 115 I, 93r–118v, 111r. This practice was inspired by sutra chanting (fanbai). See Chen, “The Chant of the Pure,” 80–82.

44.  See Francisco Furtado, “Annua delle Provincie della Cina spettanti al Norte del 1643,” Beijing, 10 August 1643, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 119, 21r–38r, 31v; André Ferram, “Annua da Vice-Provincia da China [1656],” Macao, 29 January 1659, BA-JA 49-V-14, 62r–93r, 91v.

45.  See McLaren, “Women’s Work,” and Sangren, “Female Gender,” 21, passim.

46.  See João Froes, “Annua da V[ice]provincia da China do anno de 1633,” s.l. [Hangzhou?], 20 September 1634, BA-JA 49-V-11, 1r–99v, 13v.

47.  See Zürcher, “Buddhist Chanhui,” 109.

48.  See, for instance, João Froes, “Annua da Viceprovincia da China do anno de 1632,” Hangzhou, 1 August 1633, BA-JA 49-V-10, 76r–130r, 107v; Lazzaro Cattaneo, “Annuae Sin[ae] 1630,” s.l., 12 September 1631, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 132r–141r, 136v.

49.  See João Monteiro, “Annua da Viceprov[inci]a da China do anno de 1637,” s.l., 16 October 1638, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 115 II, 369r–435v, 378r. In Europe, the presence of noisy toddlers in churches was a target of criticism by Tridentine reformers. See Hersche, Muße und Verschwendung, vol. 2, 705. On children’s presence in late imperial women’s lives and work, see Bray, Technology and Gender, 201.

50.  Jiaozhang was the title of address for catechists as used by Catholics in eighteenth-century Fujian. See Menegon, Ancestors, 249. A letter dating from 1640 shows that men occasionally also acted as Catholic women’s catechists. It mentions a certain Denho, “catechist and master of the women,” See “Carta do Padre R[odrigo de] Figueredo para o P[adre] V[ice]provincial,” s.l., s.d. [1640], BA-JA 49-V-12, 488v–492r, 490v–491r). This is, however, the only reference to a male catechist that I have found.

51.  See anon., “Pontos da Annua do Singan fu Metropoli da Provincia Xen si anno de 1649,” s.l., s.d., BA-JA 49-V-13, 493r–502r, 494v; anon., “Carta Annua da Collegio de Macao e Missao das Residencias de Cantao do anno de 1692,” s.l., s.d., BA-JA 49-V-22, 97r–125r, 141v.

52.  “Annua do Padre Martino Martini do anno 1644,” Hangzhou, 6 July 1644, BA-JA 49-V-22, 328r–332r, 329v.

53.  On male catechists’ congregations, see Brockey, Journey, 352–53.

54.  See Golvers, François de Rougemont, 137. On Candida Xu’s sponsoring of female catechists in the Jiangnan region, see Thomas-Ignatius Dunyn-Szpot, “Historia Sinarum Imperii, 1641–1687,” ARSI, Jap. Sin. 103, 206r.

55.  See José Soares, “Annuae Litterae Collegii Pekinensis. Ab Exitu Julii Anni 1694 ad Finem Usque Julii Anni 1697,” Beijing, 2 July 1697, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 116, 277r–301v, 279r.

56.  On European semireligious women, see Rapley, The Dévotes, 54, and Conrad, Zwischen Kloster und Welt.

57.  On Chinese shamans and spirit mediums, see Jordan, Gods. Spirit mediums in China were often female. As Margery Wolf points out, this was connected with the belief that women, as the weaker sex, were more easily possessed by spirits than men were (Wolf, A Thrice-Told Tale, 34).

58.  See João Monteiro, “Annua 1638,” s.l., 20 September 1639, BA-JA 49-V-12, 277r–344v, 293r–295r.

59.  See Menegon, Ancestors, 249.

60.  On Canton, see anon., “Carta Annua do Collegio de Macao e Missao das Residencias de Cantao do anno de 1692,” s.l., s.d., BA-JA 49-V-22, 97r–125r, 112r. Toward the end of the seventeenth century, the women’s congregation of Songjiang had access to the sacraments five times a year (see Couplet, Histoire, 27), while the women in the rural surroundings of Shanghai are reported to have received the sacraments only once a year (see José Soares, “Annuae Litterae Collegii Pekinensis. Ab Exitu Julii Anni 1694 ad Finem Usque Julii Anni 1697,” Beijing, 2 July 1697, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 116, 277r–301v, 293v).

61.  See Francesco Brancati, “Carta Annua da rezidencia de Xam hai do anno de 1658 Xun chi 15,” s.l., s.d., BA-JA 49-V-14, 472r–479v, 473r, and Inácio da Costa, “Annua da Viceprov[incia] do Norte na China do ano 1647,” s.l., s.d., ARSI, Jap. Sin. 122, 282r–304r, 290v.

62.  See André Ferram, “Annua da Vice-Provincia da China [1656],” Macao, 29 January 1659, BA-JA 49-V-14, 62r–93r, 82v.

63.  Francesco Furtado to [?], s.l., 8 February 1640, ARSI, F.G. 722-20, 1v. On the celebration of Chinese festivals in men’s churches, see Gabriel de Magalhães, “Annua das Rezidencias do Norte, da V[ice]provincia da China no anno de 1660,” Beijing, 20 July 1662, BA-JA 49-V-14, 674r–702v, 692r, 697r.

64.  See Juan Antonio Arnedo, “Litterae Annuae Missionis Sinicae ab Anno 1685 ad An[num] 1690,” Ganzhou, 30 September 1691, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 117, 205v. See also André Ferram, “Annua da Vice-Provincia da China [1656],” Macao, 29 January 1659, BA-JA 49-V-14, 62r–93r, 82v–83r; Francesco Brancati, “Carta Annua da rezidencia de Xam hai do anno de 1658 Xun chi 15,” s.l., s.d., BA-JA 49-V-14, 472r–479v, 473r.

65.  See José Soares, “Annuae Litterae Collegii Pekinensis. Ab Exitu Julii Anni 1694 ad Finem Usque Julii Anni 1697,” Beijing, 2 July 1697, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 116, 277r–301v, 181r–181v.

66.  See Couplet, Histoire, 112.

67.  See Couplet, Histoire, 107.

68.  See Couplet, Histoire, 106. See also Menegon, “Deliver Us,” 38, 52–53.

69.  According to Peter Hersche, only 28 percent of the churches in the German diocese of Cologne were equipped with confessionals in 1663 (Hersche, Muße und Verschwendung, vol. 2, 685).

70.  On the connections between community gatherings and confessions in Chinese Catholicism in general, see Menegon, “Deliver Us,” 48–52.

71.  See André Ferram, “Annua da Vice-Provincia da China [1656],” Macao, 29 January 1659, BA-JA 49-V-14, 62r–93r, 91v; de Gouvea, Asia Extrema, vol. 1, 78–79, 217, 238. The situation seems to have been similar in the communities administered by the Dominicans. See Menegon, “Deliver Us,” 40, note 107.

72.  Le Comte, Nouveaux mémoires, vol. 2, 283–84.

73.  See Prospero Intorcetta, “Annua de Kien cham do 1662,” Jianchang, 31 December 1662, BA-JA 49-V-16, 391r–394r, 392v.

74.  See the contributions in Standaert and Dudink, Forgive Us; see esp. Menegon, “Deliver Us,” 47, and Zürcher, “Buddhist Chanhui,” 105.

75.  The Eucharist was accessible only to those devotees who had acquired adequate knowledge about it. See anon., “Annua da Caza de Ham cheu del 1645,” [Hangzhou], s.d., BNP, CÓD. 722, 298r–304r, 298v.

76.  See Zürcher, “Buddhist Chanhui,” 105.

77.  See Wu, “Self-Examination,” 6. See also Brokaw, Ledgers, and Yü, The Renewal, chapter 5. On convergences between Christian and Chinese practices of self-examination, see Waltner, “Demerits,” and Zürcher, “Confucian and Christian Religiosity,” 634.

78.  On how individual piety was a predominantly female sphere, see Sangren, “Female Gender,” 21. On women’s quest for “spiritual purification,” see Mann, Precious Records, 69.

79.  On the profound entrenchment of the concept of karmic retribution in seventeenth-century Chinese society, see Yü, “Ming Buddhism,” 949.

80.  See Mann, Precious Records, 69–75.

81.  See Grant and Idema, Escape from Blood Pond Hell, and Ahern, “The Power and Pollution.”

82.  See Francesco Furtado, “Annua da Viceprovincia da China de 1642,” Beijing, 10 August 1643, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 122, 124r–178v, 141v–142r.

83.  See Francesco Sambiasi to the European Fathers [PP. Europaeis Nostris], Nanjing, 18 May 1614, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 116, 11r–28v, 25v. The idea of the Buddhist blood-pond hell was strongly rejected by Chinese Catholics. See, for instance, Zürcher, “Xu Guangqi,” 159, 163.

84.  See anon., “Annua da Viceprovincia do Norte dos annos 1643, 1644, 1645,” s.l., s.d., BA-JA 49-V-13, 102v–122r, 116r. In contrast to this women’s congregation, men’s penitential congregations usually did not specifically aim at preparing for death and, therefore, were probably also frequented by young men. See Brockey, Journey, 395–99.

85.  For examples of daily examinations of conscience, see João Monteiro, “Annua della Viceprovincia della Cina dell’anno 1641,” s.l., 7 September 1642, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 118, 32r. On penitential practices, see João Froes, “Annua da V[ice]provincia da China do anno de 1633,” s.l. [Hangzhou], 20 September 1634, BA-JA 49-V-11, 1r–99v, 14r. For an analysis of Chinese Catholic prescriptive texts on penitence, see Menegon, “Deliver Us,” 9–46.

86.  On missionaries’ occasional complaints about Chinese penitents’ lack of contrition, see Menegon, “Deliver Us,” 51.

87.  See Menegon, “Deliver Us,” 40.

88.  See Brockey, Journey, 367.

89.  An election of a men’s congregational head is prescribed in Augery, Shengmu huigui, 447.

90.  See Brockey, Journey, 328–401.

91.  See [Soares?], Shengmu lingbao huigui, 240. Other societies expressly excluded women. On this practice, see, for instance, Zürcher, “Christian Social Action,” 279.

7. Sharing Genteel Spirituality

1.  See Ko, Teachers, esp. chapter 5; Berg, Women; and Mann, Precious Records, esp. chapter 4. See also the contributions to Widmer and Chang, Writing Women, and Fong and Widmer, The Inner Quarters.

2.  See Ko, Teachers, esp. part 3.

3.  On the four principal converts of these families, namely, Xu Guangqi, Li Zhizao, Yang Tingyun, and Sun Yuanhua, see HCC, 404–21.

4.  There is evidence that some “talented women” existed in Catholic gentry families (see Liu, “Xu Guangqi,” 98). However, historians have so far not found any writings attributed to a Catholic woman.

5.  On Xu Guangqi’s family background, see Brook, “Xu Guangqi.” For a synthesis considering Xu’s different fields of activity, see the essays in Jami, Engelfriet, and Blue, Statecraft.

6.  On Xu Guangqi’s son and his five grandsons and four granddaughters, see Fang, Zhongguo tianzhujiaoshi renwuzhuan, vol. 2, 65–66. Outstanding nineteenth-century descendants of Xu Guangqi were Xu Yunxi, a ninth great-grandson, who was the director of the Jesuit library at Xujiahui from 1876 to 1922, and Xu Zongze, a tenth great-grandson, who entered the Society of Jesus and became the director of that library in 1923 (see Shi, “The Christian Scholar,” 206). Xu Yunxi was the author of a partial translation of Couplet’s Histoire into Chinese. See Xu, Yi wei Zhongguo fengjiao taitai.

7.  With the notable exception of Candida Xu (see King, “Candida Xu”), the female members of the Xu family have received little attention from historians. For short discussions of Xu Guangqi’s four granddaughters, see Shi, “The Christian Scholar,” 200–201, and Liu, “Xu Guangqi,” 99–100. Xu Guangqi’s family—grandchildren included—lived with him in Beijing from circa 1605 to 1607. Then Xu was forced to retire temporarily from office and returned to Shanghai (see King, “The Family Letters,” 5, 9). Although it is not entirely clear, it seems plausible that the grandchildren remained in Shanghai when Xu resumed office in 1610.

8.  See Mann, Precious Records, 60.

9.  See Ko, Teachers, 198, passim.

10.  See Mann, Precious Records, 62–75.

11.  Wolf describes this phenomenon in her influential study Women and the Family, in which she maintains that the “uterine family,” consisting of a woman and her own children, was a woman’s main source of power in traditional Chinese families.

12.  On elderly Chinese women’s religious devotions, see Mann, Precious Records, 68–75. On this phenomenon as a ritual “postparenthood,” see Sangren, “Female Gender,” 17.

13.  Matthew Sommer has pointed out that chaste widows enjoyed “the strongest rights of any women with regard to property and independence” (Sommer, Sex, Law, and Society, 166). This contrasts with the situation in early modern Europe, where unmarried widows were generally in a less privileged legal position than married women (see Wunder, He Is the Sun, 53).

14.  On the concept of “women’s culture,” see Ko, Teachers, 179–218.

15.  See King, “The Xujiahui (Zikawei) Library,” 459.

16.  See Clarke, Catholic Shanghai, 13–14.

17.  Thomas-Ignatius Dunyn-Szpot, “Historia Sinarum Imperii, 1641–1687,” ARSI, Jap. Sin. 103, 72v.

18.  See Francesco Brancati, “Annua da Residencia de Xam hai do anno de 1647 do Rey Xun Chi 4.° anno,” s.l., s.d., BA-JA 49-V-13, 458v–464v, 459v.

19.  See João Froes, “Annua da Provincia da China do anno de 1631,” s.l., s.d., BA-JA 49-V-10, 1r–32v, 23v.

20.  See Couplet, Histoire, 112–13.

21.  Catholic women’s use of the “little book of Christian exercise” is mentioned in Dias Sr., “Litterae Annuae 1619,” 36–37; idem, “Annua 1626,” s.l., s.d., ARSI, Jap. Sin. 115 I, 93r–118v, 111r; and Gabriel de Magalhães, “Annua das Rezidencias do Norte, da V[ice]provincia da China no anno de 1660,” Beijing, 20 July 1662, BA-JA 49-V-14, 674r–702v, 688r. On the content of the Daily Exercises, see Brunner, L’euchologe de la Chine, 184–86.

22.  See João Froes, “Annua da Provincia da China do anno de 1631,” s.l., s.d., BA-JA 49-V-10, 1r–32v, 23v.

23.  Francesco Brancati, “Annua da Residencia de Xam hai do anno de 1659 Xun Chi ano 16,”, s.l., s.d., BA-JA 49-V-14, 551r–565v, 560v.

24.  See Francesco Brancati, “Annua do anno 1643 de Cum Chim da Residencia da Xam Hay,” Shanghai, March 1644, BNP, CÓD. 722, 237r–252v, 237v.

25.  See Thomas-Ignatius Dunyn-Szpot, “Historia Sinarum Imperii, 1641–1687,” ARSI, Jap. Sin. 103, 5r. For female servants to be included in Chinese gentry women’s social activities was common practice. See Mann, Precious Records, 61.

26.  On Lady Wang, see Liu, “Xu Guangqi,” 100.

27.  See João Monteiro, “Annua da Viceprovincia da China de 1638,” s.l., 20 September 1639, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 121, 142r–193r, 170r.

28.  On the Confucian elite’s difficulty with accepting Catholic virgins in eighteenth-century Fujian, see Menegon, Ancestors, 312–18.

29.  On Flavia’s sickly daughter, see Francesco Brancati, “Annua da Residencia de Xam hai do anno de 1659 Xun Chi ano 16,” s.l., s.d., BA-JA 49-V-14, 551r–565v, 553r–554v. The story of Flavia’s daughter-in-law is recorded in Francesco Brancati, “Annua da Rezidencia de Xam hai do anno de 1648,” s.l., s.d., BA-JA 49-V-13, 473r–479v, 474r–475r. On faithful maidens in the Ming period, see Lu, True to Her Word.

30.  Fang Hao and Auguste M. Colombel record the Christian names of only the first, second, and fourth granddaughters of Xu Guangqi—Felicitas, Candida, and Martina—claiming that the name of the third granddaughter is unknown (see Fang, Zhongguo tianzhujiaoshi renwuzhuan, vol. 2, 65, and Colombel, Jiangnan chuanjiao shi, 249–50). The annual letters suggest, however, that the third granddaughter’s name was Monica. See Francesco Brancati, “Annua da Rezidencia de Xam hai do anno de 1648,” s.l., s.d., BA-JA 49-V-13, 473r–479v, 474r, and idem, “Annua da Residencia de Xam hai do anno de 1659 Xun Chi ano 16,” s.l., s.d., BA-JA 49-V-14, 551r–565v, 561v. Candida Xu’s wedding is the only celebration that can be dated with some certainty. According to Couplet, it took place in 1623, when Candida was aged sixteen (see Couplet, Histoire, 11). Because Candida was the second of the four Xu daughters, it seems reasonable to assume that Xu Guangqi’s four granddaughters’ weddings were probably all celebrated during the second decade of the seventeenth century.

31.  See Liu, “Xu Guangqi,” 100. Felicitas’s, Candida’s, and Martina’s husbands, in particular, were members of families sympathizing with Catholicism. These were the Ai, Xu, and Pan families, all eminent gentry families of the Shanghai area.

32.  See João Monteiro, “Annua da Viceprovincia da China de 1638,” s.l., 20 September 1639, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 121, 142r–193r, 171v, and idem, “Annuae Sin[ae] 1639,” s.l., 8 October 1640, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 121, 221r–313r, 275r–275v.

33.  According to Adrien Greslon, Candida’s husband, Xu Yuandu, had several women, which had prompted her to live “like a widow” during the last years of her marriage (Greslon, Histoire, 64).

34.  See Francesco Brancati, “Annua do anno 1643 de Cum Chim da Residencia da Xam Hay,” Shanghai, March 1644, BNP, CÓD. 722, 237r–252v, 240r. According to Brancati, Felicitas was even able to convert her mother-in-law in the face of death.

35.  On Chinese ladies’ visits to their natal homes, see Lowe, The Adventures of Wu, vol. 1, 152–53.

36.  See Francisco Furtado, “Novas da China,” Nanchang, 10 July 1638, BA-JA 49-V-12, 199r–216r, 200v.

37.  On the Xu women writers, see Couplet, Histoire, 26–28, 124.

38.  João Monteiro, “Annua da Viceprovincia da China de 1638,” s.l., 20 September 1639, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 121, 142r–193r, 171v. Monteiro only included a Portuguese translation of Candida’s letter in his Annual Letter of 1638; the Chinese original is unavailable. However, as argued by Haruko Nawata Ward, who has studied similar sources for her analysis of Japanese Catholic women of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, it is reasonable to suppose that such letters cited and translated by Jesuits were not mere products of a missionary’s imagination, despite the Jesuits’ apologetic tendency (see Ward, Women Religious Leaders, 16).

39.  See João Monteiro, “Annuae Sin[ae] 1639,” s.l., 8 October 1640, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 121, 221r–313r, 275r–275v.

40.  See Francesco Brancati, “Annua da Residencia de Xam hai do anno de 1659 Xun Chi an[n]o 16,” s.l. [Shanghai?], s.d., BA-JA 49-V-14, 551r–565v, 561r.

41.  On Candida Xu’s role as religious teacher of her children, see anon., “Missao de Sum Kiam,” [fragment of an annual letter], Songjiang, s.d. [ca. 1649], BA-JA 49-VI-61, 472r–475r, 474r. On mothers as teachers of their children in seventeenth-century China, see Ko, Teachers, 158–59; for a twentieth-century example, see Madsen, China’s Catholics, 57. On mothers as their children’s catechists in early modern Catholicism, see Chaix, “De la piété à la dévotion.”

42.  Such was the case with Candida Xu’s children, who, according to Fang Hao, were all baptized (see Fang, Zhongguo tianzhujiaoshi renwuzhuan, vol. 2, 68).

43.  See Francesco Brancati, “Annua da Rezidencia de Xam hai do anno de 1648,” s.l. [Shanghai?], s.d., BA-JA 49-V-13, 473r–479v, 474r–474v.

44.  See João Monteiro, “Annuae Sin[ae] 1639,” s.l., 8 October 1640, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 121, 221r–313r, 275r.

45.  See Francisco Furtado, “Novas da China,” Nanchang, 10 July 1638, BA-JA 49-V-12, 199r–216r, 200v. On how Chinese officials separated their Confucian public role from domestically practiced religiosity, see Stein, “Les religions.”

46.  For Xu Yuandu’s conversion, see João Monteiro, “Annua da Viceprovincia da China de 1638,” s.l., 20 September 1639, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 121, 142r–193r, 171r. For aged Chinese men’s religious practice see Spence, Return, 103.

47.  See Liu, “Xu Guangqi,” 104.

48.  See Couplet, Histoire, 40.

49.  See Couplet, Histoire, 40, 139.

50.  The special freedom enjoyed by “chaste widows” was also remarked upon by the Jesuits. See Couplet, Histoire, 12.

51.  See Colombel, Jiangnan chuanjiao shi, 249.

52.  On Martina’s role as congregational leader, see Francesco Brancati, “Annua do anno 1643 de Cum Chim da Residencia da Xam Hay,” Shanghai, March 1644, BNP, CÓD. 722, 237r–252v, 240r. On her providing the financial means for a church, see Colombel, Jiangnan chuanjiao shi, 244.

53.  There is some confusion about Xu Yuandu’s year of conversion and his year of death. Philippe Couplet wrote that Candida married Yuandu at the age of sixteen (ca. 1623), that Yuandu died when they had been married for fourteen years (ca. 1637), and that he converted to Catholicism two years prior to his death (ca. 1635) (see Couplet, Histoire, 11, 13, 24). However, archival sources suggest that Couplet’s information is incorrect. The Annual Letter of 1638 records Yuandu’s conversion, which means that he was certainly still alive at that time (see João Monteiro, “Annua da Viceprovincia da China de 1638,” s.l., 20 September 1639, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 121, 142r–193r, 171r). While the annual letters remain silent about Yuandu’s year of death, it is probable that Fang Hao was correct in dating it to 1653 (Fang, Zhongguo tianzhujiaoshi renwuzhuan, vol. 2, 65–66), since Candida’s activities as benefactress of the Jesuits (which befitted a widow much better than they did a married woman) become visible from the 1660s onward.

54.  For the missionaries’ description of Songjiang, see Manuel Dias Jr., “Carta Annua da Missam da China do anno de 1618,” Macao, 7 December 1618, BA-JA 49-V-5, 232v–264v, 261v. On the establishment of Songjiang as a center of Chinese Catholicism, see PST, 273r. The importance of Songjiang is also illustrated by a contemporary map of Catholic communities in the region made by a Jesuit (probably Francesco Brancati). This map placed Songjiang in the center, grouping other important cities like Shanghai and Jiading around it. See Golvers, “Jesuit Cartographers.”

55.  Annual letters partly testify to this situation, rendering stories of women who became increasingly “cold” in matters of the religion. See, e.g., anon., “Carta Annua da China, dos annos 1651 e [16]52,” s.l., s.d., ARSI, Jap. Sin. 117, 69r–146v, 143r–143v, and Pedro Marquez, “Missao da Ilha Haynam,” Hainan, 20 May 1635, BA-JA 49-V-11, 239r–245v, 240v.

56.  See anon., Shengti huigui, 263.

57.  Couplet, Histoire, 11–12.

58.  For similar findings on nineteenth-century Chinese Catholicism, see Sweeten, Christianity in Rural China, 189–90.

59.  See Bossler, “ ‘A Daughter,’ ” 97; Judd, “Niangjia”; and Gallin, “Matrilateral and Affinal Relationships.”

60.  See Menegon, Ancestors, 179–80, passim; Zürcher, “Un ‘contrat communal,’ ” 12; and Laamann, Christian Heretics, 44.

61.  See Kendall, Shamans, 168.

62.  See Chau, “Modalities of Doing Religion,” 552.

63.  We know that the Xu ladies had a good level of literacy. See João Monteiro, “Annuae Sin[ae] 1639,” s.l., 8 October 1640, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 121, 221r–313r, 275r.

64.  See Thomas-Ignatius Dunyn-Szpot, “Historia Sinarum Imperii, 1641–1687,” ARSI, Jap. Sin. 103, 204v, and Couplet, Histoire, 10.

65.  See Thomas-Ignatius Dunyn-Szpot, “Historia Sinarum Imperii, 1641–1687,” ARSI, Jap. Sin. 103, 206r.

66.  Couplet, Histoire, 11.

67.  See Chau, “Modalities of Doing Religion,” 552. On Chinese Christian meditation, see also Standaert, “The Spiritual Exercises,” 75.

68.  On the popularity of sutra chanting among gentry women, see Mann, Precious Records, 190–91.

69.  On motherhood and virginity as positive aspects of Chinese femininity, see Sangren, “Female Gender,” 12–14.

70.  Da Rocha had administered baptism to Xu Guangqi in 1603 and had subsequently acted as Xu’s spiritual adviser (see Pfister, Notices biographiques, 68–69). For a translation of the whole text into German, see Qu, “Song Nianzhu Guicheng,” 209–20.

71.  See Lin, “Seeing the Place,” 197.

72.  See Francesco Brancati, “Annua da Residencia de Xam hai do anno de 1659 Xun Chi ano 16,” s.l., s.d., BA-JA 49-V-14, 551r–565v, 561v.

73.  Pictures of The Heart Consecrated to the Loving Jesus series seem to have been quite popular in China. See Menegon, “Jesuit Emblematica,” 395–417. Monica was not the only Xu lady who had a preferred holy image. Candida Xu is said to have possessed an image of St. Francis, which had the power to heal people from evil influences (see Francesco Brancati, “Annua do anno 1643 de Cum Chim da Residencia de Xam Hay,” Shanghai, March 1644, BNP, CÓD. 722, 237r–252v, 242r–242v), and her sister Felicitas especially cherished an image of the Holy Virgin (see João Monteiro, “Annua da Viceprovincia da China de 1638,” s.l., 20 September 1639, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 121, 142r–193r, 170r–170v).

74.  See Vagnone, Tianzhu shengjiao shengren xingshi, juan 6, 38v. On St. Catherine’s penance, see 36v–38v.

75.  See Thomas-Ignatius Dunyn-Szpot, “Historia Sinarum Imperii, 1641–1687,” ARSI, Jap. Sin. 103, 6v.

76.  See João Froes, “Annua da Provincia da China do anno de 1631,” s.l., s.d., BA-JA 49-V-10, 1r–32v, 23v (on patron saints’ days), and Couplet, Histoire, 79 (on saints of the month). On how “saints of the month” were selected, see Brockey, Journey, 383.

77.  These dreams and visions are reported in the following sources: Francesco Brancati, “Annua do anno 1643 de Cum Chim da Residencia da Xam Hay,” Shanghai, March 1644, BNP, CÓD. 722, 237r–252v, 240v; idem, “Annua da Rezidencia de Xam hai do anno de 1648,” s.l., s.d., BA-JA 49-V-13, 473r–479v, 474r; idem, “Annua da Residencia de Xam hai do anno de 1659 Xun Chi an[n]o 16,” s.l., s.d., BA-JA 49-V-14, 551r–565v, 559v–561v; Thomas-Ignatius Dunyn-Szpot, “Historia Sinarum Imperii, 1641–1687,” ARSI, Jap. Sin. 103, 6r; and Couplet, Histoire, 130–31.

78.  See Couplet, Histoire, 130–31. Couplet’s cautionary attitude toward Candida’s dreams might be explained by the fact that mystical and prophetical models of sanctity, which had been of crucial importance during the European Middle Ages, started to be stigmatized as a “pretense of holiness” after the Council of Trent, when the Holy Office initiated a number of legal processes against female mystics (see Zarri, “Female Sanctity,” 194–97, and Schutte, Aspiring Saints).

79.  Thomas-Ignatius Dunyn-Szpot, “Historia Sinarum Imperii, 1641–1687,” ARSI, Jap. Sin. 103, 6r. The same dream is also rendered in Francesco Brancati, “Annua do anno 1643 de Cum Chim da Residencia da Xam Hay,” Shanghai, March 1644, BNP, CÓD. 722, 237r–252v, 240v. For a complete rendering of the dream story in English, see Hsia, “Dreams,” 123.

80.  See Francesco Brancati, “Annua da Rezidencia de Xam hai do anno de 1648,” s.l., s.d., BA-JA 49-V-13, 473r–479v, 474r.

81.  See Jacques Le Faure, “Relaçam da Missam de Huquam,” s.l., s.d. [ca. 1662?], BA-JA 49-V-15, 133r–148v, 138v. The romanized version of the Chinese phrase from Candida’s dream was “Mai yuan Kia ti fam gui hao,” which probably corresponds to “Mai Yuan jia difang [geng?] hao.”

82.  See Hsia, “Dreams.”

83.  See Ko, Teachers, 202. In accordance with Ko’s assessment, Hsia found an even balance of female (twenty-nine) and male (twenty-eight) dreamers in the Chinese Catholic dream stories collected from annual letters. See Hsia, “Dreams,” 113.

84.  See Lackner, Der chinesische Traumwald.

85.  See Ko, Teachers, 197.

86.  Cited by Hsia, “Dreams,” 231.

87.  See Hsia, “Dreams,” 119.

8. A Widow and Her Virgins

1.  On female monasticism in Tridentine Europe, see van Wyhe, Female Monasticism.

2.  See Zhang, Guanfu, 271–91; Menegon, “Child Bodies”; and idem, Ancestors, 301–56 (numbers cited on 327, 331).

3.  For references to Agnes Yang in printed literature, see Pfister, Notices biographiques, 140, 159, 257.

4.  See Menegon, Ancestors, 312–16.

5.  See Menegon, Ancestors, 312.

6.  See Menegon, “Child Bodies,” 177–88, and Mann, Precious Records, 10. Note, however, that regional traditions of marriage resistance existed in South China. See Topley, “Marriage Resistance.”

7.  For a general analysis of Vagnone’s Biographies of the Saints and its European sources, see Li, “Shengren, mogui, chanhui,” esp. 206–9.

8.  It is worth noting that, while sexuality was irrelevant to the structuring of the biographies of male saints (the latter subsumed under the categories “apostles,” “church leaders,” “martyrs,” “non-monastic religious,” and “monastic religious”), sexual abstinence was the single criterion applied to female saints.

9.  Vagnone, Tianzhu shengjiao shengren xingshi, juan 6, 1a.

10.  Martyrdom after marriage resistance was suffered by Catharina of Alexandria, Agatha, Lucia, Agnes, Barbara, Dorothea, and Thecla. Christina of Bolsena suffered martyrdom for resisting her father’s plan for her to serve heathen gods as a consecrated virgin; Caecilia lived in a Josephite marriage and was martyred together with her husband.

11.  Voragine, Legenda Aurea, 113–14. For the identification of The Golden Legend as source of Vagnone’s Biographies of the Saints, see Li, “Shengren, mogui, chanhui,” esp. 206–9.

12.  Vagnone, Tianzhu shengjiao shengren xingshi, juan 6, 23a–23b.

13.  See Huang, Negotiating Masculinity, chapter 4.

14.  See Vagnone, Tianzhu shengjiao shengren xingshi, juan 6, 36a.

15.  On the relationship between beatas and their native families, see Menegon, Ancestors, 332–33, and Zhang, Guanfu, 287–89.

16.  See Menegon, Ancestors, 331, 327.

17.  See Tiedemann, “Controlling the Virgins.” An assumption of growth in the numbers of virgins in the Catholic communities of the Jesuits during the eighteenth century is also reasonable given how Jesuit presence disappeared from these communities after the prohibition of Catholicism issued by the Yongzheng emperor in 1724.

18.  See Menegon, Ancestors, 302.

19.  See Menegon, Ancestors, 330.

20.  João Froes, “Annua da V[ice]provincia da China do anno de 1633,” s.l. [Hangzhou?], 20 September 1634, BA-JA 49-V-11, 1r–99v, 13v.

21.  João Monteiro, “Annua da Viceprov[inci]a da China do anno de 1637,” s.l., 16 October 1638, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 115 II, 369r–435v, 425r–425v.

22.  João Monteiro, “Annua da Viceprov[inci]a da China do anno de 1637,” s.l., 16 October 1638, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 115 II, 369r-435v, 425r–425v.

23.  See Strasser, State of Virginity, 175.

24.  See Conrad, Zwischen Kloster und Welt, and Rahner, Introduction to St. Ignatius of Loyola.

25.  See Menegon, Ancestors, 332. The difference between Dominicans and Jesuits has also been noted in Boxer, Mary and Misogyny, 109.

26.  The fact that Agnes’s husband left her considerable property is crucial, because widow chastity “was literally unaffordable for many widows” (Sommer, Sex, Law, and Society, 183), and poverty was the main factor forcing widows into remarriage.

27.  João Froes, “Annua da V[ice]provincia da China do anno de 1633,” s.l. [Hangzhou?], 20 September 1634, BA-JA 49-V-11, 1r–99v, 44v.

28.  João Froes, “Annua da V[ice]provincia da China do anno de 1633,” s.l. [Hangzhou?], 20 September 1634, BA-JA 49-V-11, 1r–99v, 44v.

29.  Francisco Furtado, “Novas da China,” Nanchang, 10 July 1638, BA-JA 49-V-12, 199r–216r, 200r.

30.  See anon., “Pontos da annua da Caza de Ham cheu de 1648,” s.l. [Hangzhou], s.d., BA-JA 49-V-13, 609r–612v, 609v.

31.  João Froes, “Annua da V[ice]provincia da China do anno de 1633,” s.l. [Hangzhou?], 20 September 1634, BA-JA 49-V-11, 1r–99v, 44v.

32.  See Francisco Furtado, “Novas da China,” Nanchang, 10 July 1638, BA-JA 49-V-12, 199r–216r, 200r.

33.  See de Gouvea, Cartas Ânuas, 233–85, 265. On the sacrifice to the Silkworm Deity, see Bray, Technology and Gender, 251.

34.  Francesco Furtado, “Annua delle Provincie della Cina spettanti al Norte del 1643,” Beijing, 10 August 1643, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 119, 21r–38r, 37v.

35.  See Thomas-Ignatius Dunyn-Szpot, “Historia Sinarum Imperii, 1641–1687,” ARSI, Jap. Sin. 103, 21v–22r.

36.  See Francesco Furtado, “Annua delle Provincie della Cina spettanti al Norte del 1643,” Beijing, 10 August 1643, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 119, 21r–38r, 37v. Furtado’s mention of statutes contradicts Paul Bornet’s hypothesis that the virgins of the early years of the mission were not subjected to a formal rule (see Bornet, “Les vierges institutrices,” 434).

37.  See Pfister, Notices biographiques, 140.

38.  See de Gouvea, Cartas Ânuas, 366, and Francesco Furtado, “Annua delle Provincie della Cina spettanti al Norte del 1643,” Beijing, 10 August 1643, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 119, 21r–38r, 37v.

39.  See Thomas-Ignatius Dunyn-Szpot, “Historia Sinarum Imperii, 1641–1687,” ARSI, Jap. Sin. 103, 90r–90v, and Pfister, Notices biographiques, 140. On intact dead bodies as signs of sanctity both in China and in Europe, see Harrison, “Rethinking Missionaries and Medicine,” 134–38.

40.  On powerful virgin deities in China, see Boltz, “In Hommage to T’ien-fei”; Reed, “The Gender Symbolism of Kuan-yin”; and Sangren, “Female Gender.” On the Virgin Mary as a divine intercessor in early modern Catholicism, see Strasser, State of Virginity.

41.  See Sommer, Sex, Law, and Society, 167.

42.  Especially wealthy widows often appeared as patronesses of religious institutions and pious endeavors. See Ingendahl, Witwen, 23–37.

43.  The last reference to Agnes Yang that I have been able to find dates from 1647. See de Gouvea, Cartas Ânuas, 366.

44.  See Waltner, “T’an-Yang-tzu,” and idem, “Life and Letters.”

45.  See also Sommer, Sex, Law, and Society, 191.

9. Fabrics of Devotion

1.  The idea of a “domestic Catholicism” practiced by Chinese women corresponds well with the observation that various versions of Chinese Catholicism existed in different social milieus. See HCC, 634–38.

2.  See Francisco Pimentel, “Breve relação da jornada que fez a Corte de Pekim o Senhor Manoel de Saldanha Embaxador extraordinario del Rey de Portugal ao Emperador da China e Tartaria,” s.l., s.d. [1670], BA-JA 49-VI-62, 715r–732r, 730r–730v.

3.  See Jerónimo Rodriguez to Mutio Vitelleschi, Macao, 1 November 1620, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 121, 116r–131v, 124r, and Francisco Furtado, “Novas da China,” Nanchang, 10 July 1638, BA-JA 49-V-12, 199r–216r, 200r.

4.  See João Froes, “Annua da V[ice]provincia da China do anno de 1633,” s.l. [Hangzhou?], 20 September 1634, BA-JA 49-V-11, 1r–99v, 5r–5v; Francesco Furtado, “Annuae Sinae et Cochinchina[e] 1618,” Macao, 1 November 1620, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 114, 220r–233r, 228r; and anon., “Breve Relacão da Christandade da Corte de Pekim,” s.l. [Beijing], s.d. [1692], BA-JA 49-V-22, 140r–145r, 143r.

5.  See Rublack, Dressing Up, chapter 3, and Picaud and Foisselon, Sacrées soieries.

6.  Mann, Precious Records, 159. See also Ko, Teachers, 172–73; Fong, “Female Hands”; and Li, “Embroidering Guanyin.” Also note the sewing basket in the Annunciation scene depicted in João da Rocha’s Rules for Reciting the Rosary (see figure 5.3).

7.  See Mann, Precious Records, chapter 6; Ebrey, The Inner Quarters, chapter 7; and Bray, Technology and Gender, part 2.

8.  See Manuel Dias [Jr.?], “Annua 1626,” s.l., s.d., ARSI, Jap. Sin. 115 I, 93r–118v, 111r. On how traditional Chinese songs were, time and again, substituted by Christian ones, see Chaves, “Gathering Tea for God.”

9.  A letter by Jerónimo Rodriguez mentions embroidered floral patterns, whereas the Annual Letter of 1640 refers to embroideries of the mysteries of the Rosary. See Jerónimo Rodriguez to Mutio Vitelleschi, Macao, 1 November 1620, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 121, 116r–131v, 124r; Gabriel de Magalhães, “Littera Annua [1640],” s.l. [Beijing], s.d. [30 September 1641], BNP, CÓD. 722, 79r–108r, 88v. These embroideries may have been modeled on the illustrations of João da Rocha’s Rules for Reciting the Rosary.

10.  Besides these two examples, other liturgical textiles from eighteenth-century China exist. For an embroidered panel showing St. Anthony of Padua, see Clunas, Pictures and Visuality, 138. For an embroidered chasuble possessed by the Vatican, see Mostra tesori, no. 181. For an embroidered antependium possessed by an Antwerp church see Anders gekleed, 24–25.

11.  The family was a benefactor of the Hofje van de Zeven Keurvorsten, a Catholic almshouse in Amsterdam, which possessed the chasuble until 1954. The family can be identified by its crest at the lower end of the chasuble (see Stam and Blerk, “Borduurkunst,” 20–21).

12.  See Stam and Blerk, “Borduurkunst,” 21.

13.  See Stam and Blerk, “Borduurkunst,” 24–25.

14.  Tuuk Stam and René van Blerk point out that, instead of the three young pelicans that are often found in European depictions and symbolize the three cardinal virtues, the antependium shows five young pelicans, probably alluding to the Confucian Five Constants (wuchang) (Stam and Blerk, “Borduurkunst,” 25).

15.  See Golvers, François de Rougemont, 592.

16.  The Malayan-Portuguese term tael refers to the Chinese measurement liang, which equaled one ounce of (uncoined) silver. The exchange rates of taels into copper cash varied greatly during the seventeenth century (see von Glahn, Fountain of Fortune, 106–9). Curiously, although the tael was always a measurement for silver, the Jesuits often translated the term as aureus or écus d’or, which, strictly speaking, referred to gold. See Golvers, François de Rougemont, 557.

17.  See Golvers, François de Rougemont, 291.

18.  See Golvers, François de Rougemont, 292, and Vermote, “The Role of Urban Real Estate,” 291–94. On the problem of the delay and loss of European pensions, see Alden, The Making of an Enterprise, 325–29.

19.  See PST, 272r–275v.

20.  That Justa was a Manchu noblewoman and, indeed, the wife of a viceroy is suggested in a 1649 relation. See Ludovico Buglio and Gabriel de Magalhães, “Relaçao do que socedeo na Corte de Pekim ao P[adre] Fr[ancesco] Furtado Sup[eri]or do Norte para os P[adres] Luis Buglio, et Gabriel de Magalhães dos 20 de Fev[e]r[eir]o de 1648 os 25 de Outobro de 1649,” s.l. [Beijing], s.d., ARSI, Jap. Sin. 142, 89r–106v, 104v.

21.  See PST, 274v. The catalog does not mention all Chinese patrons of Catholic churches. For instance, it does not record Candida Xu’s patronage of a church on Chongming Island, near Shanghai, and her establishment of around thirty smaller churches in the environs of Shanghai (see Couplet, Histoire, 69, 124), nor does it list Justa Zhao’s and Agatha Tong’s funding for a church in Hangzhou (see Thomas-Ignatius Dunyn-Szpot, “Historia Sinarum Imperii, 1641–1687,” ARSI, Jap. Sin. 103, 114v, and Pfister, Notices biographiques, 259). No mention is made, furthermore, of a certain Monica Min, who is known to have sponsored a church in Zhejiang (see Pfister, Notices biographiques, 316).

22.  See Feliciano Pacheco, “Carta Annua da Viceprovincia da China do anno de 1660,” China, 19 July 1661, BA-JA 49-V-14, 702v–719r, 703r.

23.  See Couplet, Histoire, 26.

24.  See Adrien Greslon, “Litterae Annuae Viceprovincia Sinicae Annorum 1669 et 1670,” s.l., 20 October 1670, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 120, 184r. In addition to the patronage directed toward the Jesuits, Candida Xu also provided financial support to Dominicans whenever they passed through Songjiang. See Couplet, Histoire, 128.

25.  See Philippe Couplet to Charles de Noyelle, Macao, 24 April 1681, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 163, 120r–121r, 121r–120v [sic]. See also Golvers, François de Rougemont, 591, note 96. My estimate that this sum would have covered the daily expenditure of all Jesuits in China for almost ten years is based on two assumptions: that one missionary’s annual expenditure amounted to roughly 230 taels (see Golvers, François de Rougemont, 627) and that, on average, twenty-five Jesuits were living at any one time in China between 1625 and 1690 (see HCC, 307).

26.  See Brook, Praying for Power, 188–91, quotation 190.

27.  See Naquin, Peking, 58, 156–58, and Liu, “Visualizing Perfection.”

28.  See Valone, “Piety and Patronage”; Zarri, “La Compagnia di Gesù”; and Kirkham, “Laura Battiferra.”

29.  On noblewomen’s decreasing importance as benefactresses after the Society’s founding period, see Hufton, “Altruism and Reciprocity,” 329–31. On patronage by noblewomen in the eighteenth century, see Hsia, Noble Patronage.

30.  On the uncertain financial basis of the mission under the Portuguese Padroado, and especially during the second half of the seventeenth century, see Golvers, François de Rougemont, 627–30.

31.  See Brook, Praying for Power, 188–91.

32.  On women’s property rights in late imperial China, see Bray, Technology and Gender, 94, 139.

33.  See Golvers, François de Rougemont, 590–91.

34.  See Bray, Technology and Gender, 139.

35.  Bernardus Regius, “Annuae ex V[ice]provincia Sinarum An[no] 1629,” s.l., s.d., BA-JA 49-V-8, 608v–627v, 611r. Juren degree holders were successful candidates of the triennial provincial exams.

36.  On the Songjiang women, see Couplet, Histoire, 125–26. On the Beijing women, see José Soares, “Annuae Litterae Collegii Pekinensis. Ab Exitu Julii Anni 1694 ad Finem Usque Julii Anni 1697,” Beijing, 2 July 1697, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 116, 277r–301v, 277v.

37.  See Manuel Dias [Jr.?], “Annua da Missao da China dos annos de [1]616 e [1]617,” Macao, 14 January 1618, ARSI, Jap. Sin. 114, 13r–51v, 40r.

38.  On the financial situation of Xu Guangqi’s family, see Brook, “Xu Guangqi.”

39.  Couplet, Histoire, 24. It is noteworthy that much of Candida’s patronage of the mission falls in the period of the Kangxi depression (from the 1660s to the 1690s). Since it must have been difficult to become rich through trade during the depression, it is possible that Candida had made her fortune before the 1660s (although evidence either way is lacking). On the depression, see von Glahn, Fountain of Fortune, 211–15.

40.  See King, “The Family Letters,” 14–26, passim. See also King, “Candida Xu,” 55.

41.  See Bray, Technology and Gender, 223–25.

42.  It is not entirely clear what sort of tissues the women under Candida’s aegis wove. Gail King’s hypothesis that they (also) wove cotton cloth is a reasonable one given how Songjiang was the dominant center of cotton production of that time (see King, “Candida Xu,” 55, note 34).

43.  Couplet, Histoire, 24.

44.  See Bray, Technology and Gender, 236–72; on the raising of silkworms, see 248–49. The proto-industrial revolution of Jiangnan’s textile production was closely intertwined with the influx of foreign silver into China from circa 1550 to 1650. It was a major source of Jiangnan’s proverbial wealth. See Atwell, “Notes on Silver,” 6. On China’s “silver century,” see von Glahn, Fountain of Fortune, 113–41.

45.  See, for instance, João Froes, “Annua da V[ice]provincia da China do anno de 1633,” s.l. [Hangzhou?], 20 September 1634, BA-JA 49-V-11, 1r–99v, 75v, and Bernardus Regius, “Annuae ex V[ice]provincia Sinarum An[no] 1629,” s.l., s.d., BA-JA 49-V-8, 608v–627v, 611r.

46.  See Couplet, Histoire, 75–77, 133.

47.  See Couplet, Histoire, 57, 78.

48.  See Couplet, Histoire, 124.

49.  See King, “Christian Charity,” 24.

50.  See PST, 272r–275v.

51.  See Ko, Teachers, 119–224.

52.  On Candida’s support for construction work, see anon., “Ex Residencia Nancham pro Annua,” s.l. [Nanchang], s.d. [ca. 1662?], BA-JA 49-V-15, 38v–40r, 39r. On the farewell given to Candida by the Nanchang Catholics, see Jacques Le Faure, “Relaçam da Missam de Huquam,” s.l., s.d. [ca. 1662?], BA-JA 49-V-15, 133r–148v, 134v.

53.  See Jacques Le Faure, “Relaçam da Missam de Huquam,” s.l., s.d. [ca. 1662?], BA-JA 49-V-15, 133r–148v, 134v.

54.  See Feliciano Pacheco, “Carta Annua da Viceprovincia da China do anno de 1660,” s.l., 19 July 1661, 702v–719r, 703r–704r.

55.  Anon., “Ex Residencia Nancham pro Annua,” s.l. [Nanchang], s.d. [ca. 1662?], BA-JA 49-V-15, 38v–40r, 39r.

56.  Jacques Le Faure, “Relaçam da Missam de Huquam,” s.l., s.d. [ca. 1662?], BA-JA 49-V-15, 133r–148v, 134r.

57.  Jacques Le Faure, “Relaçam da Missam de Huquam,” s.l., s.d. [ca. 1662?], BA-JA 49-V-15, 133r–148v, 135v.

58.  On the chapel in Chongqing, see Dehergne, “Études,” 258. On Chengdu and on Tong Guoqi’s funding initiatives, see PST, 272v, 274r.

59.  See Brook, Praying for Power, 188–89.

60.  That Candida actively supported the idea of a Chinese Church is also evident from her eagerness to receive news of distant Chinese Catholic communities. She received Catholic travelers for this purpose (see Couplet, Histoire, 102).

61.  See Heijdra, “The Socio-Economic Development,” 555–56, and Miyazaki, China’s Examination Hell, 89.

62.  Indeed, Couplet recorded only one gift by Candida that was not destined for the Society: her sponsored purchase of four hundred Chinese Catholic books printed by the Jesuits, to be given to various Roman libraries (see Couplet, Histoire, 126–27). On these books, see Golvers, Building Humanistic Libraries, 64.

63.  Chinese women’s awareness of the global dimension of Catholicism is also apparent in a letter written by Fujianese beatas to the nuns of a French convent in the late seventeenth century. See Menegon, Ancestors, 338. For Chinese Catholic women signing a statement on the rites controversy addressed to the Holy See in 1700, see Standaert, Chinese Voices, 195, 301, 418.

64.  The Jesuits’ attempts to further this awareness materialized in a regular prayer at congregational meetings, where Chinese Catholics prayed for the well-being of the pope. The same prayer also included a section addressing the well-being of the Chinese Church. See Couplet, Histoire, 80–81.

Conclusion

1.  Duteil, “L’évangélisation,” 246.

2.  On this view of Chinese women, which imagined the latter’s existence in the premodern era as “cloistered, crippled, and subservient,” see Ko, Teachers, 3. See also Holmgren, “Myth, Fantasy.”

3.  Catholicism has been described as a global institution by Luke Clossey (Clossey, Salvation, esp. 9). However, Clossey exclusively focuses on European missionaries.

4.  Couplet, Histoire, 102.

5.  See Couplet, Histoire, 148.

6.  On the female supporters whom I mention, see Couplet, Histoire, 148–49. See also von Collani, “Die Förderung,” 98.

7.  See Burrus, Kino Writes, 41, 48.

8.  On the Lomellini family, see Grendi, La repubblica, 36.

9.  See Golvers, “The XVIIth-Century Jesuit Mission,” 173.

10.  Louis Le Comte dedicated parts of his Nouveaux mémoires to these two duchesses (see vol. 1, 72–75, 311–13).

11.  See Hsia, Noble Patronage, 63, and von Collani, “Die Förderung,” 98.

12.  The most noteworthy female patrons of the eighteenth century were two ladies of the Wittelsbach court in Munich, who do not refer to Candida Xu in their writing (see Hsia, Noble Patronage, 42, 113).

13.  Foundation deed by Elisabeth, Maria Anna, and Clara Johanna de Prince, Antwerp, 16 December 1692 (translated by Philippe Couplet from Flemish into Latin), ARSI, Jap. Sin. 165, 278r. I would like to thank Noël Golvers for sharing with me his knowledge of the de Prince sisters and of Couplet’s Antwerp connections.

14.  On the public nature of early modern Catholicism, see Hersche, Muße und Verschwendung, vol. 1, 432–35, passim. On how public religiosity distinguished post-Tridentine Catholics from Protestants, see Forster, “Domestic Devotions,” and Holzem, “Familie und Familienideal.” Domestic piety did, however, play an important role in Renaissance Italy. See Howard, “Exploring Devotional Practice.”

15.  On Catholic clandestine churches (schuilkerken) in Holland, see Kaplan, Divided by Faith, 172–97. For a study of an English Catholic elite family’s religious life, see Questier, Catholicism and Community. On how these Catholic minorities developed a tradition of family devotions, see Forster, “Domestic Devotions,” 113.

16.  On the fact that the implementation of Tridentine norms was all but a smooth and unidirectional process, see Forster, The Counter-Reformation, and Holzem, Religion und Lebensform.

17.  See Županov, Missionary Tropics, 269–70, and Heyberger, Les Chrétiens.

18.  See Standaert, The Interweaving of Rituals, and Menegon, Ancestors.

19.  On Catholic women and gender relations in the Americas, see the contributions to Jaffary, Gender, Race, and Religion, part 2, and Leacock, “Montagnais Marriage.” For case studies on Asia, see Županov, “Lust, Marriage, and Free Will” (on South India), and Ward, Women Religious Leaders (on Japan).

20.  A first attempt has been made by Wiesner-Hanks, Christianity and Sexuality.