A papal proclamation of the Dominican martyrs of China

Benedict XIV, Pope. Volgarizzamento di due ragionamenti della Santità di Nostro Signore Benedetto XIV sulla gloriosa morte di alcuni missionari domenicani nell' Imperio della Cina.

€ 1.500,00

A rare original papal proclamation conferring the status of martyrs on the Dominicans Peter Sanz, along with Francesco Serrano, Gioacchino Royo, Giovanni Alcober, and Francesco Diaz, executed by Chinese Imperial authorities in 1747-48. Their deaths bear witness to a time of tension between traditional Chinese culture and Catholic missionaries.

Declaring them consummate martyrs (according to proper Church terminology), Pope Benedict XIV (r. 1740-58) briefly narrates their lives and deaths. Peter Sanz (1680-1747) was sent as Apostolic Vicar to Fujian Province in 1728, and was consecrated Bishop of the titular see of Mauricastrum in 1730. He and his companions were imprisoned in 1741 by the Chinese authorities and finally executed in 1747 and 1748.

In the decades before Sanz's consecration, conflicts between native Chinese culture and Catholic missionaries had been heated. Many Chinese Christians continued the practice of venerating their ancestors, with the Kangxi Emperor (1654-1722) himself confirming that the practice could be considered non-religious and fully compatible with Christianity. However, Pope Clement XI (r. 1700-21) ruled it idolatrous, and the ensuing clashes resulted in the complete expulsion of the Jesuits from China in 1721. The Dominicans, who were allowed to remain, thus nonetheless had to contend with a climate of suspicion and hostility.

Rare: only three copies are listed in the Italian consolidated catalogue (in Lucca, Pesaro, and Faenza), and no copies appear in recent sales data. A document of the missionary life in an era of increasing contract between China and the West.