Home  ›  Catholic Missions In The Nineteenth And Twentieth Centuries

Catholic Missions In The Nineteenth And Twentieth Centuries

Catholic missions in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries or the "Pontifical Missions (Part 2)"

This article is the fourth in a series on the expansion and spread of Christianity, which includes:

  1. Expansion of Christianity in the fifth century to the fifteenth century.
  2. Catholic missions in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
  3. Catholic missions from 1622 to the late eighteenth century or papal missions (Part 1) ".
  4. Catholic missions in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and missions pontifical (Part 2) ".
  5. History of Protestant missions

In the history of Catholic missions, after a period of reflux observed in the late nineteenth century, there appears a wave missionary who was born in France before spreading to neighboring Catholic countries. If one side of the missionary impulse of the spring wave of European expansion which will be expressed also by colonialism , it is fair to say that the missions are rather advanced phase with respect to settlement and they survive decolonization. As a missionary movement appeared simultaneously among Protestants , the rivalry between Catholics and Protestants is a characteristic of the period. The Oceania and Africa will be the land of missions specially concerned, but the Christianization of a country like Korea , remained outside the process of European colonization is also in this period.

Summary

Chronology

  • 1742 Benedict XIV , Ex quo singulari bubble which ended the Rites.
  • 1773 Suppression of the Jesuits by Clement XIV
  • 1814 Restoration of the Jesuits.
  • 1822 Foundation in Lyon of the work of the Propagation of the Faith
  • Neminem Perfecto 1845 encyclical on the formation of local clergy. ( Gregory XVI )
  • 1872 Foundation of the White Fathers, the first White Fathers in the Sahara (Laghouat)
  • 1878 Start of a caravan to the Missionaries of Buganda and Tanganyika.
  • 1886 Martyrdom of Christians in Uganda
  • 1919 encyclical Maximum illud ( Benedict XV )
  • 1926 encyclical Rerum Ecclesiae ( Pius XI )
  • Evangelii praecones 1951 encyclical on the autonomy of local churches ( Pius XII )

The situation of the Catholic missions in the late eighteenth century

Before the era of great discoveries, the expansion of Christianity was blocked to the south and east of the Mediterranean by a Muslim world that will go largely under Turkish rule and that remains impervious to the spread of Christianity. The missions of William of Rubruck and John Montecorvino are making contact with the world of the steppes and the Far East, but still no tomorrow because of the difficulty of communication.

The data are changed from the discovery of the New World and European expansion dominated in its early stages through Portugal and Spain. By the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494, the Holy See officially subcontracts pastoral work, that is to say the evangelization of the newly discovered lands to the Portuguese and Spanish rulers in their respective areas of influence. This was the system of patronage which ran out at the end of the sixteenth century with the decline of Portugal. The renovation driven by the Catholic Council of Trent (1542-1560) in turn implies a takeover of missionary work by the Holy See. The creation of the Jesuits in 1540, allowed many Italian and French priests to strengthen the Portuguese and Spaniards. They invented novel forms of missionary work, opening in the Church the debate known as the Rites

The break with the system of patronage becomes clearer with the creation of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith in the Vatican created to oversee the missionaries of all countries and organize training of local churches in the country that housed the new Catholic communities. The foundation in 1658 of the Society of Foreign Missions of Paris marks the assertion of France in the Catholic world.

Despite their strength, the Catholic missions are not aware of major success outside the country under Spanish domination. In the second half of the eighteenth century , a series of events will mark their decline:

  1. The bubble ex quo singulari by which Pope Benedict XIV disavows the Jesuits in the Rites
  2. The suppression of the Jesuits in 1773
  3. The French Revolution , from 1789, which will completely dry the French seminaries.

The French missionary impulse in the early nineteenth century

The French Revolution had completely emptied the seminars, and consequently dried up the sources of missionaries. The restart will be slow but will show a genuine enthusiasm for the missionary cause that will make France the most important provider of Catholic missions. The Jesuits were restored in 1814, but they never again become the missionary force majeure they were in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The seminar of foreign missions in the Rue du Bac, Paris does reopened in 1815, and restarting departures mission is slow: a priest in 1816, two in 1817, two, four, six years following. The funding system is completely renewed mission: under the Ancien Regime, the funding came from various foundations and church properties that were confiscated during the Revolution. The work of the Propagation of the Faith was founded in Lyon in 1822. Originally, there was the trip to London during the Emigration of the new Rector of the Seminary of Foreign Missions, who had observed Mr. Chaumont methods "democratic" of Anabaptist -based creation of subsidiary companies which managed to drain a multiplicity of "small donations". A contact is established between Chaumont and then Jaricot Phileas, a seminarian who dreamed of going to China. The latter's sister, Pauline Jaricot will become the zealous better for the Propagation of the Faith. Lyon will be the nineteenth century , the capital of the missions. As noted by Jean Guennou, "for the first time in the history of the Catholic Church, fighting missionary whose echo succeeded to the smallest village, became a matter for each and every ... "The report of the work, the Annals of the Propagation of the Faith to draw 10,000 copies in 1825, and 40000 later. It is a very important figure for the time. Almost all the bishops establish the work in their dioceses. Following the Propagation of the Faith, many works are created with a similar orientation. This popular craze creates a favorable climate for missionary vocations that benefit from ever increasing number of new congregations fully or partially dedicated to the missions: The Picpuciens (1800), the Marist (1815), The Oblates of Mary Immaculate (1816) the Spiritans the Congregation of the Holy Spirit (1848), the African Missions of Lyons (1856), Missionaries of Our Lady of Africa, or the White Fathers (1868)

The missionary impulse in the world and the bubble neminem Profecto

If France keeps up great mission and Catholic missionary for at least a century and a half, the missionary impulse that started in France in the early nineteenth century also affects the rest of the Catholic world. Religious congregations whose members work at least partly in mission territory are created in Italy: Salesians of Don Bosco , (1846), Foreign Missions of Milan (1850), Comboni Missionaries of Verona (1850), Belgium: Scheutistes ( 1862), Germany: Society of the Divine Word (1877) ...

Major novelty of the nineteenth century , orders women to varying orientations missionaries are also created. As for men, France is well ahead: about two hundred congregations created between 1814 and 1924, fifty-nine are in France, twenty-six in the United States, Italy eighteen, seventeen in Germany Sixteen in Canada, fifteen in Holland, Belgium eleven.

At the top of the church, the missionary zeal of the nineteenth century is embodied by the assumption of the papacy of a former prefect of Propaganda, Gregory XVI. The latter publishes the encyclical neminem Profecto which is after the instructions of the Propaganda of 1659 the second great missionary text. The text reiterates the need to train local clergy. In fact, it is no longer a topic of debate in the Church, foreign missions, for instance, the encyclical did not wait to create nineteen seminars around the world (1845), a six- missionaries. We find a sustainable way in the Catholic Church, the problem of local clergy asked the level which is the same as the European clergy, which includes learning Latin. The aspirant to the priesthood in Kerala or in Samoa must have five years of study before being ordained. This results in an extremely low yield between input and output at the seminar, almost always lower than one in twenty. Fortunately for the missions, the sisters did not suffer such a handicap. Orders female recruit more easily, facilitating the anchoring of the new religion in the population.

Missions in Oceania and Madagascar

It was in Louisiana and Oceania that the enthusiasm of new French missionaries are solicited in the first place. Father Pierre Coudrin , founder of the order of Picpus in 1800 offering its services in 1824 to the Congregation of Propaganda. Cardinal della Somaglia it means the Sandwich Islands, where land two years later than three picpuciens one of whom has the title of Vicar Apostolic. Is that the oceans began to be canvassed by Protestant rivals. The competition is difficult. The picpuciens are rejected from the first island where they had landed. It will require the intervention of the French navy in 1839 to restore freedom of worship to the Sandwich Islands.

Oceania East was entrusted to picpuciens is to Marist as Gregory XVI says the Western Pacific from 1833. Lyon missionaries face both cannibals and Protestants. The competition is fierce: in difficulty because of the cannibals to the Gambier Islands , rejected from Tahiti in 1836 by Protestants, Catholics come to gain a foothold among Mori New Zealand (1838), in Wallis (1840), Samoa etc.. When the Marist Gaudet happens to the New Hebrides in 1887, Presbyterians, alarmed, landed in their lap. Father Pompallier, Marist was the first Vicar Apostolic of Western Oceania. Missionary pedagogy that sought to develop in the direction of Mori in New Zealand can be expressed as:

  • Respect for indigenous customs
  • Gradual exposure of the moral and Christian doctrine
  • Progressive education to prepare catechumens.
  • Catechists round off the conversion work.

Franoise Perroton , a former dizainire of Pauline Jaricot is the first woman missionary. In 1846, she landed in Wallis, aged 50, under the name of Sister Mary of Mount Caramel. Only 12 years later it receives, Futuna, the reinforcement of 3 new companions.

Queen Ranavalona banned access to Madagascar to foreigners, but in 1853, 3 French had obtained to establish an operating company. Father Marc Finaz arrives, disguised in Madagascar in 1855 and became friends with Crown Prince Rakoto Kakoto, which in contact with the Jesuits of Bourbon, is favorable to Catholics. Rakoto in 1861 succeeded his mother and allows priests and pastors to preach the Christian religion.

Competition from Protestants

We have seen how, Oceania, Catholic missionaries had faced competition Protestant. However, Oceania is not a special case, from the nineteenth century , Catholic missionaries have to face competition Protestant. We will refer to the article the history of Protestant missions to understand the theological and political reasons in the Protestant missionary endeavor. We can mention two reasons that Protestants are present from the late eighteenth century:

  • They are Protestant nations, Holland and England that hold the sea and who became so dominant European powers distant lands.
  • He developed a Protestant missionary movement, symbolized by the publication in 1792 of a study on the obligation for Christians to take steps for the conversion of pagans, William Carey , shoemaker and Baptist preacher who became a missionary India.

The Catholic Encyclopedia of 1907 describes the progress of Protestant missions in India: "To sum up the Protestant, say in 1830, it was not on the ground that nine Protestant missionary organizations, with approximately 27,000 native Protestants from India , Burma and Ceylon. In 1870, there were no fewer than 35 Protestant organizations, which framed the workforce estimated at 318,363 faithful. In 1852, there were 459 Protestant missionaries, and in 1872 there were 606. Here is what characterizes the Protestant missionary work:

  • Spread the Scriptures into vernacular languages.
  • Special efforts vis--vis women's education.
  • Widespread use of native missionaries, not only ordained pastors, but mere preachers, men and women ...

... we must see that one side most of our energy is absorbed by the Catholic support for Catholic populations stable and heritable, while the Protestant missionary work, much more recent origin, having no inheritance manage are much more available to advance into new land, where they can expect to have maximum success. Only after the pioneering phase is completed, that will be converted to Protestant Christian communities established in the hereditary quantitative comparison of the gains will be fair. "

Competition is seen is not accepted with a light heart. Horace Underwood, was a Protestant missionary arrived in Seoul in 1885. Here is his description of the Catholic seminary in Seoul in the years following its creation in 1891:

"The complete course of the seminar is divided into three parts: the preparatory course, the Latin School and the seminar itself. The apparent purpose of the 4 to 6 in first grade was to overcome the shortcomings of teaching general. was followed by 6 years of teaching Latin in which, together with a general education, the emphasis was on Latin as a tool for theological studies to come. The Latin course was followed another tranche of six years, the seminar itself, with two years of general philosophy and four years of theology. It is obvious that the candidate who was reaching the end of this arduous journey could well be a better servant Church of the Korean Protestant pastor. "

Competition from Protestants is a recurring theme in the correspondence of missionaries. The Apostolate in Africa, published in Quebec in 1911, it was noted about a shelter for women "fallen into Protestantism and Islamism"

"... Poor woman had denied faith and joined the Protestants. Ministers impose condition Lady ... insult me, I insult my mother? Never! You can not be here," said Minister ... "

The case of Korea

Korea deserves attention is: it is the only Asian country to become predominantly Christian (or almost) without having been, as the Philippines under the domination of a European country.

In the late eighteenth century, when the country is jealously closed, scholars benefit from a legation in Beijing to get as many books as possible to science, literature, etc.. Christian books fall into their hands. One of these scholars, Ni-seung-houn began the trip to Beijing in 1784. He was baptized in the name of Peter. Upon his return he baptized his companions. Because of its origins, Korea is attached to the Vicariate Apostolic of Peking until 1831. About the year 1794, a Chinese priest, Father Jacques Tjyou, was sent to Korea. There are about 4000 faithful. Obedient to the Pope's decision of 1742, the Korean Catholics refuse to participate in ancestor worship, in consequence, they are sentenced to imprisonment or death by the royal government of Joseon. We can distinguish four waves of persecution from 1785 to 1886. The first two, in 1801 (reign of Shinyu) and 1815 (reign of Eulhae) are particularly harsh. More than 300 Christians were killed during the persecution of 1801, and again hundreds were massacred during the second wave, that of 1815, limited to the province of Kyungsang in the south. In 1839, the wave of persecution will be fatal to the three French missionaries newly arrived in the country, and finally resume the persecutions during the reign of Taewongun from 1866 to 1871. Fortunately for Korean Catholics, a treaty with France in 1866 represents a turning point in their history. You could say he brings freedom of religion, even if religious practice is regulated.

The Chinese priest Jacques Tjyou had been a victim of the wave of persecutions of 1801, and for thirty years, the Christian community has had no priest and remain resistant. In 1832, the Holy See appointed a vicar apostolic, Bishop Bruguire, who is trying to reach Korea from Siam , crossing China and Mongolia. He gets a pass, but died before reaching his goal. One of his companions, Father Maubant managed to cross the northern border in 1836. He was joined the following year by two other French, Father Chasten, and later by the new Vicar Apostolic, Bishop Imbert.

Persecution broke out in 1839, many Christians are arrested, tortured and killed. Missionaries are hunted. The three French priests were beheaded September 21, 1839. In 1845, a new bishop, Bishop Ferreol is appointed and managed to enter the country, accompanied by a young missionary priest and first Korean, Andrew Kim , who had studied in Macao. Andrew Kim is caught and executed the following year. Missionaries still continue to enter the country illegally, mostly by sea, transhipped, the night of a Chinese boat to a boat Korean. Despite these difficulties, the mission during this prosperous period of twenty years. In 1866, there were 25,000 followers, two bishops and ten missionaries.

That's when the latest wave of persecution, to bring to account the regent Tai-Ouen-koun rages, more terrible than the previous ones: the two bishops and seven missionaries be arrested and put to death many Korean faithful also perished in the carnage, while others die of exhaustion and hunger in the mountains. Later, the Regent will recognize his error.

The French expedition of Kang-Hoa, whose purpose is to avenge the killing of French missionaries are not conducted with sufficient vigor and finally has the effect of reactivating the persecution that lasts as long as the regent remained in power. It was only in 1876 that missionaries are again brought into the country. There is more persecution itself, but the missionaries are still obliged to remain in hiding. Complete religious freedom is effective on the commercial treaty with the various powers around the year 1884. In 1876, there were only 10,000 Christians. The number of Catholic then progresses steadily to 63,000 in 1907.

The Church lives while opencast Sisters of St. Paul de Chartres open orphanages. In each district, built chapels with residences for missionaries. The church in Seoul that serves Cathedral is officially dedicated in 1898. Parochial schools are open, and even in large centers, few schools for girls. The wife of the emperor and regent of the terrible woman was baptized in 1896.

In 1907, staff of the mission include: 1 bishop, 46 missionaries, French, Korean 10 priests, 11 sisters French, 41 Korean sisters, 72 boys 'schools with 1,014 students, 6 girls' schools with 191 students, 2 orphanages with 28 boys and 261 girls, 379 orphans placed in families, 2 pharmacies, a seminar with 22 students from the first level and 9 students in theology, 48 churches or chapels, 931 Christian churches, 63 340 catechumens baptized and 5503 being investigated.

In the twentieth century , the Catholic Church continues to progress, but progress remains poor when compared to those of Protestant churches , especially evangelical , present in Korea since 1885.

The colonial experience

From the late nineteenth century , it is no longer possible to speak of Christian missions reminiscent of European hegemony, major historical fact which led the latest wave of colonization, mainly English and French. European powers who had taken a substantial lead in the field of science and technology, divided the islands of Oceania and the greater part of Africa. For almost one hundred years of colonization has provided security to the missionaries who allowed them access to areas previously unexplored and unknown. It was during the colonial period that the missions will reap the benefits of their painful early heroic days of the first half of the nineteenth century.

Pius XII recalled in the encyclical Evangelii praecones: in 1926 there were 400 missions and currently we have 600, so the Catholics did not reach 15 million, today they are nearly 28 million. In this same year 1926, the priests, or from the outside or the same missions, were 14,800 and today there are over 26,800. At that time, almost all the pastors, heads of missions were strangers in 25 years, 88 of these missions have been entrusted to the native clergy, and as in many places the ecclesiastical hierarchy is already established with bishops normally chosen from inhabitants of the place

Jean Guennou note that many colonial administrations have admitted fact that the missionaries of their own metropolis, which could create the idea of collusion between Christianity and colonialism. In the late nineteenth century, a time that France has imposed in Madagascar, the French Jesuits are favored at the expense of Protestant missionaries English and Norwegian. It is undoubtedly true in Africa, where one sees, for example, after the withdrawal of German colonies they had lost after the First World War, a French clergy replace a German clergy. This is not the case of the Indian empire, where Catholic missionaries are more French than English and have nothing but praise for their relationship with the British administration.

Yet there is no evidence that this collusion between the missionaries and colonizers under the Third Republic, the French power is not particularly favorable to the Church, and colonial administrators often are Freemasons. This does not Paul Bert in 1905 to declare while anticlericalism raged in France: Anti-clericalism is not an article of export. At Wallis in Oceania in 1920, the missions are granted a monopoly of education. Quite often, the administration outsourced the social, education and health, now called development, missions, just the same way, one might say that nowadays the states rich sub- process development NGOs. In Algeria, since the beginnings of colonization in 1830, despite any theoretical proclamation of religious freedom, officers of the Arab Office forbade the Catholic clergy contact with Muslim populations, and only From 1867 the Cardinal Lavigerie will build good relations with Napoleon III, the Church first, Mac-Mahon, then to allow the development of certain congregations outside the European community, without much success.

The movement of the missions had been a step ahead of the settlement. The Church will anticipate decolonization. In the encyclical Evangelii praecones, Pius XII points the way forward: and as in many places the ecclesiastical hierarchy is already normally formed with bishops from among the inhabitants of the place, it becomes even clearer that the religion of Jesus Christ is really Catholic and may not be considered foreign in any point on earth.

A little later, he invited the missionaries to hand: it seems appropriate to note a point that we feel worthy of careful consideration when the missions previously assigned to foreign clergy into the hands of bishops and priests nationals. The religious institute whose members have tilled it with their sweat the Lord's field, when a decree of the Supreme Council for the Propagation of the Faith entrusted to other workers vine cultivated by them and already covered with fruit, not should not necessarily abandon it altogether, but it will make a useful and convenient than continuing to help the newly elected bishop in the people of the place. Similarly, in effect, as in all other dioceses of the world, Religious mostly help the local Bishop, and in areas of missions, religious, although they came from another nation, will never cease not lead the fight as auxiliaries.

Indeed, the cautious attitude of the Church will be successful: in general, the decolonization movement and access to independence will not be accompanied by a reaction of rejection of religion that could be considered as an unwanted legacy of the colonizers.

The beginning of the evangelization of West Africa

The first missionary efforts in Africa are older than the nineteenth century: Portuguese priests in counters that they created on the African coast from the fifteenth century, Jesuit delegation in 1556 with the Negus of Abyssinia, sent by the Italian Capuchin Propaganda, between 1645 and 1692 from a king of Congo, dissenting from the King of Portugal.

These contacts are not old mask the fact that until the nineteenth century, Europeans have not penetrated the heart of the African continent remains terra incognita. Father Jacob Libermann , Jewish Alsatian converted to Catholicism, epilepsy will create 1841 a missionary order, the Congregation of the Fathers of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, later called the Holy Spirit congregation whose primary purpose is the evangelization of Africa. The beginnings are difficult. On September 26, 1841, Father Jacques Dsir Laval arrived in Port Louis ( Mauritius ) in the greatest indifference and receives support from the Black Mission. September 43, 7 priests and 3 lay people to embark Pauillac aboard a boat bound for the Gulf of Guinea. A year later, fever and shipwrecks had their damage, only two are still alive. The followers of Father Libermann had instructed Are you tough enough blacks with blacks, to train them as they should be, not the way to Europe, but leaving it their own. To live as Africans, the Fathers had adopted a rule very ascetic life, which was not necessarily very good for health. Another disciple of Liebermann 's father Truffet appointed bishop does not stand more than seven months. His successor relaxes the rule to extend the life of the fathers.

Another French priest, Melchior de Marion Brsillac founded in 1856, an institute dedicated to Africa, the African Missions of Lyons. Propaganda assigned by the Sierra Leone considered particularly unsafe. This time, the six fathers landed in Freetown in May 1858 do little more than a month: one survives the yellow fever. Le pre Planque, successeur de Marion-Brsillac, russit implanter des tablissements plus durables au Dahomey partir de 1860. Il fonde en 1876 l'institut des surs missionnaires de .

Avec la cration des Pres blancs et la pntration des puissances europennes en Afrique partir de la fin du XIX e sicle, la progression des missions en Afrique passe la vitesse suprieure. En 1888, sous l'impulsion du cardinal Lavigerie , l'glise s'engage dans une croisade anti-esclavagiste. Dans la pratique, le rachat d'esclave sera souvent l'origine des premires communauts africaines qui se forment autour des missionnaires. Mais la vague d'adhsion au christianisme ne saurait tre rduit des questions d'intrt. On assiste tout au long de l'Histoire un mouvement historique de rgression de l' animisme ou du chamanisme au profit des grandes religions comme le bouddhisme , l' islam ou le christianisme.

Le cardinal Lavigerie et les Pres blancs

Charles Lavigerie, plus tard connu sous le nom de cardinal Lavigerie est tout fait reprsentatif de ce que l'on pourrait appeler la reconquista la Franaise. L'islam avait progress, comme on sait sur toute la partie mridionale de l'ancien Empire romain devenu au moment de son clatement le monde chrtien. En dpit des croisades qui le contestrent, ce mouvement de progression de l'Islam apparat jusqu'au XIX e sicle comme irrversible, exception faite de la reconquista espagnole qui refoula l'islam de l'autre ct de Gibraltar. La conqute de l'Algrie par la France devenue entre temps fille ane de l'glise pose, de fait, la question d'une ventuelle remise en cause de l'hgmonie de l'islam en Afrique du Nord. Le bilan de la reconquista la franaise, est absolument nul en termes de populations musulmanes gagnes la cause chrtienne, mais on assiste, la faveur du mouvement d'exploration et de colonisation de l'Afrique, l'essor des nouvelles socits missionnaires, largement domines par la France .

Lavigerie est lui-mme, en quelque sorte, un produit de la reconqute des mes en terre franaise: Sa famille, de moyenne bourgeoisie, se situait plutt du ct de Voltaire que du ct du pape. Envoy dans un collge chrtien par commodit, il finit par entrer au Sminaire. Il est nomm vque d'Alger en 1867. En Algrie , le clerg doit limiter leur action pastorale aux populations europennes. Les populations musulmanes gardent leurs droits coutumiers, leurs chefs et dpendent directement des "Bureaux arabes" de l'arme. cette poque, les milieux traditionalistes n'ont pas encore rinvesti l'arme, et les officiers sont souvent de tradition rpublicaine et incroyants. Ds son arrive Alger, Lavigerie n'a de cesse de demander la libralisation de l'action missionnaire.

Cette insistance rclamer, par principe, le droit au proslytisme n'implique en aucune faon une volont d'arriver des rsultats quantitatifs rapides en matire de baptmes et de conversions. Instruit par son exprience de l'islam lorsqu'il tait directeur des uvres de l'Orient, Lavigerie sait bien que la conversion individuelle ne peut conduire qu' exclure l'individu de sa communaut d'origine et conduire ainsi une situation socialement non viable.

C'est donc toute une stratgie de conqute qui s'labore, qui tient la fois de l'encerclement et de l'osmose et qui vise un basculement d'ensemble de la socit. Faire sauter l'obstacle juridique n'est qu'une condition ncessaire. Il faut d'abord former un clerg prt cueillir le fruit lorsqu'il sera mr. Moins d'un an aprs son arrive Alger, il cre la congrgations des Missionnaires d'Afrique , ceux qui seront connus plus tard sous le nom de Pres Blancs. Au noviciat d'Alger, les rgles sont draconiennes, il leur est thoriquement interdit de parler entre eux autrement qu'en arabe. Le clerg ordinaire, reoit l'interdiction de tenter des conversions. Il faut trouver des ttes de pont et des maillons faibles. Les orphelins feront office de tte de pont, et la Kabylie sera identifie comme le maillon faible. 1868 est une anne de famine en Algrie, et par consquent, beaucoup d'enfants errent sans ressource. C'est l'occasion de fonder des orphelinats. Des terrains sont achets pour qu'ils puissent vivre du fruit de leur travail, un phalanstre, en quelque sorte, o l'on dirige en douceur les enfants vers la foi. Plus tard, les filles pourraient s'unir aux garons pour fonder des foyers chrtiens. Les Kabyles sont des Berbres , ils parlent une langue dont l'origine est antrieure l'arrive des arabes. Des lectures d'orientalistes persuadent Lavigerie que la Kabylie est une ancienne terre chrtienne et que l'islamisation n'y est que superficielle. Les postes de missionnaires sont concentrs sur cette province, avec la consigne de ne pas chercher vangliser prmaturment les populations, mais fonder des coles et des dispensaires. En plus des missionnaires proprement dits, il fallait des surs, qui pourraient s'infiltrer plus efficacement dans la socit. Un an aprs la fondation des Missionnaires d'Afrique, Lavigerie fonde les surs agricultrices et hospitalires.

En fin de compte, les tentatives d'vanglisation de l'Algrie sont un chec. Les populations, qu'elles soient arabes ou kabyles n'ont gure que leur religion pour affirmer leur identit face aux colonisateurs europens. Lavigerie le comprend assez vite. L'nergie des pres Blancs est redirige vers l'Afrique.

En guise de conclusion

Depuis le XV e sicle, l'expansion du christianisme en gnral et du catholicisme en particulier a connu des succs contrasts. On peut tenter de les exprimer par d'approximatives statistiques :

En 1997, on estime que le milliard de catholiques se rpartit peu prs de la faon suivante : Europe, 287M, Amrique du Sud, 443M, Amrique du Nord, 73M, Afrique, 118M, Asie, 111M, Ocanie, 8M.

Leon de catchisme en Inde dans la rgion de Chennai (milieu du XX e sicle).

En Inde, on compte prs de 20 millions de chrtiens, parmi lesquels 14 millions de catholiques, ce qui reste trs peu par rapport aux 700 millions d'hindous ou aux 100 millions de musulmans. La proportions de catholiques est plus leve dans d'autres pays d'Asie comme les Philippines (88%), la Core (49%) ou le Vit Nam (11%). Certains pays d'Afrique sont majoritairement catholiques. Dans beaucoup de pays, des populations chrtiennes coexistent plus ou moins bien avec des populations musulmanes. Le Rwanda est majoritairement catholique.

Le concile Vatican II , en permettant l'abandon du latin a sans doute facilit le vieux dessein de la Propagande de constituer des clergs locaux, mais dans beaucoup de pays africains, le clibat des prtres pose problme.

L'expansion du catholicisme hors d'Europe est compense par un mouvement de dchristianisation en Europe et par un dveloppement spectaculaire de sectes protestantes dans des rgions traditionnellement catholiques comme l'Amrique latine ou l'Afrique de l'Ouest.

Bibliography

  • S. Delacroix, Universal History of the Catholic missions, 4 cups, Librairie Grund, Paris, Monaco, 1956-1960
  • KS Latourette, A History of the Expansion of Christianity, 7 vol. London-New York, 1937-1945; The Christian World Mission in Our Days, New York, 1954
  • Yannick Essertel, , Les ditions du cerf, 2001
  • Bernard de Vaulx, , Fayard, 1951
  • Jean Guennou, , in
  • Horace Underwood, , New York International Press, 1926
  • Lee Jeong-kyu,
  • Paul Rutayisir, , Fribourg, Suisse : d. Universitaires, 1987
  • Christiane Rouss, , L'Harmattan, 1992
  • Franois Renault, , Paris, Fayard, 1992

References

  1. Histoire du Pre Planque sur le site des Soeurs de Notre Dame des Aptres
  2. Franois Renault, , Paris, Fayard, 1992, p.126-127, 140-147

See also

External Links

The articles in the Catholic Encyclopedia of 1908, concerning:


Leave a Reply

0 vote, average: 0.00 out of 50 vote, average: 0.00 out of 50 vote, average: 0.00 out of 51 vote, average: 0.00 out of 50 votes, average: 0.00 out of 5 (0 votes, average: 0.00 out of 5, rated)
Loading ... Loading ...
Help us improve the wiki Send Your Comments