Le premier concile plénier chinois, Shanghai 1924: droit canoniquemissionnaire forgé en Chine (review)

Jean-Paul Wiest

The Catholic Historical Review, Volume 97, Number 3, July 2011, pp.618-619 (Article)

Published by The Catholic University of America PressDOI: 10.1353/cat.2011.0097

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such a collection of diverse interdisciplinary scholarship. Nevertheless, thebook is a unique collection of “hidden treasures” for all those who wish toknow more about those fascinating and mostly neglected interreligious andintercultural exchanges in which Christianity was involved in its diffusionalong the Silk Road for about one thousand years.

Monastero di Bose MATTEO NICOLINI-ZANI

Magnano, Italy

Le premier concile plénier chinois, Shanghai 1924: droit canonique mis-sionnaire forgé en Chine. By Paul Wang Jiyou. (Paris: Les éditions du Cerf.2010. Pp. 413. €42,00 paperback. ISBN 978-2-204-09205-0.)

Paul Wang Jiyou presents a well-researched study of the first plenary coun-cil of China held in Shanghai from May 15 to June 11, 1924, under the lead-ership of Archbishop Celso Costantini, the apostolic delegate.

After an excellent preface by the French sinologist Jean Charbonnier, thebook is organized into two parts.The introduction and the first three chap-ters provide an historical overview of the origin and the ups and downs ofChristianity in China from the early-seventh century to the dawn of the twen-tieth century.Readers unfamiliar with that history will find it very informativewhereas others better versed in the subject might feel that Wang, whodevoted almost half of the book to that topic, could have been more succinct.

The four chapters in the second part of the book are what make this studyespecially significant.The first chapter presents the antecedents of the coun-cil.These include the role of Bishop Jean-Baptiste Budes de Guébriant, who,as vicar apostolic of Canton and apostolic visitor to China and borderingcountries, briefed Willem van Rossum, the cardinal-prefect of PropagandaFide, on the situation of the Church in China; Pope Benedict XV’s call for amissionary reorientation in his apostolic letter Maximum illud of November1919; and Pope Pius XI’s nomination of Costantini as apostolic delegate toChina in August 1922.The second chapter describes the preparation for thegathering, its actual course, and various ceremonies associated with it. Thethird chapter examines the major legal and pastoral decrees that wereapproved, showing how the 1917 Code of Canon Law and the letterMaximum illud influenced them. Chapter 4 discusses the implementation ofthe council and its enduring impact on the missionary reorientation and thelife of the Chinese Church such as the ordination of six Chinese bishops inRome in 1926, the 1939 abolition of the interdiction to perform the Chineserites, and the establishment of a Chinese native hierarchy in 1946.

Page after page, Wang adeptly shows how Costantini, through the pro-ceedings of the council, was able to set in motion changes that aimed at de-occidentalizing the Catholic Church and thereby fostered a local church

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respectful of the Chinese culture and led by a Chinese clergy.The Shanghaiplenary council put the Chinese Church on a new course as well as set guide-lines and directives for the apostolate on Chinese soil that perdured until theSecond Vatican Council.

The book has seven useful appendices, including Pope Paul V’s brief of1615 on the Chinese liturgy, a list of the council’s participants, andCostantini’s allocutions at the opening and the closing ceremonies.There isno index, but the very rich bibliography is a welcome addition.

The book has some minor inaccuracies. It also is regrettable that, amongthe persons who had a part in bringing about the plenary council ofShanghai, Wang fails to mention Ma Xiangbo. This well-respected ChineseCatholic scholar argued for equal rights between Chinese and foreign priestsand opposed the abuses of the French protectorate over Catholic missions.Several of his suggestions were not only embraced by de Guébriant but alsowere reflected in Maximum illud. Ma became one of the first to translate thepapal letter into Chinese.

This book will profit a wide range of scholars and students interested inthe Church in China, the local applications of the canon law, the establish-ment of local churches and local hierarchies, and the process of evangeliza-tion. It should be on the shelves of seminary libraries.

The Beijing Center for Chinese Studies JEAN-PAUL WIEST

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