The number of believers in the entire Hangzhou church is about 1,400 to 500. Guo Jujing baptizes an average of 200 people every year. He talked about the difficulties and special features of preaching here. He believed that preaching in the Ming Dynasty would gain support from the gentry class.
The most important thing. Because their influence is very wide, they can not only protect the safety of the church, but also the common people often regard them as benchmarks. Often the baptism of a local gentry will lead to the baptism of many people around them. Many scholar-official believers are baptized as a whole family, not only
You, your family, and even the servants at home will also be baptized.
The baptism of the Jin Gentleman doctor first solved the church's funding and housing problems at the missionary site. Without donations from the Jin Gentry believers, the poor believers would not be able to donate, and there would not be enough people to "gather sand into a tower". The church would have to rely on remittances from Macau.
To survive, it is also difficult to buy houses and land.
The Catholic Church in Hangzhou was supported by a group of Catholic gentry represented by the Yang and Li families. It could always maintain a stable state in Hangzhou, and its missionary work was rarely disturbed, so it developed rapidly.
Spreading faith from Confucian scholars and scholar-bureaucrats was Matteo Ricci’s missionary policy after entering China. In Zhao Yingong’s view, Matteo Ricci was indeed the first person in Europe to understand the state of Chinese society—previous Europeans, including
I don’t know if Marco Polo, who actually came to China, was included, but they were just a group of curiosity seekers who were just looking around.
However, Zhao Yingong believed that this policy was too "upper-class". Although many people from the poor were baptized into Christianity - many of them were "martyred" in the missionary cases. The first martyr of Catholicism in China was the "Nanjing Missionary Cases"
"The cake seller in". However, in general, the Catholic Church lacked a social foundation in the Ming Dynasty and "floated on top". As a result, Yongzheng banned Christianity and quickly eliminated the small number of Catholic beliefs in the country.
After the Second World War, the religious ban was lifted, and the Protestant churches caught up with them in missionary work, which was closely related to their "popularization" route. The new churches opened hospitals, schools, adopted orphans, and organized various charities, which achieved extraordinary results.
Effect.
But Zhao Yingong would not tell Guo Jujing this opinion - the "lower-level line" is the magic weapon of the Senate. Of course, Guo Jujing may not be unaware of the shortcomings of the "upper-level line", but in the social environment at that time, he followed the "upper-level line"
It was also a last resort. Without the "accumulation of prestige" of Britain and France after the Second Crow, the "lower class line" of Protestantism might not have been feasible.
Although Guo Jujing is in Hangzhou, she is not blocked from the news about the church. Every few months, the Catholic Church in Macau sends messengers to various churches in mainland China to deliver letters. The churches in various places also bring back the recipients of the letters. Some of them go to
Letters from Europe were shipped in Macao. Although the letters were on the road for many years, the church's contact was never interrupted. Even during the Yongzheng and Qianlong dynasties when missionary affairs were completely stagnant, missionaries in Beijing were still able to communicate with Macao and European missionaries.
The church stays in touch.
He carefully read the letter from the Jesuit Society to Guo Jujing - this old missionary who had experienced many ups and downs had a thorough understanding of China's national conditions. The news came from the believers in the Hangzhou church and the missionaries in Beijing.
He knew the true identity of this Chinese from "Guangdong": they were the "Australians" on whom the president had high hopes.
The war between the Australians and the Ming Dynasty in Qiongzhou and their efforts to promote the holy religion in Qiongzhou surprised and delighted Guo Jujing. His brothers, Lu Ruohua and others, had gone through more hardships and hardships in pastoral work in Qiongzhou for three years.
Achievements achieved in forty years.
He didn't quite understand why Australians were interested in the Jesuits and missionary affairs. Letters from Macau showed that although there were a small number of Catholics among them, the Australians did not come from a Catholic country. Nor did they have any religious beliefs.
——The letter specifically stated their atheistic tendencies. At the same time, the head of the Australian church in Lingao was obviously not a qualified clergy. Obviously, they helped the church to preach in Qiongzhou not out of religious enthusiasm, but out of a certain reason.
considerations of practical interests.
Now, this mysterious Australian appeared in front of him, and he was very interested in what his purpose was.
Zhao Yingong was not shy about his purpose. There was no value in flickering or paradoxical words. The Jesuits were willing to help the Senate, which was a reflection of the strength of the Senate. As long as the Jesuits still planned to preach in Qiongzhou, Guo Jujing had to help him.
.
"What do you mean: use the power of our Hangzhou church members to protect your business interests?" the Italian said after listening to his explanation quietly.
Zhao Yingong said: "Yes, you have been in Ming Dynasty for many years, and you should understand the difficulties and interference I have to face as an outsider to experience business here. And you must know the influence of a gentleman in Ming Dynasty society."
Guo Jujing pondered and nodded: "You are right."
"So I must ask the church in Hangzhou to help me." Zhao Yingong looked into the eyes of this dignified old Italian man.
"What commercial projects do you want to hold in Hangzhou?" Guo Jujing was very interested in this. He knew from letters from Macau that Australians are a group of skilled craftsmen who can produce many novel and cheap products.
"There are many," said Zhao Yingong, "such as raw silk."
Guo Jujing did not speak anymore, but nodded slightly. The raw silk trade was an important financial source for the Jesuits in Macau. Before the trade with Japan was cut off, the Jesuits purchased "Nanjing Silk" through merchants every year and resold it to Japan to obtain
Huge profits. Of course the priest knew: the so-called Nanjing silk is actually "Lake silk" produced in Zhejiang and Nanzhi.
It was not surprising to him that the Australians came to Zhejiang to intervene in the production and trade of raw silk. They asked the church to use their influence to provide shelter, which was also expected - no matter how powerful the Australian warships and cannons were,
Nor will it appear at the mouth of the Yangtze River.
Of course he had to agree to the Australians' request - this was not only his obligation as a Jesuit, but also necessary to spread the gospel in China.
He made the sign of the cross and murmured: "Let God's will be accomplished."
In the subsequent chat, Zhao Yingong mentioned Sun Yuanhua - Guo Jujing greatly praised Sun Yuanhua and considered him to be the future backbone of the Ming Dynasty Church - Li and Yang had passed away, Xu Guangqi was old, and only Sun Yuanhua was young and strong. He was already a member of the CPC Central Committee.
Governor Lai, besides Xu Guangqi, is the highest-ranking person among Chinese believers.
Sun Yuanhua's home is in Jiaxing, not far from Hangzhou. He prepared a quiet and comfortable villa for the missionaries in Jiaxing. Guo Jujing once lived there for a period of time while writing, and the two had a very good personal friendship.
Without much effort, he got Guo Jujing's promise to write a letter of introduction to Sun Yuanhua for them. The reason why Zhao Yingong asked to see Sun Yuanhua was quite good - he wanted to meet the man who was the most immersed in Western military theory and technology at that time.
Officials sell arms.
He got all the support he wanted from Guo Jujing. Therefore, when Zhao Yingong later visited the main gentry believers of the Hangzhou Church, he received a warm reception. The heads of the Li and Yang families both held family banquets in honor of this "catechumen"
By".
Zhao Yingong knew that Guo Jujing's introduction could gain the trust of the main personnel of the Hangzhou Church by relying on the Jesuit letter of introduction. However, the necessary human etiquette must also be fulfilled. Therefore, he had already prepared a large number of gifts.
Considering that newly baptized believers and church organizations are always more fundamental, it is not appropriate to give too luxurious things as gifts, so as not to cause resentment to the other party. Therefore, the bulk of the gifts are religious books. Therefore, he asked the Jiangnan delegation to bring them from Lingao when they set off.
Here comes a large box of Chinese version of religious books printed in Lingao. Most of these Chinese version books are originally from the religious pamphlets compiled by the Catholic Church in the old time and space, including "Doctrine of Inquiry", "Sutra Collection" and other commonly used books.
Books. For the believers who were in dire need of high-quality Chinese Catholic books, this was like providing help in times of need. At the same time, he also donated three hundred taels of silver to the church - using Delong's notes, and also promised to ship tablets
Glass decorated church windows.
He also presented a batch of simple and practical "Australian goods": matches, knives, windproof oil lamps with glass lampshades, etc. to the church's leading figures and ordinary believers respectively. In fact, these things have appeared in small quantities on the market recently.
But because of the high price, most people are afraid to ask about it.
This gift indeed won the great favor of the Hangzhou church. Guo Jujing did not say it himself, but even ordinary believers were impressed by the generosity of this "catechumen" who came from afar. Zhao Yingong was quite modest in his speech, and from time to time
He also revealed the meaning of "admiring the Holy Religion", which increasingly won the favor of the powerful figures in the church.
The arrival of a new priest also caused a ripple in the peaceful church - everyone always prefers new things. On the first Sunday after arriving at the Hangzhou church, Jin Lige held a mass for everyone. Because he heard that
Speaking of the arrival of new missionaries, many Catholics from Hangzhou came, and four to five hundred people came to the small church. Jin Lige was so excited that tears filled his eyes when he was preaching. Zhao Yingong felt that it was boring -
However, in order to win the favor of the local church, he still acted respectfully.
In the end, his action was a complete success. Although Zhao Yingong was not a believer, his status as a "catechumen" was recognized by the Hangzhou Church. It was easy for him to gain the trust of several gentry in the church, especially Li.
With the support of the Yang family, I received several invitations and letters of introduction from Guo Jujing to Sun Yuanhua.