Volume 54, Number 11 · June 28, 2007
The Dream of Catholic China
By Jonathan D. Spence
Journey to the East: The Jesuit Mission to China, 1579–1724
by Liam Matthew Brockey
Belknap Press/Harvard University Press, 496 pp., $35.00
From the later sixteenth century until the end of the seventeenth, the Jesuit educational system was the most rigorous and effective in Europe. As one senior Jesuit wrote proudly in 1647, each Jesuit college was a 'Trojan horse filled with soldiers from heaven, which every year produces conquistadors of souls.' Most of these young 'soldiers,' before being assigned to their full-time studies in the Society of Jesus, would have spent several years learning the fundamentals of Latin and Greek grammar. They would then embark on a nine-year cycle of further work: two years of humanities, three years in the arts course, which focused on Greek philosophy, mathematics, and astronomy, and four years of advanced theology studies. This final four-year course consisted of two years of moral theology and casuistry, and two years of speculative theology. Those who completed this roster would normally be assigned to teach young novices for a few years before receiving their final advanced training and preparation for the priesthood.
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