The Jesuit Mission to New France: A New Interpretation in the Light of the Earlier Jesuit Experience in Japan (Studies in the History of Christian Thought)

243 Pages·2011·2.87 MB·English

by  Takao Abe

Te Jesuit Mission to New France
Studies in the History of
Christian Traditions
General Editor
Robert J. Bast
Knoxville, Tennessee
In cooperation with
Henry Chadwick, Cambridge
Paul C.H. Lim, Nashville, Tennessee
Eric Saak, Liverpool
Brian Tierney, Ithaca, New York
Arjo Vanderjagt, Groningen
John Van Engen, Notre Dame, Indiana
Founding Editor
Heiko A. Oberman†
VOLUME 151
Te Jesuit Mission to
New France
A New Interpretation in the Light of the
Earlier Jesuit Experience in Japan
By
Takao Abé
LEIDEN • BOSTON
2011
Cover illustration: Historic Map of New France. Partie de la Nouvelle France dedié a
Monseigneur le Marquis de Seignelay, et Lonré, Baron de Sceaux; conseiller du Roy en
tous ses conseils.
Source: Library and Archives Canada/Credit: Hubert Jaillot/NMC 20685.
Tis book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Abé, Takao.
Te Jesuit mission to New France : a new interpretation in the light of the earlier
Jesuit experience in Japan / by Takao Abé.
p. cm. — (Studies in the history of Christian tradition ; v. 151)
Includes bibliographical references (p. ).
ISBN 978-90-04-19285-0 (hardback : alk. paper)
1. Jesuits—Missions—New France. 2. Jesuits—Missions—Japan. 3. Canada—
History—To 1763 (New France) 4. Indians of North America—Missions—
History—17th century. 5. Jesuits—Missions—New France—Historiography.
6. Canada—History—To 1763 (New France)—Historiography. 7. Indians of North
America—Missions—Historiography. I. Title.
F1030.7.A34 2011
971—dc22
2010041728
ISSN 1573-5664
ISBN 978 90 04 19285 0
Copyright 2011 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, Te Netherlands.
Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing,
IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhof Publishers and VSP.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated,
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Fees are subject to change.
CONTENTS
List of Illustrations ............................................................................. vii
Introduction: Iberian and French Jesuits from an International
Perspective ....................................................................................... 1
I. Review of Literature on the Jesuit Missions to Japan and
New France .................................................................................. 17
A. Historiography of the Jesuit Mission to Japan ................ 17
B. Historiography of the Jesuit Mission to New France ..... 31
C. Towards a Synthesis of Historiographies .......................... 44
II. Interpreting Non-Christian Cultures: Jesuit Biases ............... 47
A. Te Jesuit Interpretation of Japanese Culture .................. 48
B. Te French Jesuit Interpretation of Native Culture ........ 61
C. Jesuit Biases in Interpreting Non-Christian Cultures ..... 78
III. Preaching, Winning Converts and Educating Tem:
Evolving Multifaceted Strategies .............................................. 81
A. Japan ........................................................................................ 82
B. New France ............................................................................. 101
C. A New Paradigm for the Missionary Strategy in New
France ...................................................................................... 127
IV. Organising a Mission for a Christian Community:
Missionary Réductions Reconsidered ....................................... 129
A. Te Prototypes for Amerindian Réductions ...................... 130
B. A Comparison between Japan and Paraguay .................... 135
C. Te Réductions in New France in Comparison with the
Paraguayan and Japanese Models ....................................... 147
D. Te International Evolution of Missionary Réductions 161
V. Accepting and Comprehending Christianity:
Non-European Practice of the Religion .................................. 165
A. Problems of Historical Epistemology ................................ 165
vi contents
B. Japanese Acceptance and Comprehension of
Christianity ............................................................................. 168
C. Amerindian Acceptance and Comprehension of
Christianity ............................................................................. 179
Conclusion: Te French Jesuit Mission Revisited ......................... 201
Bibliography of Works Cited ............................................................ 209
Appendices ........................................................................................... 221
Index ..................................................................................................... 229
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
1. World Map ................................................................................. 13
2. Map of Kyushu, Japan .............................................................. 14
3. Map of New France ................................................................... 15
4. First Ursuline Nuns with Native Pupils at Quebec ............. 86
5. Seventeenth-Century Japanese Folding Screens ................... 87
6. Huron Houses in Sainte Marie (replicas) .............................. 124
7. Church Building in Sainte Marie (a replica) ........................ 125
8. Altar for Native Converts in Sainte Marie (a replica) ......... 126
9. Japanese Mould for Medals and Crucifxes in the Late
Sixteenth or Early Seventeenth Century ................................ 177
10. Seventeenth-Century Image of Native Women and
Children Praying to God .......................................................... 186
INTRODUCTION:
IBERIAN AND FRENCH JESUITS FROM
AN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE
If interpreted in a broader international framework beyond North
America rather than just within the regional history of New France,
will the existing historical paradigms of the Jesuit missionary activity
to Amerindians remain intact? Tis is the thematic issue that underlies
this cross-cultural study. Te Jesuit mission in seventeenth-century
New France will be analysed as a series of incidents that developed,
not simply as a domestic occurrence of North America, but out of the
earlier mission of Father Francisco de Xavier in Japan. In this analysis,
the Christian mission in Japan will be used as a tool to revise the cur-
rently accepted historical interpretations of the French Jesuit mission.
Trough a diachronic global comparison encompassing the period
from the mid-sixteenth century to the mid-seventeenth century, this
investigation attempts to add a new revisionist perspective to the con-
ventional understanding of the New France mission.
More than half a century before French missionaries landed in North
America in the early seventeenth century, another Jesuit group had
already arrived in Japan. In 1549, the party of Father Xavier arrived at
Kagoshima, on the southern tip of Japan. Among his accomplishments,
French-educated Xavier had helped to establish the Society of Jesus [SJ]
in Paris in 1534. Father Xavier’s contact with Japan was but the frst of
many such visits. Iberian Jesuits from Portugal, Spain and Italy, under
the patronage of the king of Portugal, followed. Although the Jesuit mis-
sion to Japan experienced some success during the second half of the
sixteenth century, strict legislation promulgated by the Japanese central
authorities eliminated the Christian missions in the early seventeenth
century. Meanwhile, as the Iberian mission was ending in Japan, the
French Jesuits were beginning their own mission to New France.
To understand the mission in New France, it must be discussed within
both colonial North American and international contexts. Similarly the
mission in Japan must be considered within the context of Iberian colo-
nialism in this Asian country as well as within an international frame-
work. Yet this international context has rarely, until now, been thoroughly