Claudia von Collani 

ABSTRACT

　　Inspired by Stephan Rothlin SJ, director of the Ricci-Institute of Macau, a small project on the most important German Jesuit and missionary in China, Johann Adam Schall von Bell 湯若望 (1592–1666) was started some years ago at the Ricci Institute, Macau. Several colleagues and experts could be convinced to participate in this project to do research on different aspects of Schall’s life rich of adventure, success and danger. Alongside the two Jesuits Matteo Ricci 利瑪竇 (1552-1610) and Ferdinand Verbiest 南懷仁 (1623-1688), Johann Adam Schall von Bell is undoubtedly one of the three great missionary personalities of the early modern period in China. He stood in service to the three Chinese emperors Chongzhen 崇禎 (1627–1644), Shunzhi 順治 (1644–1661) and Kangxi 康熙 (1662–1722), he survived the conquest of Peking by the rebel Li Zicheng (李自成 1605–1645) and afterwards by the Manchu troops, he was befriended with the young Shunzhi Emperor, experienced hostility from some of his brethren and was nearly killed as a martyr.

THE VON BELL PROJECT

　　Johann Adam Schall von Bell was quite probably born in Lüftelberg near Cologne (then a Free Imperial City, Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, now Germany) on 1 May 1592 descending from an old patrician family from Cologne. After having attended the Jesuit-run Dreikronengymnasium (Tricoronatum) in Cologne, he was sent to Rome by his parents in 1608. After his philosophy course at the Germanicum, Schall joined the Jesuits in Rome 1611. Later, he received a special training in astronomy and mathematics at the Collegio Romano under the guidance of Christoph Grienberger SJ (1561–1636), the successor to Christopher Clavius SJ (1537–1612). This was the reason that he was permitted to join Nicolas Trigault SJ (1577–1628) as an expert on calendar science on his way back to China. Schall died in Peking on 15 August 1666.^[1]

　　What makes Johann Adam Schall von Bell such an important and interesting research subject is his multi-faceted personality: his versatile talents, his scientific ability, his fearlessness, but also his bluntness and lack of diplomacy, his whole adventurous life. All of this helped him in his various offices and obligations, but also made him unpopular with his confreres and Chinese rivals. In addition, there is the dramatic story of his life: from the highest esteem at court and even friendship with the Shunzhi Emperor to his deep fall and near-martyrdom under the minority of the Kangxi Emperor.

　　Looking at the list of Schall’s publications, it is noticeable that most of them are of a scientific nature, while the religious sector is much smaller.^[2] Like most of his confreres in the China mission, Schall was versatile, but, like the others, he also had his special talents. Schall’s talent clearly lay above all in mathematics and astronomy and in calendar calculations, for which he was also able to produce the necessary instruments.^[3] During his time as a missionary in Xi’an/Shaanxi in 1627-1630, Schall also collected information on the land route between China and Europe on behalf of the General of the Order. In several conversations, the leader of a caravan explained the routes through Inner Asia to him.^[4] Schall could also cast cannon, and was familiar with fortification architecture,^[5] he wrote a manuscript about the first telescope in China,^[6] he knew about mining, and he was a religious and moral instructor for Shunzhi. In 1650, Schall began building a church without official permission from the Ministry of Culture. He drew up the plans himself and was also the foreman. Funds were contributed by the Shunzhi Emperor, princes and scholars. This church, at first known as Xitang 西堂 (West Church) was later named Nantang 南堂 (Southern Church) and was the oldest and most important church in Peking.^[7]

　　This small project on Schall attempts to address at least some aspects of Schall’s life and place them in their historical context. The following experts consented to contribute. Prof. Dr. Fr Klaus Schatz S.J., formerly professor for Church History in St. Georgen/Frankfurt and expert on Jesuits explained in his article how the Jesuits in China used the method of accommodation in form of science and knowledge, in comparison to the method of the missionaries sent by the Propaganda Fide. The contribution of the missiologist and expert on Far Eastern Mission, Claudia von Collani from Würzburg, is dealing with Schall’s role at the calendar reform, his office as director of the Calendar Office Qintianjian 欽天监 with its consequences, namely attacks from the side of other Jesuits and later Chinese. The essay by Shu-Jyuan Deiwiks, a specialist on the Manju language, who worked together with the Manjurologist Martin Gimm with a research project on Manju sources about Schall, deals with the highly dramatic trial of Johann Adam Schall von Bell, which almost cost him his life. Dr. Michael Sievernich S.J., formerly professor for Pastoral Theology in Sankt Georgen, deals with Schall’s booklet on the life of Jesus Jincheng shu xiang 進呈書像 (1640), which was intended to introduce the Chongzhen Emperor to the life of Jesus and thus to Christianity in an appealing pictorial way. Based on a research project sponsored by the DFG, Prof. Dr. Hans Ulrich Vogel and Dr. Cao Jin provide insights into Schall’s book on mining Kunyu gezhi 坤輿格致 (Investigations of the Earth’s Interior, 1640).

The State of Research so far

　　There are small attempts to deal with several Jesuits but no overall project. Research on Schall started with his biography written by Alfons Väth (1874–1937) in the early 1930s, Johann Adam Schall von Bell S.J. Missionary in China, Imperial Astronomer and Counsellor at the Court of Peking 1592-1666 (Cologne: Bachem, 1933) (Monumenta Serica Monograph Series XXV) (Nettetal, St. Augustin: Steyler Verlag, 1991²). This biography has not lost its validity, but it follows the classic hagiography of missionary life, where obstacles are mainly based on the machinations of religious opponents of Christianity. The Chinese and Manchu environment and the political situation of the transition between the Ming and Qing dynasties are not included critically enough. This earlier imbalance has been and is now partially mitigated by more recent Chinese and Western research.^[8] Väth based his account of Schall’s life primarily on the manuscript of Schall’s own notes “Historica relatio eorum quae contingerunt [sic !] occasione concertationis [sic] Calendarii Sinici facta a R.P. Joanne Adamo Schal [sic] Societatis Jesu sacerdotis, anno Christi 1658” in 21 chapters, which is located in the Ajuda Library in Lisbon.^[9] This copy from 1659 originally came from the Jesuit archives in China and was copied in the middle of the 18th century. Another copy was brought to Macau by Fr Filippo Marini S.J. (1608–1682) in 1659.^[10]

　　Another partial copy, made by Schall’s confrere Johann Grueber (1623-1680), was brought to Rome,^[11] edited for printing by the Jesuit and humanist Giovanni Foresi (1624-1682) and published under the title Historica Narratio, De Initio Et Progressu Missionis Societatis Jesu Apud Chinenses, Ac præsertim in Regia Pequinensi. JEx Litteris R.P. Joannis Adami Schall ex eadem Societate, Supremi ac Regij Mathematicum Tribunalis ibidem Præsidis. Collecta (Viennæ Austriae: Cosmerovius 1665).^[12] In 1672 a new edition was published entitled: Historica Relatio de ortu et progressu Fidei Orthodoxæ In Regno Chinensi Per Missionarios Societatis Jesu ab Anno 1581. usque ad Annum 1669 (Ratisbonae: Sumptibus Joan. Conradi Emmrich Civis & Bibliopolae Ratisbonae Typis Augusti Hanckwitz, Anno M.DC.LXXII). However, Väth strongly criticised the fact that Foresi had distorted Schall’s simple style and misread some Chinese terms.^[13]

　　Later, Henri Bernard[-Maître] S.J. (1889-1975) used the manuscript from the Ajuda and published it as bilingual, Latin-French edition: Johann Adam Schall von Bell, Relation Historique. Lettres et mémoires d’Adam Schall S.J., édités par le P. Henri Bernard, S.J., tom 1: Texte latin avec traduction française du P. Paul Bornet (Tien-tsin: Hautes Etudes, 1942). This book was to be the beginning of the complete edition of Schall’s works and letters, a plan that Alfons Väth had already intended, but who died before he could begin his project. He gave his materials to his confrere Fr Henri Bernard beforehand.^[14]

　　In the following years there were a few publications about Schall, but their number increased with the 400th anniversary of his birth. The first was a new edition of the above-mentioned biography by Väth with a bibliographical extension and an index published by the Institute Monumenta Serica Johann Adam Schall von Bell S.J. (Monumenta Serica Monograph Series XXV) (Nettetal, St. Augustin: Steyler Verlag, 1991²). In 1992, the anniversary of Schall’s birth, a conference was held on his person, the contributions of which were published in 1998: Western Learning and Christianity in China. The Contribution of Johann Adam Schall von Bell, S.J. (1592-1666), by Roman Malek (ed.), (Monumenta Serica Monograph Series XXXV/1 and XXXV/2) (Sankt Augustin: Steyler Verlag).

　　In the meantime, there were two projects on Schall, namely the DFG-project led by Prof. Dr. Martin Gimm, Cologne, together with Shu-Jyuan Deiwiks, which dealt with the secret files in Manchu language on Schall’s trial concerning his office at the Astronomical Bureau. On the one hand he had been accused by fellow Jesuits of working on the superstitious Chinese Calendar, on the other hand he was accused of making dangerous geomancy, or Fengshui. Behind this trial against Schall stood the fate of young prince Rong (1657-58), son of the Shunzhi Emperor and his favorite Consort Dong’e (Xianfei 1639–1660). The prince already died at the age of three months, which made the Shunzhi Emperor deeply sad, because he had hoped to make the prince his successor. The Confucian Yang Guangxian 楊光先 (1597-1669) used this to attack Schall for performing bad geomancy which caused the death of the young Emperor and his concubine. The results so far are several articles and two books by Martin Gimm, Der Fall Prinz Rong im Prozeß gegen den Jesuitenpater Adam Schall in den Jahren 1664/65 in China (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2018) and the same: Fr. Johann Adam Schall von Bell S.J. und die Geheimakten zum Gerichtsprozeß der Jahre 1664–1665 in China (Wiesbaden: Harassowitz, 2021).^[15]

　　Another project under the guidance of Prof. Dr. Hans Ulrich Vogel, University of Tübingen was sustained by the DFG from 2018–2021: “Translating Western Science, Technology and Medicine in Late Ming China: Convergences and Divergences in the Light of the Kunyu gezhi 坤輿格致 (Investigations of the Earth’s Interior; 1640) and the Taixi shuifa 泰西水法 (Hydromethods of the Great West; 1612).” There are articles from both projects in this volume.

　　Schall’s booklet on the life of Jesus as an introduction to Christianity for the Chongzhen Emperor has since been used twice as a model for a more detailed treatment. Nicolas Standaert wrote An Illustrated Life of Christ Presented to the Chinese Emperor. The History of Jincheng shuxiang (1640) (Monumenta Serica Monograph Series LIX) (Sankt Augustin, Nettetal: Steyler Verlag, 2007), and Yan Wang published her doctoral thesis as 進呈書像 Jincheng shu xiang (1640). Ein Leben Jesu mit Bildern für den chinesischen Kaiser. Verfasst von Johann Adam Schall von Bell S.J. (1592-1666) (Mainzer Studien zur Neueren Geschichte 31) (Frankfurt/Main: Peter Lang, 2014). Claudia von Collani wrote about the background to this work, “Johann Adam Schall von Bell – Jincheng Shu Xiang, Dialogue and Spiritualité,” The Journal of the Macau Ricci Institute 10, (October 2022), 83-90.

　　The subject of the reform of the Chinese calendar by Schall’s team of scholars has been analysed relatively frequently. The “classic” is the article by Henri Bernard: “L’Encyclopédie astronomique du Père Schall. (Tch’ong-tcheng li-chou 崇禎曆書, 1629 et Si-yang sin-fa li-chou 西洋新法曆書, 1645). La réforme du calendrier chinois sous l’influence de Clavius, de Galilée et de Kepler,” Monumenta Serica 3 (1938), 35-77 and 441-527. Sperello di Serego Alighieri & Elisabetta Corsi published the article “The Eclipse of 21 June 1629 in Beijing in the context of the reform of the Chinese Calendar.” Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage 23,2 (2020), 327-334. The Calendar Case was treated recently by Catherine Jami: “Revisiting the Calendar Case (16634–1669): Science, Religion, and Politics in Early Qing Beijing.” Korean Journal of History of Science 27 (2) (2015), 459-477, Schall’s rehabilitation by Ferdinand Verbiest with the help of European Astronomy was dealt with by Christopher Cullen und Catherine Jami, “Christmas 1668 and After: How Jesuit Astronomy Was Restored to Power in Beijing,” Journal for the History of Astronomy 51,1 (2020), pp. 3-50, and the same: “Prediction and politics in Beijing, 1668: A Jesuit astronomer and his technical resources in a time of crisis.” Journal for the History of Astronomy 53,4 (2022), 422-472.

　　The material by Schall and on Schall, however, is vast. There are his letters and manuscripts in the Archivum Romanum Societatis Jesu in the folders ARSI, Jap. Sin. 142 and 143, which are mainly dealing with the attacks of his brethren against the fact that Schall became the director of the Astronomical Office Qintianjian. Nearly all Jesuits in China at that time wrote pro or contra Schall.

　　Johann Adam Schall von Bell was and still is highly respected by both Chinese and Europeans, even though he was often criticised and vilified. This was partly due to anti-Jesuit endeavours and partly to his not always easy character. His many services to the mission and to the Chinese empire in the fields of science, theology and religion are indisputable, especially his role in the calendar reform. In Western literature, however, it is often overemphasised that Schall was an advisor to the emperor and held the most important and highest offices of state, but such remarks reflect at best a superficial knowledge of the historical facts. What is certain, however, is that Schall held the important office of director of the Qintianjian, which, although without authority, was very important in ritual terms as a subdivision of the Libu 禮部 (Ministry of Rites).

^[1]Väth, 1991², 111.

^[2]The European letters, manuscripts and books are listed in Väth, 1991², 355-360, additions 382-385, his Chinese books 360-370; see also the database Chinese Christian Texts (CCT) of the KU Leuven, http://heron-net.be/pa_cct/index.php/Search/advanced/ccts (last access 31 May 2024).

^[3]Väth, 1991², 106.

^[4]The text was edited by D’Elia, 1943, as: Carovane di Mercati-Ambasciatori dalla Siria alla Cina attraverso l’Asia centrale nel 1627 secondo documenti inediti. Studia Missionalia 1, 314-377; Väth, 19912, 355.

^[5]Väth, 19912, 111-114.

^[6]Väth, 19912, 105f.

^[7]Väth, 19912, 166-169.

^[8]Cullen & Jami, 2020, 5-6.

^[9]Ajuda, Jesuitas-na-Asia 49-V-14, folio 376-436.

^[10]Bernard, 1942, VII (preface).

^[11]ARSI, Jap.Sin. 143, ff. 181r-241v.

^[12]Väth, 19912, 359.

^[13]Bernard, 1942, IX (preface).

^[14]Bernard, 1942, V (preface).

^[15]See also Gimm, 2015.

Claudia von Collani, Universität Würzburg.

REFERENCES

• Bernard, H. (1938). L’Encyclopédie astronomique du Père Schall. (Tch’ong-tcheng li-chou 崇禎曆書, 1629 et Si-yang sin-fa li-chou 西洋新法曆書, 1645). La réforme du calendrier chinois sous l’influence de Clavius, de Galilée et de Kepler. Monumenta Serica, 3, 35-77 and 441-527.
• Collani, C. von (2022). Johann Adam Schall von Bell - Jincheng Shu Xiang, Dialogue and Spiritualité. The Journal of the Macau Ricci Institute 10, 83-90.
• Cullen, C. & Jami, C. (2020). Christmas 1668 and After: How Jesuit Astronomy Was Restored to Power in Beijing. Journal for the History of Astronomy 51(1), 3-50.
• Cullen, C. & Jami, C. (2022). Prediction and politics in Beijing, 1668: A Jesuit astronomer and his technical resources in a time of crisis. Journal for the History of Astronomy, 53(4), 422-472.
• D’Elia, P. (1943). Carovane di Mercati-Ambasciatori dalla Siria alla Cina attraverso l’Asia centrale nel 1627 secondo documenti inediti. Studia Missionalia 1, 314-377.
• Gimm, M. (2015). The Secret Manchu Documents on the Trial of the German Jesuit Missionary Adam Schall (1592–1666). Central Asiatic Journal vol. 58, nos. 1-2 (January), 189-195.
• Gimm, M. (2018). Der Fall Prinz Rong im Prozeß gegen den Jesuitenpater Adam Schall in den Jahren 1664/65 in China. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
• Gimm, M. (2021). Fr. Johann Adam Schall von Bell S.J. und die Geheimakten zum Gerichtsprozeß der Jahre 1664–1665 in China. Wiesbaden: Harassowitz.
• Jami, C. (2015). Revisiting the Calendar Case (16634–1669): Science, Religion, and Politics in Early Qing Beijing. Korean Journal of History of Science 27 (2), 459-477.
• Malek, R. (1998) (ed.). Western Learning and Christianity in China. The Contribution of Johann Adam Schall von Bell, S.J. (1592-1666) (Monumenta Serica Monograph Series XXXV/1 and XXXV/2) Sankt Augustin: Steyler Verlag.
• [Schall von Bell, J. A.] (1665). Historica Narratio, De Initio Et Progressu Missionis Societatis Jesu Apud Chinenses, Ac præsertim in Regia Pequinensi. JEx Litteris R.P. Joannis Adami Schall ex eadem Societate, Supremi ac Regij Mathematicum Tribunalis ibidem Præsidis. Collecta. Viennæ Austriae: Cosmerovius.
• [Schall von Bell, J. A.]. (1672). Historica Relatio de ortu et progressu Fidei Orthodoxæ In Regno Chinensi Per Missionarios Societatis Jesu ab Anno 1581. usque ad Annum 1669. Ratisbonae: Augusti Hanckwitz.
• Schall von Bell, J. A. (1942). Relation Historique. Lettres et mémoires d’Adam Schall S.J., édités par le P. Henri Bernard, S.J., tom 1: Texte latin avec traduction française du P. Paul Bornet. Tien-tsin: Hautes Etudes.
• Serego Alighieri S. di & Corsi E. (2020). The Eclipse of 21 June 1629 in Beijing in the context of the reform of the Chinese Calendar. Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage 23(2), 327-334.
• Standaert, N. (2007). An Illustrated Life of Christ Presented to the Chinese Emperor. The History of Jincheng shuxiang (1640) (Monumenta Serica Monograph Series LIX) Sankt Augustin, Nettetal: Steyler Verlag.
• Väth, A. (1991²). Johann Adam Schall von Bell S.J. Missionar in China, kaiserlicher Astronom und Ratgeber am Hofe von Peking 1592–1666 (Monumenta Serica Monograph Series XXV). Nettetal, St. Augustin: Steyler Verlag.
• Wang, L. (2020). Jesuitenerbe in Peking. Sakralbauten und transkulturelle Räume 1600–1800. Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag.
• Wang, Y. (2014). 進呈書像 Jincheng shu xiang (1640). Ein Leben Jesu mit Bildern für den chinesischen Kaiser. Verfasst von Johann Adam Schall von Bell S.J. (1592-1666) (Mainzer Studien zur Neueren Geschichte 31). Frankfurt/Main: Peter Lang.
• http://heron-net.be/pa_cct/index.php/Search/advanced/ccts (last access 31 May 2024).

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