The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1916-04-01
A RECORD OF CHRISTIANITY IN
CHINA IN THE EIGHTH
CENTURY.
written for The Catholic Bulletin by
Rev. w. Busch.)

There is to be seen at the present
time, in the Metropolitan Museum of
Art in the City of New York, Chi
nese monumental stone, which is an
exact replica of the famous HISTORIAN
monument of Sian-fu, the most an
cient monument of Christianity in
China, an historical record of great
interest which has been considered in
some degree worthy to be classed
with the Rosetta Stone in the British
Museum in London, the Hammurabi
Stone and the Moabite Stone in the
Louvre in Paris, and the Aztec Cal
endar Stone in the National Museum
in the City Of Mexico.
The HISTORIAN monument of Sian-fu,
in the Chinese province of Shensi, is
a large stone monument, erected in
the year 7S1 of the Christian era, COM
memorating the introduction of Chris
tianity into China. After having been
long neglected and forgotten, the
monument was accidentally unearthed
in the year 1925 and was again set
up. 1t is not therefore, a recent dis
covery; it has been well known to
arcneOlOSlSlS LOT Il lOIlB LlIHe.
However, to the general public 1t is
not so well known and hence it is
very noteworthy that few years ago,
in June of 1908, an exact replica of the
HISTORIAN monument was placed in
the Metropolitan Museum in New
York. 1t is owing to the enterprise
of a young Danish student, traveller
To NTr EYsff nj 40
this remarkable monument may now
be studied in replica in this western
world.
And still more recently plaster casts
have been made from the New York
replica so that copies can now be pro-
cured by other museums and univer-
stiles. Mr.. Holm has himself pre-
sented such east to the Lateran
Museum in Rome and His Holiness,
Pope Benedict XIV, in recognition of
the distinguished gift and Mr..
Holm's signal achievement in secur.
ing the replica of the original monu-
ment, in February of this present
year, conferred upon Mr.. Holm the
honor and rank of Knight Commander
of the Order of ST. Sylvester.
The story of the HISTORIAN monu,
ment and of it's reproduction by Mr.
Holm is an interesting one. The
stone is, as has been said, the most
ancient monument of Christianity in
China.
Christianity in China.
The history of Christianity in China
is divided into three distinct periods.
An old tradition ascribes the first
preaching of Christianity in China to
the Apostles, st. Thomas and st. Bar
tholomew We do know from the
Acts of the Apostles that on the day
of Pentecost, among the many Jews
who had come to Jerusalem to cele-
brate the feast as kept by the Jews,
and who heard the first preaching OF
the Apostles, were also Jews from
eastern lands, ''Parthians, Medes,
Elamites and inhabitants of Mesopo-
tamia." 1t is probable that Christian
ity was carried eastward from the
very beginning, but how far and with
what success, is not recorded with
any certainty. 1t is we'll known, how.
ever, that Christianity was brought to
the so-called Middle Chinese Kingdom
in the 7th century and successfully
propagated by the HISTORIAN Chris
tians of Syria. The exact date OF
their arrival in China is uncertain
The monument of Sian-fu, which was
first erected in the year 7S1, tells lis
that Christianity was introduced by
the HISTORIAN monk Olopun and his
companions in the year 635, They
were graciously received by the EN-
peror, won many converts to the
Christian faith and soon established
n fourishing Christian community
This HISTORIAN Christianity spread
quite extensively in China and con
tinued under the Mongol rule oi
Genghis Kahn in the thirteenth cen
tury, though in time it lost its orig
inal purity. Missionaries from Eu
rope of the second period found Mes
torian Christianity in China and some
traces of it were discovered even b.
missionaries of the third period in th'
beginning of the seventeenth century
The second period OF Chinese mis-
sions is that of the thirteenth AM
fourteenth centuries. Missions to tn
Mongols were projected on a larg
scale by Pope Innocent " at tn
council of Lyons in 1245. King s.
Louis TX of France took deep inter
est in this work and it was zealousl
pursued by the succeeding Popes
The missionaries we're of the two RI
Gently founded mendicant orders, tn
Franciscans and the Dominican:
Most noted among them was tn
Franciscan, John of Montecorvint
who was sent to the Far East b
Pope Nicholas w in 1888. He estal
hshed a bishopric in Pekin unde
which there were in time nine su
fragan bishoprics. This is also tn
period of the travels of the Venetia
Marco Polo. All the Christian mi
sions of China we're destroyed, hoy
ever, at the fall of the Mongol rul
and the accession of the Chinese Min
dynasty In 1868.