Benedictines in China Before 1949

The Benedictines in China

by

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Fr Jeremias Schröder, OSB
Abbot of St Ottilien, Germany

A Chinese Monastery: Xishan

The flourishing state of the Benedictine Order at the opening of the nineteenth century also led Belgian Benedictines into the Empire of the Centre. Behind the foundation of the monastery of Xishan hide two men who were destined never to cross its threshold: the first was the Belgian Lazarist priest Vincent Lebbe, who began his missionary activity in China in 1906. He set himself against two trends which marked the Catholic mission in China and bore little fruit: on the one hand the western arrogance with which more than one missionary regarded from on high the rich and ancient Chinese culture, and on the other hand the strong politicization of Catholic missionary activity, which had frequently been put to the service of the French (and later equally the German) colonial quest. In the face of strong resistance Lebbe fought for an opening of religious life to Chinese culture and for the establishment of a Chinese hierarchy.

The second impetus to the installation of Belgian Benedictines in China was given by Pope Pius XI. In 1922 he sent Mgr Celso Constantini to China as Apostolic Legate. Constantini set himself energetically to providing roots for the Church in China. Four years later Pius XI published an encyclical in which he underlined the role of contemplative Orders in missionary work. The explicit order which he gave to the Abbot Primate to set up a foundation in China at first remained unfulfilled. The Belgian Congregation of Benedictines, which had split off from the Beuronese Congregation after the First World War was unwilling to undertake so demanding a task. Then in 1927 the Abbot of Saint-André decided to set about making a foundation in China on his own.

One the first two monks was Dom Jehan Joliet, of the Abbey of Solesmes. He had discovered China in his youth as a naval officer, and since then had always vainly tried to persuade his superiors to found a monastery in China. After thirty years of monastic life he obtained permission to put his long-standing plan into operation. The two pioneers made for the distant province of Sichuan in the interior of the country. This was part of Joliet’s project, for he was determined to found a wholly Chinese monastery, far from what he considered the ‘westernized’ Church of the coast. The two of them finally founded the monastery at Xishan, in the diocese of Chengdu.

If one believes all the stories, Dom Joliet was not a straightforward person. Obstinate and tenacious, he launched all his strength into imposing his visionary project of a Benedictine monastery of Chinese character, but incessantly found himself up against the limits of religious observance and juridical norms. The constraints also weighed heavily on the little community, which continually received the reinforcement of Belgian monks, and was soon receiving also Chinese candidates. In 1933, when the Abbot of Saint-André finally nominated another prior, Dom Joliet withdrew to a hermitage in the mountains, where he died three years later.

In the years which followed, the monastery of Saints Peter and Andrew developed on more traditional lines. A clinic and a seminary were opened. The new prior wished the monastery to make its name as a centre for learned Chinese studies. Hence the newly admitted monks – the monastery building was still very small – lived outside the monastery in order to devote themselves to the study of Chinese culture and language. The plans for the foundation of another monastery near Nanjings, equally supported by Dom Célestin Lou, a former Chinese politician and diplomat, came to nothing.

When in 1937 the Sino-Japanese war intensified, the monastery again found itself in a difficult situation. Some monks were requisitioned for patriotic and political purposes in the Kuomintang government. One of them was given the post of teacher of French and chaplain to Mme Chiang Kai-Shek, the wife of the Commander-in-Chief and President of the Chinese Republic. At the request of the ministry of information another took charge of the publication of a French-language periodical.

The monastery itself was transferred in 1943 to the regional capital of Chengdu, in order to allow the monks to work as deans and professors in several institutes of formation. The main apostolate of the monastery was to continue to be the study of Chinese culture and tradition. An Institute of Sino-Occidental Research was created for this purpose at Chengdu. This, however, exhausted the limited strength of the sixteen monks of the community, none of them finding the necessary time, in addition to the many tasks of teaching, to devote themselves to the serious study of ancient Chinese literature and culture.

At Christmas 1945 the communists arrived at Chengdu. At first the monks were allowed to continue unhindered in their various tasks and activities. But some three months later reprisals against the community began, initially in the form of frequent unannounced searches of the buildings. Attempts to set the six Chinese monks against their European confrères came to nothing. From 1951 onwards force was employed against the community. The prior was imprisoned for three months, and then expelled from Chinese territory. The other Europeans suffered the same fate one after another. In 1952 the last Benedictine left Chengdu.

The community did not disperse and did not rest content to return to Europe. After various experiments the monks took up residence in America, in California, where they founded a new monastery dedicated to St Andrew, the Abbey of Valyermo. The Benedictines there keep a lively memory of their Chinese beginnings. Among them was until recently Brother Peter Zhou, OSB, who had made his vows in 1950, and spent more than a quarter of a century of his monastic life in prison. In 1980, still in prison, he wrote these lines:

 

The struggle against wind and frost
During this frozen twenty-five-year winter
Has borne fruit, manifest fruit.

If I think of the past
If I think of the blessed future which awaits in the end.
I am full of fight.

So what, if the trial still continues?
I grow stronger and stronger for the fight.

For the glory of God
And the salvation of the world
My faith is offered in sacrifice like incense.