A MISSIONARY CHURCH – 1500 – 1800

 

      Spain

 

• Cortes and Pizarro’s “conquistadors” colonize Central and South America with Franciscan missionaries, in quest of silver and gold.

 

• By 1550, two Spanish colonial empires are centered in Mexico and Peru.

 

• Spanish enslavement of indigenous peoples follows, aided by corrupt, land-wealthy cergy.

 

• Bartolome de Las Casas, a Dominican priest from Dom. Rep., defends the rights of natives with Jesuit allies, leading to their eventual emancipation.

 

• Francis Xavier S.J. with Robert de Nobili, S.J. win converts in India by adopting local dress, customs, and language through their “cultural assimilation” method.

 

• 1549 – 1582 – Xavier wins converts, amid persecutions, in Japan.

 

• 1614 – Japanese Shogun bans Christianity, in an attempt to purge Japan of Western colonial interests. Mass persecutions follow.

 

• Spanish missionaries convert colonial Philippines, the only Asian Christian country.

 

• 1588 – English fleet destroys Spanish armada in fateful encounter in the English Channel, and emerges a world power.

 

• Matteo Ricci, S.J. wins converts in China through knowledge of science and Xavier’s cultural assimilation method.

 

France

 

• Alexander de Rhodes, S.J. converts Vietnam using cultural assimilation method.

 

Portugal

 

• 1645 – 1700 – 600,000 Africans are converted by Capuchin (Franciscan) missionaries.

 

France and England

 

• 1600 – 1850 – French Catholic and Anglican missionaries vie for African converts, often shelterimng natives from colonial slave-traders. 10 – 15 million Africans arrive as slaves in the Americas.

 

• 1900 – Present – More Catholics live in Africa than North America. Maryknoll missionaries continue to win large numbers of African converts today.