Johann Adam Schall von Bell(1591 - 15 August 1666) was a German Jesuit missionary to China.
Born of noble parents in Cologne, Germany, he joined the Society of Jesus in Rome in 1611. In 1618 he left for China, reaching Macao in 1619.
Apart from successful missionary work, he became the trusted counsellor of the emperor, was created a mandarin, and held an important post in connection with the mathematical school. His position enabled him to procure from the emperor permission for the Jesuits to build churches and to preach throughout the country.
Proselytes to the number of 500,000 are said to have been obtained within fourteen years. The emperor, however, died in 1661, and Schall's circumstances at once changed. He was imprisoned and condemned to death. The sentence was not carried out, but he died after his release owing to the privations he had endured. A collection of his manuscripts remains was deposited in the Vatican Library.
Allegation
In 1758 was published the allegation, disputed by most Jesuits and Catholic historians, that during he lived his final years "separated from the other missionaries and removed from obedience to his superiors, in the house given him by the emperor with a woman whom he treated as his wife and who bore him two children," reported by the secretary to Monsignor Tournon . No evidence is suggested in the work. Contemporaneous witnesses and even official Chinese documents apparently contradict the allegations. It is stated that if true, the story would almost certainly have been reported by others who sought to discredit Schall and the other Jesuits, and that the Jesuit structure would most likely have reported the fact to authorities at higher levels of the order. The 1912 Catholic Encyclopedia suggests that the source most likely was the adoption by Father Schall of the son of a former Chinese servant and distorted.
See also
External links
Sources
- JOSEPH BRUCKER. The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1912, Robert Appleton Company.
-
