Juan Bautista Morales, 黎玉范,(b. about 1597 at Ecija in

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a "historical nationality". The t ...

, Spain; d. Fu-ning, China, 17 September 1664) was a Spanish Dominican missionary in China.

Life

He entered the Order of St. Dominic at a very early age, and after devoting some years to missionary work in the

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, accompanied in 1633 a band of Dominican missionaries to China, taking up their work in the province of Fu-kien. Here he took an active part in the

Chinese Rites controversy The Chinese Rites controversy () was a dispute among Roman Catholic missionaries over the religiosity of Confucianism and Chinese rituals during the 17th and 18th centuries. The debate discussed whether Chinese ritual practices of honoring fa ...

, between the

Jesuits , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders = ...

on the one side and the Dominicans and

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on the other. The latter maintained that the Jesuits, to make converts, tolerated to a certain extent the cult of

Confucius Confucius ( ; zh, s=, p=Kǒng Fūzǐ, "Master Kǒng"; or commonly zh, s=, p=Kǒngzǐ, labels=no; – ) was a Chinese philosopher and politician of the Spring and Autumn period who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages. C ...

and of ancestors. They despatched Morales to Rome in 1643, and on 12 September 1645, obtained from

Pope Innocent X Pope Innocent X ( la, Innocentius X; it, Innocenzo X; 6 May 1574 – 7 January 1655), born Giovanni Battista Pamphilj (or Pamphili), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 15 September 1644 to his death in Januar ...

a decision condemning the methods of the Jesuits. The latter also appealed to Rome, and obtained from Pope Alexander VII a contradictory decree. In 1661 Morales again called the attention of the Holy See to the matter, and in 1669, five years after the death of Morales,

Pope Clement IX Pope Clement IX ( la, Clemens IX; it, Clemente IX; 28 January 1600 – 9 December 1669), born Giulio Rospigliosi, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 20 June 1667 to his death in December 1669. Biography Ear ...

issued a new decree deciding against the Jesuits. About the same time the Dominicans discovered an enemy in their own ranks in the person of the Chinese friar, Gregory Lopez, Bishop of Basilea, who sent to the Holy See a memorandum favourable to the Jesuits.

Works

Among the works of Morales are: *(1) "Quaesta xvii a Fr. J.B. de Moralez, missionum sinarum procuratore, proposita Romae 1643 S. Congreg. de Prop. Fide" (Rome, 1645); *(2) "Tractatus ad explicandas et elucidandas opiniones et controversias inter Patres Societatis Jesu et religiosos S. Ord. Praed."; *(3) "Commentarium super Litanias B. Virginis lingua sinica"; *(4) "Tractatus ad Dei amorem in voluntate excitandum, lingua sinica."

References

;Attribution * The entry cites: **QUETIF-ECHARD, Script. Ord. Praed., II, 611, **TOURON, Hommes illust. de l'ordre S. Dominique, V. 627, 628, 630; **HUC, Le Christianisme en Chine, III (Paris, 1857). 11–19. {{DEFAULTSORT:Morales, Juan Bautista 1597 births 1664 deaths Spanish Dominicans Spanish Roman Catholic missionaries Spanish expatriates in China Roman Catholic missionaries in China Dominican missionaries