The history of Catholic missions in Southeast Asia, unlike those in Japan, China and India, is not well-known. Focusing on the development of Roman Catholicism between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries in three geographical areas — Malacca, Siam, and Vietnam (Tonkin and Cochinchina) — Alberts traces the story of how the Catholic faith was introduced, took root and developed.
This is a study of the success and failure of Western missionary enterprises in Asia, describing the perceptions and presentation of evangelism from both perspectives: those of the various groups of missionaries and of their converts. Mapping collaborations and conflicts among different actors of the period, Alberts analyses the ‘nature of conversion and the relationship between religious belief and practices’ (p. xvii). In particular, she attempts to answer the puzzle long-posed by historians of Christian missions: Why did Christianity flourish in certain places and not in others? Which methods and strategies ensured success and which failed?
The book is comprised of an introduction, nine chapters and a conclusion. The chapters are organised in three sections outlining missionary structures and networks, missionary methods, and the experience of converts. Drawing from annual reports, letters, narratives, and histories written by missionaries and also by others, including diplomats, travellers, and merchants, Alberts skilfully weaves together the complex stories of how Catholicism was propagated and received in different localities, under diverse political, social and cultural situations.
Beginning in 1511, Catholicism was introduced to Southeast Asia under the Portuguese patronage system (padroado). After a century of experimenting with padroado, Rome established the Papal Congregation for Evangelisation, the Propaganda Fide (1622), to take charge of missionary activities in foreign lands. This overlay of jurisdiction created tensions between the independent-minded missionaries and their Vicars Apostolic appointed by Rome for the mission territories. Five major groups from various European countries — the Dominicans, Franciscans, Augustinians, Jesuits, and Parisian Foreign Missionaries (MEP) — laboured side by side on mission lands, often in nationalistic and ecclesiastical competition. Each of these groups had a distinct missionary method which was sometimes at odds with the others, which often resulted in one group undermining another's mission.
The reception of Catholicism depended not only on missionary methods, but on local potential for conversion. The political situation in Portuguese Malacca differed greatly from the the peaceful court of Siam or the two estranged kingdoms of Tonkin and Cochinchina. In the former case, the missionaries had full colonial support, whereas the lands of the Thai and the Vietnamese were neutral to hostile to Western influence. Church authorities agreed that to attract converts, some modification of European ecclesial customs should be made. The point of tension was the question of how much accommodation should be allowed. Missionaries differed on how to present themselves to the natives — as monks, holy men, merchants, scientists, or healers? The introduction of Catholic devotion, catechism, images, and other Catholic materials were the competitive ground for winning converts. By using accounts from opposite sides of missionaries describing what was really at stake on the ground, despite the official rhetoric, Alberts gives a fascinating and balanced account of the encounters between missionaries and their potential converts.
Adaptation to local cultural and religious customs was done not only by missionaries but also by local converts. Native clergy and lay confraternities were created to help the few missionaries to carry out their evangelising tasks effectively. Consequently, lay leadership often produced a version of the faith perhaps not entirely in conformity with the ecclesiastical demands. Post-Tridentine Catholicism stipulated the proper administration of the sacraments, but exceptions were often made at the local levels; again, a contested point. The spread of popular Catholic devotion which sometimes exceeded missionary control was another point of friction. All of this tells us that the lived religion developed and practised within communities could differ from the missionary's personal concept of the faith.
An important contribution of this book is recounting the experiences of women converts and slaves. Their roles in spreading the faith, often under-discussed in standard mission accounts, give us an alternative story of evangelisation. In some cases, Catholic women were the patronage of the local missions as well as effective evangelisers to their pagan neighbours. The connection between missions and slavery remained a challenging issue, given that religious doctrine was often used to justify the status quo. Orthodoxy did not always translate into orthopraxy.
Alberts's work reminds us of the complex dynamic of conversion. After centuries of evangelisation, Christians are still a minority in Southeast Asia. The book highlights a number of factors that might have helped or hindered their progress: the colonial support for the missions, the reception by local rulers, the compatibility of Catholicism with local beliefs and religious needs, and the myriad approaches by missionaries to effectively convey their messages. No single factor, however, fully explains the variations between regional acceptance of the faith. Ultimately, the lay women and men, not the missionaries, were the main actors on the local scene, and they alone would make a lasting impact.
Informative as it is, the book still suffers from minor issues, mainly typographical errors which may be unavoidable, since most footnotes are reproduced from the original Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italian, and Latin archival materials. The author's lack of knowledge of Vietnamese language renders many native names of people and places — complicated by the diacritical marks – incomprehensible. Despite this limitation, the book's extensive and encyclopaedic usage of newly introduced archival materials demonstrates the erudite, careful and thorough approach of the author, which ensures the book's lasting value.
The study of the Catholic missions still has much to learn from native sources which can add significant voices to the narratives presented by Alberts. Until that happens, and it might take many years, this book will be an authoritative work for studies of Christianity in Vietnam and Thailand. Scholars of Southeast Asian and religious studies will find the book indispensable for studying the patterns of Western and native encounters prior to nineteenth-century colonialism.
