Chinese Ming And Qing Dynasties Catholic Virgin

The tradition of Catholic virgins come from the era of the apostles,after earlyChristianity,European middle ages,and the Reformation,in the Ming and Qingperiods,the concepts of Catholic virginity was introduced into China by theDominicans,and the earliest Chinese virgins appeared in the final years of the Mingdynasty,they vowed to avoid marriage and remain virgins for the Christianparadise.With the spread and development of Catholicism in China,the phenomenonof the women believers remained virgins were more and more,and became one ofthe characteristics of Chinese Catholicism in Ming and Qing dynasties.BecauseCatholic virginity was inconsistent with Chinese traditional ethics,the virgins werecondemned by public opinion，but the phenomenon of the women believersremained virgins has not reduced.With the improvement of the institution of Catholicvirgins,at first,the virgins lived scatterd and engaged in personal spiritualcultivation,gradually they serviced and consecrated their lives to the church.Theyengaged in missions,education,medical treatment,charitable activities,and soon,they made some contributions to the spread and development of Catholicism inMing and Qing dynasties.The paper is composed by two parts,the introduction summarizes the definitionof Catholic virgins,their appearance,development and the religious duties in Mingand Qing dynasties.And make a summing up of the significance for the study onChinese virgins in Ming and Qing dynasties,the present national and foreign studyconditions of virgins in Ming and Qing dynasties,the innovative points of thispaper.The main body included five parts.The first chapter talks about the history ofChristian virgins,clarifies the history of Christian virgins will help to understand andanalyze the deeper.The second part introduces the background of Catholic virginityspread in China during the late Ming and early Qing periods,the appearance of theChinese virgins，the cultural clashes and localization by the notions of Catholicvirginity spread in China.The third chapter is the main part of thepaper,comprehensively analyzes the reasons of the women remained virgins in Qing dynasity,their daily lives and religious practices lives.The fourth chapter analyzes thespecial religious duties and social value of the Catholic virgins in Ming and Qingdynasties.The last chapter is the conclusion,it reviews and summarizes thedifferences in the different periods and cultural fields of the history of consecratedvirgins across early Christianity to Ming and Qing dynasties.As one kind of externalreligion in China,while Catholicism was gradually adapting themselves to therequirement of Chinese culture,the virgins was showing their special religious dutiesin Ming and Qing dynasties，and this is the one of the arguments of the paper,insome sense,the virgins of Ming and Qing dynasties can match the virgins of earlychurch,their religious duties are very special,it should not be ignored,and it is one ofthe localization features in the spread of Catholicism during the Ming and Qingdynasties.