St Paul's Church, Macao

 Baroque was the first style of architecture to spread worldwide. It's out of fashion today so this is often forgotten. This spread began in the late 16th century because of the Counter Reformation launched by the Catholic Church and harnessing the amazing energy of the Jesuits - the Papal shock troops. We find Baroque churches particularly in areas discovered and colonised by the Spanish and Portuguese. In the first era of great exploration following Columbus's discovery of America, great rivalry had occurred between Spain and Portugal. The Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) had tried to split the world into two equal zones along a meridian (line of longitude) some 1200 miles west of the Cape Verde Islands. This was fine for America (sort of) but with the spread of discovery to the east new tensions opened up. The Portuguese were the first to reach China, probably near present Hong Kong as early as 1513. 

  China did not come to me quickly as a possible place to find Baroque. I had read that the first recorded  Christian mission to China was during the 7th century Tang dynasty. This died out through persecution in the 9th century and then there were Franciscan missions in the 13th century Yuan dynasty. Then came the Jesuits : St Francis Xavier (1506-1552) considered one of the greatest missionaries since St Paul. After major work in India, he went to Borneo, the Maluku islands, and Japan. His plans to go to China as Apostolic Nuncio were unsuccessful and he fell ill and died in 1552 on the nearby island of Shangchuan 14 km from the mainland of China. 

By 1553 Portuguese traders had warehouses in Macao and in 1555 the Jesuit Belchior Numes Barreto arrived. In 1557 Portugal arranged to lease Macao from China, but it was 1565 before the Jesuits were able  to set up their first house and their first church, St Antony. Around this time the population was around 500. The Jesuit Melchior Carneiro arrived in Macao as Bishop of Japan and China...From 1576-81 he was just Bishop of Macau. An important founding figure his remains are in St Paul's Church, our church being considered here. Near the end of his life, Alessandro Valignano (1539-1606)official  Visitor of the Jesuit Missions in the East visited. He was a key figure in the development of the Church in the East. Realising the importance of enculturisation, including tackling the thorny problem of reading and writing in Chinese. He appointed Michele  Ruggieri (1543-1607) to learn the language. The language spoken by Chinese officials was different (Mandarin) so Ruggiere asked Valignano to get his esteemed friend from his time in Goa, Matteo Ricci, to come to assist. The result was the first Portuguese-Chinese dictionary. It took six years.

A view by Wilhelm Heine in 1854, 

At this time the Jesuit presnce in Macao was still small scale with some single storey houses, a straw made chapel, and small school (1572) for Portuguese traders' children. It was Valignano who was instrumental in the foundation  and development in Macao of the St Paul University College in 1594.

  From 1614 heavy persecution of Christians in Japan meant that the College had to foster and support young Japanese Jesuit students. During the years 1594-1762 theology, Latin, Chinese, Japanese, and seven liberal arts were taught - grammar, rhetoric, dialects, astronomy, arithmetic, geometry and music. It was effectively the cradle of Far East missionaries for Japan, China, Vietnamm, Thailand, Cambodia and more. This ended with the asuppression of the |Jesuits in 1762.

A recent view of the reverse 

side of the facade, 

 

An imaginary reconstruction of the whole building

A fire in 1601 destroyed the original church attached to the College. St Paul's was  built from 1602, and  inaugurated at Christmans 1603. It is beleieved by some that the architect was Carlo Spinola from Genoa. Alessandro Valignano presided at the inauguration. Side entrances, much interior work followed and the facade was added in the 1640s. It became one of the largest churches in Asia. It is recorded that there were 15 fine religious paintings.These may have been done by Chinese or Japanese painters using the Chiaroscuro technique, previously unknown in China. Italian Jesuit painter, Giovanni Nicolao founded a painting school in Macao. A pupil, Jacob Niva, was commissioned by Matteo Ricci to paint The Martyrdom of the Eleven Thousand Virgins (unusual?) and more believably, the  Assumption of the BVM .

The whole facade as it is today

A massive fire caused by a typhoon in January 1835 means that today there is only the facade sitting on a small hill with 68 steps leading up to it. This mighty facade is in five tiers. like a retable and has the the Virgin Mary in the centre of the third tier. 

The Virgin Mary flanked by six angels

It is thought that the Japanese  craftsmen who worked on it were either Jesuit converts or Jesuit missionaries expelled from Japan. There are some Asian influences and Chinese inscriptions. For example - the image of the Virgin stepping on a seven-headed hydra (Chinese   characters saying Holy Mother treads  on heads of the dragon). On the same level there is an image of the Garden of Eden and a demoniac figure and a Portuguese ship symbolising the difficult passage through life. There are several guardian Chinese lions.

Above on main tier left to right  : Portuguese ship ; ?; Virgin Mary with 6 angels ;Garden of Eden ; 
Virgin and hydra

Demoniac fugure                                 Portuguese ship

 

A Chinese lion

There were calls to demolish the facade 1990-95 because of the danger of collapse. This would have been a disaster as it is such a popular site and symbol of Macao. Subsequent work has saved the monument and excavations have uncovered the graves of Chinese martyrs. It must be a wonderful sight, which alas I am unlikely to see!