ST. FRANCIS XAVIER AND THE JESUITS IN AMBON (1546-1580)聖方濟各與安汶的耶穌會士(一五四六年至一五八零年)
The article analyzes the Jesuit mission in Ambon and the Lease Islands between 1546 and 1580, proposing that the “spiritual conquest” there resulted from a particular combination of political, religious, and socio-spatial conditions. Starting from the observation that the distribution of Christian a...
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| Published in: | Review of Culture |
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| Format: | Articles |
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Instituto Cultural de Macau
July 2006
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| Online Access: | https://www.icm.gov.mo/rc/viewer/pdfViewerParts/40019/3748 |
| Summary: | The article analyzes the Jesuit mission in Ambon and the Lease Islands between 1546 and 1580, proposing that the “spiritual conquest” there resulted from a particular combination of political, religious, and socio-spatial conditions. Starting from the observation that the distribution of Christian and Muslim villages on the islands exhibits remarkable continuities into the Dutch period, the author asks why such a configuration consolidated in Ambon–Lease but was not replicated in North Maluku, despite greater Portuguese investment in trade, fleets, and politics.
The methodology combines a critical reading of correspondence, reports, and information produced by Portuguese missionaries (with emphasis on the work of Francis Xavier and the institutional continuity of the Jesuits) with a historical-political contextualization of local dynamics among the powers of Ternate, Hitu, and the Portuguese settlements. The sources allow the reconstruction of the moments of missionary entry and expansion, shifts in alliances, and cycles of conflict (raids, sieges, and attacks), highlighting that, despite recurring violence, the mission field in Ambon generated a relatively stable communal space. It concludes that the Jesuit success in Ambon was not merely the result of religious initiative, but emerged from specific arrangements between the interests of Portuguese expansion and local realities, which favored the establishment of Christian communities in defined areas. |
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| ISSN: | 1682-1106 |