{"id":105432,"date":"2016-07-10T01:00:01","date_gmt":"2016-07-09T23:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vincentians.com\/?p=105432"},"modified":"2016-07-09T22:18:27","modified_gmt":"2016-07-09T20:18:27","slug":"biography-of-johannes-mullener-cm-china-missionary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vincentians.com\/en\/biography-of-johannes-mullener-cm-china-missionary\/","title":{"rendered":"Biography of Johannes M\u00fcllener CM, China missionary"},"content":{"rendered":"

Name and Name Modifications:<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\"Mullener\"

Johannes M\u00fcllener CM<\/p><\/div>\n

Chinese: Mu Tianchi<\/p>\n

Relevance for the China Mission:<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Johannes M\u00fcllener worked in China at a time, when Christianity was officially forbidden. For several years, he worked alone and secretly as a missionary in Sichuan. M\u00fcllener belonged to those missionaries who were much concerned about the pureness of the Catholic faith. He also tried to educate and establish an indigenous clergy.<\/p>\n

Dates of Birth and Death:<\/strong><\/h2>\n

(\u2217<\/em>) 4 October 1673 in Bremen, free city belonging to the Holy Roman Empire of German Nation, today Germany<\/p>\n

(\u2020<\/em>) 17 December 1742 in Xintouxian, Sichuan, China<\/p>\n

F<\/strong>amily Data:<\/strong><\/h2>\n

M\u00fcllener\u2019s family was noble, but poor. The city of his birth, Bremen, was Protestant, therefore M\u00fcllener lived in the so-called diaspora. Bremen be longed to the diocese Osnabr\u00fcck.<\/p>\n

Ordination to priesthood: 16 December 1696, sometimes it is said that he was only ordained priest in Madras, India.<\/p>\n

M\u00fcllener joined the Congregation of the Lazarists (Vincentians) on 25 January 1699 in Madras. He made his solemn vows on the 2 of February 1702 in Chongqing\/Sichuan.<\/p>\n

On 2 September 1715, M\u00fcllener was appointed Bishop Titular of Myriopyhte and on 4 September Vicar Apostolic of Sichuan. He was consecrated as a bishop by Bernardino della Chiesa OFM (1644-1721), bishop of Peking, on 13 of December 1716.<\/p>\n

Education:<\/strong><\/h2>\n

M\u00fcllener started his education at the Jesuits College in Osnabr\u00fcck.<\/p>\n

In 1673, M\u00fcllener was recommended for further studies in Rome at the Collegium Urbanum of the Propaganda Fide by Theobald von Kurtzwik, the Imperial resident in Bremen, and by the Jesuits (this College existed since 1627). Quite probably M\u00fcllener should work as missionary in the Protestant Bremen. He received a special education as a missionary.<\/p>\n

But M\u00fcllener preferred to work as a missionary in the Far East instead as a such in the Northern part of Germany. Therefore he joined his professor Lodovico (Luigi) Appiani (1663-1726), a Lazarist. Appiani was sent by the Propaganda Fide on 28 January 1697.<\/p>\n

Mission:<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Departure from Venice: 12 May 1697, together with Lodovico Appiani and Donato Mezzafalce (1661-1720). After a long travel in sea they reached the boundaries of India on 2 February 1698 and Madras on 13 May of the same year.<\/p>\n

M\u00fcllener and Appiani arrived in Canton, China was on 14 October 1699.<\/p>\n

Professional Career:<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In Canton M\u00fcllener and Appiani met Artus de Lionne (1655-1713) MEP, Vicar Apostolic of Sichuan, who was on his way back to Europe. He subdivided Sichuan into two parts, Appiani and M\u00fcllener received the North, whereas the two priests from the \u201cMissions E\u00b4 trang\u00e8res de Paris\u201d, Jean Basset (1662-1707) and Jean-Fran\u00b8cois de la Balu\u00e8re (1668-1715), received the South.<\/p>\n

Since 1702, M\u00fcllener and Appiani worked in Chongqing. There were often problems, as both of them because of a certain simplicity often did not see the problems. Permanently they were lacking money. In 1705, Appiani travelled to Canton, where they expected money to be sent from the Propaganda Fide. He met the papal legate Charles-Thomas Maillard de Tournon (1668-<\/p>\n

1710) there, who took him as an interpreter, Appiani accompanied him to Peking. In June 1707, M\u00fcllener was imprisoned by officers in Sichuan, he was brought to Canton. In December they led him back to Chongqing, but he could escape his company and went to Peking, where he wanted to obtain the piao<\/em>, the permission to stay. But Tournon had explicitly forbidden to accept the conditions of the piao<\/em>. The Jesuits doubted M\u00fcllener\u2019s simplicity and wrongly thought that Tournon had sent M\u00fcllener with a secret \u201cmission\u201d to Peking.<\/p>\n

In July 1708, M\u00fcllener returned to Chongqing, where he stood under house arrest. In December 1708, he was expelled to Macau, where he lived in the house, that had been bought by Tournon. The Magistrate of Macau was ordered by the Vice-King of Canton to send him back to Europe, but M\u00fcllener went to the Dutch Batavia (departure 8 December 1709). He stayed there about one year. In 1710 or 1711, M\u00fcllener succeeded to return to Macau. Together with Chinese Christians he went to Canton in 1711 and from there to Sichuan, where he arrived in October 1712. In Canton, he changed his name into \u201cTeu\u201d.<\/p>\n

During the next years, M\u00fcllener worked secretly in den mountains between Sichuan, Huguang and Hunan. After de Balu\u00e8re\u2019s death, M\u00fcllener was the only European in Sichuan. When Artus de Lionne died in Rome in 1713, the Vicariate Apostolic Sichuan was vacant. The Sacra Congregatio de Propaganda Fide wanted to appoint Appiani as new Vicar, but he refused, because he was imprisoned in Canton. So was made Bishop of Myriophythe and Vicar Apostolic of Sichuan and the adjacent regions on 2 September 1715, resp. on 4 September. He received his Briefs in November 1716. The only living bishop in China was at that time Bernardino della Chiesa of Peking. When M\u00fcllener arrived in Peking, della Chiesa at once consecrated him on 13 December 1716. It had to be done fast, the Chinese were suspicious because of the Apostolic Constitution \u201cEx illa die\u201d, which was proclaimed in Peking on 5 November 1716 and also because M\u00fcllener had no piao<\/em>. Against Canon law, only one priest was present, so that the consecration was valid, but illegal. In 1719 M\u00fcllener became Apostolic Administrator of Huguang and Guizhou.<\/p>\n

In 1717, the Rites Tribunal (Libu) forbade the propagation of Christianity. In 1722, the Christians were expelled from Sichuan. M\u00fcllener fled to Huguang. But the expulsion of the missionaries by emperor Yongzheng (1722-1736) at first did not concern Sichuan, which remained calmly until 1729. In 1732, M\u00fcllener received help from Joachim Enjobert de Martiliat MEP (1706-1755), but M\u00fcllener did not want his presence in Sichuan, because in his opinion, Sichuan \u201cbelonged\u201d in the meantime to the Lazarists, but when Propaganda Fide had apppointed Enjobert de Martiliat, he agreed.<\/p>\n

M\u00fcllener strictly refused the participation of the Chinese Christians at the Confucian Rites and was concerned for a \u201cpure\u201d Christianity. But he was very much engaged for a native clergy in China; therefore he wanted to erect a seminary in Sichuan. To learn Latin was in his opinion indispensable for priests. He himself educated the future priests, but this education was not very profound. Other future priests were sent to Naples to the Chinese Seminary. M\u00fcllener also ordained several Chinese for priesthood.<\/p>\n

Publications Johannes M\u00fcllener:<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Only some of M\u00fcllener\u2019s letters are published, none of his treatises. Most of his letters were never published and are in the Archive of the Propaganda Fide, Rome. M\u00fcllener left no Chinese writings.<\/p>\n