Education and Commission
Valignano was born in Chieti, then part of the Kingdom of Naples a part of the Spanish Monarchy.
He excelled as a student at the University of Padua, where he studied Christian theology. Valignano's insights into Christian message convinced many within the Church that he was the perfect individual to carry the spirit of the Counter-Reformation to the Far East. He was ordained in the Society of Jesus and, at the age of 34, he was appointed Visitor of Missions in the Indies and had made his profession of the Fourth Vow after only seven years in the Society.
As Visitor, it was his responsibility to examine and whenever necessary reorganize mission structures and methods throughout India, China and Japan. He was given an enormous amount of leeway and discretion, especially for someone so young, and was answerable only to the Jesuit Superior General in Rome. His commanding presence was only increased by his unusual height, enough to "turn heads in Europe and to draw crowds in Japan." Valignano formed a basic strategy for Catholic proselytism, which is usually called "adaptationism". He put the advance of Jesuits' influence above adherence to traditional Christian behavior. He attempted to avoid cultural frictions by making a compromise with local customs that other missionaries viewed as conflicting with Catholic values. His strategy was in contrast to those of mendicant orders including Franciscans and Dominicans, whom Valignano worked hard to block from entering Japan and later lead to the Chinese Rites controversy
Read more about this topic: Alessandro Valignano
Famous quotes containing the words education and, education and/or commission:
“... many of the things which we deplore, the prevalence of tuberculosis, the mounting record of crime in certain sections of the country, are not due just to lack of education and to physical differences, but are due in great part to the basic fact of segregation which we have set up in this country and which warps and twists the lives not only of our Negro population, but sometimes of foreign born or even of religious groups.”
—Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962)
“Whatever may be our just grievances in the southern states, it is fitting that we acknowledge that, considering their poverty and past relationship to the Negro race, they have done remarkably well for the cause of education among us. That the whole South should commit itself to the principle that the colored people have a right to be educated is an immense acquisition to the cause of popular education.”
—Fannie Barrier Williams (1855–1944)
“Children cannot eat rhetoric and they cannot be sheltered by commissions. I don’t want to see another commission that studies the needs of kids. We need to help them.”
—Marian Wright Edelman (20th century)