Letter from Academician Lev Igorev dated December 5 (17), 1860 on the situation of Catholics in China
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7220/2335-8785.87(115).4Keywords:
China in the 19th century, the Catholic Church in China, the Second Opium War, Catholic missions, Academician Lev Igorev (1822–1894)Abstract
The published letter of Academician Lev Igorev (1822–1894) about the events of 1860 in China and about the situation of Catholics in the country is of interest not only to Sinologists and Church historians, but also to researchers of international and interreligious relations, to historians of painting and photography. The value of this source is given by the mention in it of a significant number of important historical figures, facts, details, primarily about Catholicism in China: parishioners, clergy, missions, temples, rites.
In the context of Academician Igorev's memoirs published in 1896, his Beijing letter expands and clarifies knowledge about China in the 1860s, about the life of the country's Catholics. The original letter is stored in the State Archives of the Irkutsk Region, in the fund of the Irkutsk Roman Catholic Church, and it is most likely addressed to the rector Christopher Shvermitsky (1812–1894), a native of Suvalkia, who led one of the largest parishes in the world from 1856 to 1894.
