Inculturation is a requirement of the Mystery of the Incarnation. The first to become inculturated was the Word of God, who became flesh so that we could understand the whole message that the Father, through Him, wanted to convey to humanity (1). This message was transmitted in the Semitic (Aramaic) culture and later in the Greek, Roman, Egyptian and Assyrian cultures, giving rise to different expressions and rites in the transmission of the faith and the message revealed to the various cultures. This phenomenon continued throughout history with the evangelization of the Slavic and Anglo-Saxon peoples of central and northern Europe: the Christian message influenced their habits and customs, transforming them; in turn, it received the influence of these same peoples, integrating cultural expressions in worship and language that helped them to internalize the Christian message.

In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries we find two opposite movements. With the discovery of new worlds, peoples and cultures, the necessity to continue this inculturation, fruit of the distant missionary experience, was felt among peoples of such different cultures (2). On the other hand, with the rise and growth of nationalism, Europe, especially France, was considered the center of the world and, with the birth and growth of absolutism, any thought that was not European was viewed with certain suspicion.

This is the context of the life and pastoral work of Father Vincent de Paul. Although his pastoral action took place in the vast French territory, what did he think of this pastoral question? There are two aspects to consider.

Vincent, without using this word, insisted a lot on inculturation in order to make the Gospel accessible to the poor, to the peasants. They are bearers of a culture very different from that of the aristocratic and bourgeois elites. Speaking clearly and in a way accessible to all, so that the Christian message can be understood, is a prominent aspect of his preaching. He called it the “Little Method” or simple method. Some say that he may have been influenced by Cartesian ideas, but the fundamental reason was the very awareness that the Gospel had to be proclaimed in a language that people could understand and that would lead them to conversion, embodied in a change of individual and social practices.

Father Vincent’s vision did not initially include the missions “ad gentes”. His main concern was the poor rural population “who are condemned and starving” in the vast territory of France and Europe. When this challenge came to him through Propaganda Fide, he seconded it, but suggested the name of a priest of the so-called “Tuesday Conferences”, Fr. Pallu, who became the founder of the “Society of Foreign Missions”.

When “Providence” gives him a new sign to broaden his horizons beyond Europe, in a letter to Father Nacquart, whom he chooses for this new mission, now in Madagascar, he reveals to him what should be the guidelines for evangelizing peoples with such a different culture: “Your chief concern, after striving to live among those with whom you will have to get along amicably and in an exemplary way, will be to help these poor people, born in the darkness of ignorance of their Creator, to understand the truths of our faith, not by subtle theological reasoning, but by arguments taken from nature. You have to begin in that way, trying to let them see that you are only developing in them the signs of Himself that God has left on them and which corrupt nature, long accustomed to evil … I would like to make them see the weaknesses of human nature in the disorders which they themselves condemn” (CCD III, 280-281). Today we would say that we must begin to evangelize from the deepest values of these peoples, trying to discover the “Seeds of the Word”, according to the language of the Second Vatican Council.

He then suggests a method he used to catechize a young Malagasy boy who was to be baptized that day at St. Lazare: “l use pictures to instruct him, and I think that helps him to fix his attention” (CCD III, 282).

Father Nacquart followed Father Vincent’s advice: he ordered the painting of a huge, brightly colored picture of the novices, which he carried on his shoulder and unrolled during the catechesis, moving his touched audience to make up their minds. The missionary was well aware that this was nothing more than an instrument to awaken consciences. To form them was much more difficult and laborious: Baptism, only after instruction and guarantees of perseverance. Today, we would say, after a serious catechumenate. His vision of evangelization went much further than what Father Vincent had suggested. He thought of a seminary. It was necessary to form priests, taken from their own race, harvested from their own land. But tropical diseases, to which his body was not accustomed, prevented him from realizing his dreams.

Another of Father Vincent’s great concerns was that the language of the people to whom the missionaries were destined should be learned. He often addressed this question in his letters, lamenting when he noted a lack of interest on the part of the priests: “You should not be surprised, Monsieur, to note some sadness in those priests… it proceeds from the fact that they are unable to work at such a beautiful harvest. It stirs up in them a desire to do so, but ignorance of the language prevents this … encourage them gently in their study and progress in the language” (3). There is no lack of humor in his approach to this subject, with veiled criticisms of the lack of progress in this work: “I am greatly consoled that Brother Demortier has already made such progress in the language that he knows how to say: ‘Signor, si.’ “. And then, in a more serious way: “I hope he will soon know enough to instruct his instructors–meaning the natives–and that, through you, Our Lord will make him a good worker for those people.” (4).

This concern for inculturating the Christian message in the language, organization and structure of the local Church, initiated with Father Vincent de Paul, will become tradition and heritage in the Congregation of the Mission. And in addressing this topic, I cannot forget Father Vincent Lebbe, a Belgian missionary, together with his confrere Father Cotta (5), an Italian, who influenced Pope Pius XI, both in the great missionary encyclical Maximum Ilud and in the appointment of the first six Chinese bishops. He founded two Chinese religious congregations, initiating a movement of inculturation of the Catholic Church in China, which was tragically interrupted by the victory of the Chinese Communist Party in 1949, destroying the entire structure of the Chinese Church.

Fr. José Alves, CM

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(1) See the Prologue of the Gospel according to John.

(2) Chinese rites; the experience of inculturation in Brazil, India, etc.; the film “The Mission”, which reveals much about this work.

(3) Letter to Father Jean Martin (CCD V, 543).

(4) Letter to Father Jean Martin (CCD VI, 351-352).

(5) Father Antoine Cotta joined the Congregation of the Mission in 1891. He wrote and sent a “Memorandum” on the missions in China to Cardinal Serafini, Prefect of Propaganda Fide, in 1917. This memorandum sought to favor the access of Chinese clergy to the episcopate, relying on arguments drawn from popes, bishops and others. In his opinion, the custom of his time was opposed to such access. He criticizes “spiritual colonialism” within the Chinese missions; he argues that Chinese Christians must develop a self-sufficient Church in order to develop. He refers to several papal documents that support the formation of an independent native clergy and urges the Church to train Chinese priests to assume full ecclesiastical functions. This memorandum is important for the role it played in inspiring Pope Pius XI’s decision to ordain the first Chinese bishops in 1926, which marked a turning point in the life of the Chinese Catholic Church (summary of the aforementioned “Memorandum”).