외교총장 陸徵祥의 베네딕도 수도회 수행과 구국 활동 – 陸徵祥 회고록(回憶與隨想)을 중심으로

Abstract

Lu Zhengxiang (陸徵祥, 1871-1949) is the only person in Chinese history to make a life vow at the Benedictine Abbey Saint-Andrew''s in Bruges, Belgium, after serving as foreign minister and prime minister of the Republic of China as a diplomat in the late Qing Dynasty. He is a former prime minister and a priest. During his tenure as Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China, he established a system for cultivating diplomatic talents and laid the foundation for the modernization of Chinese diplomacy. Under the coercion of President Yuan Shikai, Lu signed the Treaty of 21 Treaties with Japan which the people criticized, but his decision to refuse to sign the Treaty of Versailles at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 restored honor for his mistake in signing the 21 Treaties. The reasoning behind Lu Zhengxiang leaving the office was not just to leave the world; he did other rescue activities in the monastery. He entered the Monastery of St. Andreas, Belgium, on the 5th of July 1927 and performed the asceticism of poverty. Lu’s motivation for choosing the Benedictine Monastery was to realize the revival of the Chinese nation by absorbing the Catholic spirit, the spiritual power of Europe. He helped the Catholic Church in China while paying attention to China''s political, social, and ecclesiastical developments at the monastery. During the Sino-Japanese War, he gave a lecture in Belgium to criticize the war of aggression of Japan and the Nazis. He informed China''s efforts to resist the war and the situation of the Catholic Church. He was in charge of the < 益世報 Overseas Correspondence >, and carried out rescue activities to promote and help China''s anti-Japanese war internationally by mobilizing all his contacts as a diplomat and linking with Catholic organizations. Lu’s rescue activities were a Catholic practice of love and loyalty to the country as a priest. His theory of reforming and supplementing Chinese culture as a part of Catholic religious culture overestimates moral competence. Further, the idea is criticized for its'' limitation on national salvation through cultural convergence without a realistic basis. However, his salvation ideology and practice are included in the large flow of rescue activities attempted by Chinese intellectuals in the first half of the 20th century. It is meaningful in that it enhances China''s international status by acting as a bridge between the Chinese government, the Vatican, the Chinese Catholic Church, and attempts to converge East and West cultures.