十六、十七世紀羅馬耶穌會之教育及范禮安(Alessandro Valignano, 1539-1606)主導下之東方教士培訓

Abstract

This paper seeks to explore the differences of the education systems advanced by the Jesuits in Europe and in the Oriental World during the sixteenth and the seventeenth centuries by utilizing the first-hand materials concerned, with an enhanced emphasis on recounting the historical progress. Undeniably, the Constitutions of the Society of Jesus and the Monumenta paedagogica Societatis Iesu can scarcely be regarded as very well-organized historical documents, yet we can still work out several striking points: Ratio Studiorum is by no means a marvelous invention at one time. Rather, it was developed over a certain period of time grounded on the invaluable experiences in the colleges set up by the Jesuits in the sixteenth century, among these the Collegio Romano should be the most prominent. This paper attempts to trace the origins of Ratio Studiorum and comment on the education system of the Jesuits with reference to former important studies. It is worthy of note that Jesuit education in the Oriental World was not a pure copy of that of the West, and with regard to the time, the implementation of the former was not necessarily posterior to that of the latter. Francis Xavier (1506-1552) materialized Christian education in India roughly at the time when Jesuit education was gradually developed in Europe. Apart from this, the point I would like to underline is that to set up seminario in Japan should never be viewed to be an original idea on the part of Alessandro Valignano (1539-1606), but the fact is that he simply followed the examples offered by real practices in the West and in India. Many critics accused Jesuits of neglecting primary education, but with the passage of time, the system of noviziato was soundly established in Rome. As for the Oriental World, elementary education was particularly accentuated in India and Japan since students there had presumably no good foundation for Western knowledge. Added to this, Jesuit education in the Oriental World was not confined to local students, but, just like the case in Macao, the needs of those Portuguese students were also well catered to.