Illustrated Treatise on the Maritime Kingdoms, Volume 28

Page 38

Luzon

In all matters of marriage, one must first request permission from the Head of the Church original: 教主 (jiàozhǔ); literally "sect leader." In this context, it refers to the Catholic Bishop or the presiding parish priest. Only after the Head of the Church grants permission may the wedding take place. This Head of the Church is the high-ranking monk original: 僧 (sēng); Wei Yuan uses Buddhist terminology to explain the Catholic clergy to his Chinese readers within the temple. It is their custom to worship the Lord of Heaven original: 天主教 (Tiānzhǔjiào); the standard Chinese term for Catholicism. Every seven days, all the women go to the temple to perform worship referring to the weekly Sunday Mass. When a man takes a wife, both the man and woman go to the temple to hear the priest preach the law, after which they return home together.

When a man and woman are discussing marriage, the parents and matchmakers must first inform the Head of the Church. The Head of the Church then issues a public notice original: 通諭 (tōngyù); this refers to the "Banns of Marriage," a public announcement made in church to ensure there are no legal or canonical obstacles to the union so that everyone may know of it. If the man and woman have already made a private agreement of mutual affection and they report this, the priest will order that they be allowed to follow their own wishes; in such cases, even the parents cannot dispute the union.

If a woman has committed adultery or other sins and wishes to reform her ways, she enters the temple to ask the priest for confession original: 懺悔 (chànhuǐ); a Buddhist term for repentance, used here to describe the Catholic Sacrament of Penance. The priest sits inside a small booth original: 小龕 (xiǎokān); refers to a confessional box which has a window opened on the side. The woman kneels beneath the window and whispers into the priest's ear, recounting the true facts of her situation. The priest then preaches the law to her to absolve her of the sin. If the priest were to reveal what he was told to the public, the people would consider the priest to be in the wrong, and his punishment would be strangulation original: 絞 (jiǎo); referring to the absolute secrecy of the confessional seal.

Whenever a man or woman has broken the law and fears that their master or head of household will punish them, they may go to the temple to seek the priest’s protection. If the priest grants...