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Early Modern · 1645–1704; definitive 1704 and 1715
The Chinese Rites Decrees
The Holy Office and Pope Clement XI
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What it is
Rulings forbidding Chinese Christians to take part in rites honouring Confucius and ancestors, and banning the terms the Jesuits had used to translate God.
Why it lasted
The decision that ended the Jesuit accommodation in China, provoked the emperor to expel the missionaries, and was quietly reversed in 1939.
Where to read it
Public domain and free to read in full, though not held here. The archives below have it.
These open a search on each archive rather than a direct link, which is the honest way to point at an edition nobody here has checked line by line.
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