Note 316 — Chapter XIV · CONFUCIANISM—II

The processes of beatification and canonisation in Rome and China are in many respects similar. Some years ago the Archbishop of Rouen and other prelates addressed a letter to the Pope with regard to Joan of Arc, begging the Holy See to declare that "this admirable girl practised heroically the Christian virtues ... and that she is consequently worthy of being inscribed among the Blessed and of being publicly invoked by all Christian people." After the lapse of some years Pope Pius IX. duly "proclaimed the heroic quality of Joan of Arc's virtues, and the authenticity of the miracles associated with her name"; and since then, as is well known, the French heroine has gone through the process of beatification. (See Times of April 13, 1909.) In China a man or woman who was distinguished during life for some heroic action or for pre-eminent virtue may—in suitable circumstances—be recommended by the local officials for canonisation, and if the Emperor wills it to be so he issues a decree whereby that person becomes a saint or a god (whichever term we prefer) and is officially entitled to be the recipient of public worship. The memorial in which the magistrates set forth the virtues of the dead man—and the miracles performed at his tomb if there happen to have been any—might be translated almost word for word from similar memorials sent to Rome by orthodox Christian prelates; and the Chinese Emperor gives his decision in the matter in very much the same terms as are adopted by the Pope. Cf. Farnell's Evolution of Religion, p. 77.