ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH AND ISLAM 129

THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH AND

ISLAM*
Ia order to determine accurately the attitude of the
Roman Catholic Church towards Tslam, we shall first
analyse, upon the authority of official documents and in
particular of papal bulls,t what have been the general
directions given by the Popes to the Christian world in
its relation to Islam.
Then, we shall study the present practical interpretation of these papal directions according to the
apostolic method of the latest catholic religious order
to whom is allotted the Moslem world-the White Fathers.

I.
GENERAL P A P A L DIRECTIONS I N REFERENCE TO ISLAM

This study will be divided according to the order

of the Catholic canonists into three partss following the
threefold power which the Pope, the Vicar of Christ,
wields as head of the hierarchy : ruling power (imperium),
sanctifying power (ministerium), doctrinal power (magisterium)
By the jurisdiction of the imperium are determined
the political and foreign relations of independent Christianity with Islam.

* Translated from the French. While we view both the religious

and political relations of Christianity and Islam from a different
standpoint as compared with that of our esteemed contributor, M.
Louis Massignon, of Pans, we feel sure that all serious students of the
questions involved will be grateful for his scholarly exposition of the
policy and thought carried out by the authorities of t4hemoRt numerous
Church of Christendom, which has produced and still sends out SO
many devoted missioneries.-Eo.

t The reports of Mmsi (Concil), of Jaffb and Uwenfeld (Regesta

PcWificutn Romnnorum). Comp. Reinhold Rahricht, Theologi9che
Sfudien und Kritiken, Hamburg, 1891, p. 359 seq.
I

130

THE MOSLEM WORLD

To the jurisdiction of the ministerium belong the

support and development of the hierarchy and of the
worship in churches under Mohammedan temporal rule.
To the jurisdiction of the magisteriurn belong the
determining of the dogmatic errors of Islam and the
organisation of the evangelisation of the Moslems
themselves.
A. Imperium
The papal ruling power has based the outward
relations between Christianity and Islam on the following
principle, deduced from St. Pauls statement of the
promise made to Abraham. Christians are the true
heirs of Abraham, to the exclusion of Moslems and
Jews.* Just as Ishmael has been excluded for Isaacs
benefit,? so the Mosaic synagogue and the Moslem
community have been excluded for the benefit of the
Christian EccZesia.1
This heritage of Abraham includes a twofold promise by God: that of the Messiahs arid that of the land of Canaan.][ The Christians
alone have received the Messiah, they own Him
and live in Him by the sacraments of the church ;
they, too, alone have a right. to the earthly inheritance,
the Promised Land, the Terra Sancta, where Jesus,
the Holy One of Israel, was born and where He died.
They must take it back from the present possessors, the
Moslem Arabs of the seed of Abraham by Ishmael, son
of Hagar ; for these Hagarenes, Ishmaelites, these
sons of tlie bondwoman are there only to perpetuate
the truth of the divine promise until the return of the
legitimate heir.7
Such is tlie scriptural principle of the Crusades,
formulated by the B. Urban 11. at, the Synod of Clermont
(18-28 November, 1095) : Ejice ancillam hanc, e t

*
t

Cf., the medieval parable of the Three Rings.

Gcn. s v i i . 16-21.
$ Hagar is the symbol of the Mosaic law according to S t . Paul.
5 Gel&.xii. 3 : xviii. 18.
11 Geir. xii. 7 ; xiii. 15 ; xvii. 8.
7 All that has been somewhat strangely. but powerfully emphasised
by Guillaumc Postel (p. 1581) in his Histoire . . de lorigine
des IsmaAlites . . Sarrazins, Poitiem, 1560.

...

ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH AND ISLAM 131

ilium ejus" (Gen. xxi. lo),*; and the same principle
was reiterated by thousands of papal bulls up to the
time of Nicolas V., especially in those of Innocent 111.
and Honorius 111.
Consequently, after two centuries of struggle to save
the Italian Christians from the Musalmans (Saracens),after Ostia (Leo IV., 855) and Garigliano (John X.,916),
before Mahdiyah (Victor III., 1087),-the Pope St.
Gregory VII., practical director of the policy of the
Christian world,+ proposedl the conquest of the Holy
Land as the aim of a policy of universal agreement of
the Christian princes. One knows what happened; it
not only broke the force of Islam which was threatening
independent Christianity on both sides, from Spain
(Almoravides) and Asia Minor (SeljQgides); but it also
helped the Christian sects under Moslem temporal rule,
the Syrians, Copts, Greeks, Armenians, and those in the
Balkan peninsula; it restored their hope and saved
them from the slow death which killed those of Arabia
(NajrBn, Petra, Kinda, Hirah) and of the Naghreb (Bona,
Gal'ah Bani Hammiid). When the Crusades were
abandoned for fratricidal wars among the Christian
princes, the Popes organised the evacuation of the Holy
Land and the retreat, and prevented it from turning to
disaster. Faced by the new offensive of Islam, the
" Turkish peril," the papal policy held its own in a hand
to hand struggle a t the Propontis (John XXII., 1334),
Smyrna (Clement VI., 1344), Rhodes and Malta (Knights
Hospitallers),' Kicopolis (Urban V., 1396), Varna (Eugenius IV., 1444),$ Belgrade (Calixtus III., 1456), Otranto

Cf., hlansi xx. 822-826.

f The Church ha.. not only the final authority in cases of conscience
and in c a m of social justice, but she h w the right t o call to the aid
of the service of God the sword of the temporal power. Cf., the solemn
institution of the military religious orders and the formula for t h e
consecration of new knights in the " Pontifical Romain " (Dom GrCa).
Six let.tera by Gregory MI.for the defence of the Greek empire, written in 1074.
9 As supreme head, the Pope had broken the truce concluded by
the King of Hungary with the Sultan Murad 11. to the detriment of
the Christian sects in the Balkans. But the king w.23 defeated and
killed a t Vanla.

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THE MOSLEM WORLD

(Sixtus IV., 1480), Lepanto (St. Pius V., 1571), Vienna,

(Innocent XI., 1583),* and Peterwardin (Clement XI.,
1716). Belgrade, Lepanto, Vienna, these three unexpected victories, inspired by the spirit of the Crusades,
eventually saved Western Christianity. Since then, little
by little, the Eastern churches have regained their
autonomy, and their independence. This movement of
emancipation is not yet completed; there are still
Christians under Moslem governments, and the Holy
Land belongs still to the sons of the bondwoman.
But the Caliphate has been obliged to recognise officially
the autonomy of the Christian sccts in Turkey by the
treaty of Berlin (1879, article 62 for the Catholic Church).
B. Ministemum
The sanctifying power of the supreme hierarchy of
the church was manifested towards Islam in three ways :
I. By arming the Universal Church with spritwzl
forces necessary to overcome the mysterious spread of
Islam.
In proclaiming the first crusade (1095) the B. Urban
11. granted to all, clerics and laymen, the first general
Plenary indulgence, that of the pilgrimage to the Holy
Sepulchre. Everyone knows the celebrated vision in
which St. Christina Mirabilis of St. Truiden (tl2.24) saw
the triumphant entry into glory of the souls of the
crusaders who had been defeated and killed a t the last
battle, a t Hattin (1187).? When the Holy Land w m
lost the benefit of this Plenary indulgence was extended
to all the Stuhons of fhe Cross (Viae Crucis), consecrated in all the parish churches and chapels throughout
the world. It was also the B. Urban 1I.S who ordained
that all the clergy whose duty it was to repeat the canonical office daily should add to it the Officium Beutae Birginis$ (Our Ladys Hours). This obligation which, in the

* On the importance of these lwt victories for the liturgy, see

further on.
t As G . K. Chwterton says, The Cross cannot be defeated, for
the Croys is Defeat.
They also attribute to him for the same reason the order for the
recitation of the Angelic-cr,twice a day, evening and morning.
$ Written by St. Pierre Damien.

ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH AND ISLAM 133

Middle Ages, gave a favourable impulse to the veneration
of the Virgin, was mitigated by St. Pius V. five centuries
later, after Lepanto, and was restricted to the choir
only on the days stipulated in the Breviary. And so
the liturgy of the church was as last completed by the
institution of solemn feast days in perpetual commemoration of the triumphs of Christianity over Islam. If
the double femt of St. Lance (feria V I . post Dom. I .
Quadrages and feria V I . post octav. Paschae) only indirectly* commemorates the taking of Antioch (1098)?, a t
any rate the feast of the Transfiguration of our Lord has
been fixed on August 6th in memory of the victory of
Belgrade (1456), that of Our Lady of Help (of Victory)
on October 7th in memory of the victory of Lepanto
(1571), and it has since been transferred by Clement XI.
under the name of Our Lady of the Rosary to the first
Sunday of October in memory of the victory of Peterwardin (1716) ; the feast of the Holy Name of Mary on
September 12th, in memory of the deliverance of Vienna
(1683).

11. Again, by keeping up the supernatural life of the

sacraments in the churches subjected to the Moslem rule :
by the maintenance, the unification and development
of the hierarchy.
This preservatory action took three forms. First,
the protection of the separatist churches, whose wonderful
vitality$ had withstood the molestations5 of the Moslem
governments ; this protection finally resulted in the
union with Rome of the Maronites (under Lucius III.),
Uniat Gregorians (1224), Uniat Armenians (XIV. cent.),
Uniat Chaldeans (XVII. cent.), Bulgarian Paulicians,

* Foundation of St. Lance, by St. Berthold.

t The liturgy commemorates September 14th by the feast of

the

e d t u t i o n of the Holy Cross. The triumphant return (to Jerusalem

under Heraclius after the captivity in Babylon) of the true Qoss thus
shown to the world at the very moment when I~lrtmdenied the Atonement by the Cross.
$ Pointed out by Margoliouth, The Early Development of Mohumm e d c c n h , 1914.
8 Besides systematic persecutions ; prohibitions of Chriutians
from practiHing any other trades than those of bankers and physicians
(edicte of Motawakkil, Muqtedir).

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THE MOSLEM WORLD

Uniat Copts, Uniat Greeks, Uniat Syrians; there were

even two temporary reunions of the Greek Orthodox
(1274 and 1433). Next, the protection of the religious
worship of the pilgrims in the Holy Land, a t first insufficiently assured by t.he Genoese and Venetian consuls*
was secured, as a. consequence of the Franco-Turkish
capitulations (1536) by France, to whom the Holy See
granted the general protectorate over the Christian sects
in the East. Then, the organisation of the religious
worship of the Christian prisoners, which the Pope
entrusted to special orders for the ransom of captives,
Trinitarians and Brothers of Mercy.t From the thirteenth century the Popes have been able to divide
gradually the Moslem territories into countries of missions
under bishops of special orders, Franciscans (Morocco,
Egypt, Syria), Dominicans ( M o d ) , Carmelites (Ispahan
and Bagdad), Jesuits (Damascus), whose duty was to
respect the stutua quoJ to assure the religious life of the
Christian communities without making any propaganda
among the neighbouring Nusulmans. It is important
to draw attention to this fundamental rule which still
holds good; the anxiety for the protection of these
afiliated sects has prevented the Pope from authorising
the missionaries to evangelise the Moslems.

C.

Magisterium

The doctrinal power of the Popes has distinguished

in Islam, in theory, a spiritual power, and, in practice,
a temporal power, a distinction ignored by Islam.
Theoretically, they have defined and condemned the
doctrine of the Islamic state, the infidel state, par
excellence.
In practice, they have considered the
Moslem princes simply as the tempowl rulers of nations

* Heyd, Archiw Orient. Lnlin, ii. 359 seq.

t Cf.,their fourth vow ; t~ ~ubstitutethemselves for the captives

held at raxmoni.

$ There is a custom of reciprocal preventive eztradilim ; in cese of

imminent conversion of a Moslem, the Christ.ien community ie obliged
to leave him at the disposal of his co-religionistsfor a certain time.

ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH AND ISLAM 135

to be evangelised, Hagarme Arabs,* sons of Ishmael,
Persians and Turks.
(1) In theory, the dogmatic definition of Islam
was not formulated by the Popes until the fifteenth
century. It was prepared in accordance with three
sets of documents: (a) the tradition of the two last
Greek Melchite Fathers, St. John the Damascene? and
Theodore Abucara,S and the Greek formulas of abjuration. ( b )The works on Scriptural symbolism which, with
the commentary on the Apocalypse, by the B. Joachim,
Cistercian Abbot of Flora (A.D. 1202), a book written
by special order of Pope Lucius 111.) led to the denunciation of Islam founded by Mohammed as the antitype
of this AntiChristus, whose advent St. Gregory the
Great (604) had announced twenty years before the
Hegira. (c) The works of Arab erudition and of controversy, compiled by the great orders : among those of
the Benedictines, the Cur Deus Homo, by St. Anselm
of Canterbury, written at Bari against the Saracens;
t,he trailslations of the Koran and of the Risalah of Abd
el Masih a1 Iiindi,II completed in 1141 by Peter of Toledo
for Peter the Venerable, Abbot of Clunyqr; the worlcs
of Rupert of Deutz and of Alain of Lille ; the theological
studies of the Dominican MotakaZZimoz~n(chiefly in Spain)
from the summu of Raymund of Penafert, the Pugio fidei**
of Raymund Marti and the famous Summa contm gentes
of St. Th. Aquinastt against Averroism, to the theological Arsbic-Latin lexicon by Cafies.$$
Pope Pius II., in his address a t the Synod of Mantua

* Tho uhole calling of the Arab race is reconstructed in this

fugitive Hqar, whose flight to the desert is only repeated
in the Hegira of Mohammed (sanie Semitic root H.G.R.).
#. Ed., Graf.
t Ed., Mipe.
8 Ed., Sylbury ; re-ed., Moutot.
11 Cf.,R. Muir, The Apology of A1 Kin& and the Latin MSS.
Paris, 3393, 3649.
Ed., Bitlimder, 1643.
**Meneudez y Pelayo showed the philosophical importance of this
work which has made use of A1 Ghazali and influenced Pascal.
ttAnd his de Unitute intellectw.
$3 An author of the XVIIIth century.

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THE MOSLEM WORLD

(September 26th, 1459), and especially in his

R6-e

LE Mahomet II. (1462),was the first who gave an elaborate

dogmatic definition of Islam and its errors. He based it

on d e cribratione Alchorani, by Cardinal Nicolas of
Cum, whose documentary evidence and method were
revised by L. Marracci in his Prodromzcs (1696).
It is to be noticed that we do not here acknowledge
comparisons instituted between certain articles of the
Catholic faith and certain Islamic theses, such as the
immaculate conception of the Virgin and NUT Mohamd i y a h , the adoration of the Virgin and S a t ala a2
N&, the doctrine of infallibility and tulim ( i d m
masoum), the rosary and taSlAh, thc scapulary and
Khirqah Khi<dyah, the Aristotelism of Thomas Aquinm
and the KaZ6m of Averroes. These ideas, products of rational thought applied to religious facts, have remained in
Islam as a mere aberration, an adventitious growth;
whereas in the structure of Catholic dogmas, they form an
integral part of a logical syatem. They form in Islam m
historical and personal feature of worship, in Catholicism
a sacramental source of grace precisely defined.*
On the other hand, we refuse to accept the idea
maintained by dHerbelot and Swirnow,t that Moslem
heresies, such as those of Al Halliij (t 922), of Al
Shoshtari (t 1269)$, of Ibn Simiiwnah (t 1415), and
of Qiibid (t 1527), may be explained as the result
of Christian influences. It is as LE result of personal
and rational mental effort in reconstructing Islamic
dogma from within, after an alteration in the interdependence of its main ideas, that these four men finally
arrived at doctrinal statements of a Christian tendency.

* We are not even sure, in #pita of the arguments of Asia Palacioa,

that the theoritx of Raymuiid Lull are borrowed from the w*orkRof Ibn
h a b i . -4s to the famous perinde ac cadaver of Sahl Tostari (of.,
Richard Hartmann, Kwrhuiri, 1914, p. 103),the Jesuits have not
borrowed it from him.
t Oticntal Znternutional Congress, 1897, p. 143.
1 Qy&h Isawiyah (Ms. &ad, 3606).
With this are connected the wonderful m a r c h e s of h i n Palacios
011 the Christian elementa of the mystics1 theories of Al G h a a . It
is in the purely analogous sense of the term that Goldsiher hns been
able to use the title, Ka,t.hol~cheTendenz im Islam, for his essay on
Al Ta\l?i and the Moslem theologians who are opposed to the principle
of variation in tradition, Ikhtilaf al OmmCLn d m a h (Upsals, 1913).

ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH AND ISLAM 137

(2) In practice, the diplomatic activitoyof the Popes

has aimed exclusively at the conversion of Moslem
princes, this being the only means to gain a mass movement towards Christianity.* Legates were instructed to
aim at the conversion of certain Ayyoubites (1211,1213),
of the Seljhgides of Qonyah (1170, 1234, 1235, 1256,
1257), of the Mongul Khans of Persia and even of the
Ottoman Sultans of Turkey (1462). As to that evangelisation of individuals, the papal order has always been to
maintain an attitude of expectancy. There have been
here and there isolatd attempts at proselytism ; that
of the Benedictines of Spain (cf., Silos, Montserrat
Compostella), leading to the martyrdom of Mozarabites
a t Cordova (851)and to the conversion of Emir Omar
ibn Hafsoun ; that of the Franciscans: St. Francis of
Assisi at Damietta, the protomartyrs of the order a t
Merriikesh, the B. Raymund Lull (1315),t after that
of the B. Pierre Armengol (of la Merci, 1304) at
Bugia, St. Pierre Pascal at Jam, St. Joseph de Uonissa ;
that of some Carmelites, such as the Carmelite Mary of
Jesus Crucified, known as the bearer of the stigmata of
Bethlehem (1878).$ These heroic attempts a t proselytism have remained isolated.
Until this day, the Popes have refused8 to co-ordinate
these enterprises by a special apostolic mission, judging
that the autonomy of the Christian sects under Moslem
rule was still too precarious, and that i t was necessary
above all to keep the deposit ; they have postponed to this day the institution of a public organised
preaching of the Gospel in Moslem territory. In fact,
the most valiant servants of the church, St. Peter of
Damascus (743), St. Francis of Assisi at Damietta,

Isolated converts are excluded ips0 fact0 from the Moslem

community, and are obliged to exile theinselves (if they are not killed
before) ; they cannot found families in the same place.

t On his college for oriental studies (Mallorea) and his controversial books, see Littrb and HaurGsu, Audrt!, and Zwemers
biographies.
$ Life, by M y Herbert ; Montpellier and Pau, 1889.
0 One of them, 8t. Pius V., sought by private correspondence to
win back the renegade Lucchiali (Ilj Ali), one of the commandants of
the Turkish fleet before Lepanto.

THE MOSLEM WORLD

138

Christopher Columbus at Grenada (1492), St. Ignatius

Loyola at Jerusalem, St. Francis Xavier in India, St.
Vincent of Paul at Lagoulette, have flung themselves
upon Islam without shaking it. Leon XIII. only
thought it cdvisable to encourage the indirect works of
education and charity established by the missionaries
for the Moslems by commending them to the Sultan
(1879). The entirely Moslem countries of Afghanistan
and Arabia are the last under Moslem rule still deprived
of the spiritmd intercession of the Catholic episcopal
hierarchy; there is not yet a bishop in partibus a t
Mecca.
11.

THE MISSIONARY
METHOD OF THE WHITE FATHERS
Let us examine in particular the work on Mohammedan territory of the latest of Catholic orders, the
White Fathers. The order was founded under the name
of " The African Missionary Society " at Mnison-Carde
(near Algiers), by Mgr. Lavigerie, cardinal archbishop of
Algiers and approved b? Pius TX., and a t its head
is Mgr. Livinhnc (assisted by the Rev. F. Voillard).
They took upon them the spiritual welfare of the infidels
living on the Moslem territory, which, through the
conquest of Algiers, had become French.
Work for the conversion of their Moslem brethren
of the colonies of their mother-country is, indeed, an imperative duty iipon the Catholics of every nation. Mgr.
Lavigerie had concentrated his activity on the Maghreb
and on the Sahara, where he had hoped to establish a
miMary religious order, the A
d Brothers (of the
Beit Allah, Biskra). Forty years have passed, and we
see that the efforts of the White Fathers, turned aside
by unforseen obstacles, have flanked Islam instead of
making a frontal attack. They are working to conquer
the principal negro races for Christ before the threatening
propaganda of Islam has reached them. Their finest
missions are in the region of the great equatorial lakes,
which Islam was near conquering by converting the
kings of Uganda and by the wars of Tippo-Tib. The
White Fathers have now a threefold field of work* :-

Statistics of 1913, communicated by the Order.

ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH AND ISLAM 139

I. Great Lakes :
(1) Northern Nyanza (Uganda) : 30 stations (one preliminary and 1 secondary seminary).
(2) Southern Nyanza : 14 stations.
(3) Ounyayembe : 9 stations.
(4) Tanganika: 13 stations (one primary and one
secondary seminary).
(5) Upper Congo: 11 stations.
(6) Kivou: 15 stations.
(7) Nyassa: 5 stations.
( 8 ) Bangouolo: 7 stations.
11. Jerusalem. Greek Catholic seminary of St. Anne :
24 tutors and 104 pupils.
111. Algeria and Sudan.
(1) Missions in Kabylia and in Aurhs.
(2) Mission districts in the Sahara and in the Sudan,
including the mission prefecture of Ghardaia.
It is only in this third sphere of activity, Kabylia,
A d s and Ghardaia, that the stations of the White
Fathers have been founded in the midst of Islam.* We
shall, therefore, study this one only.
It is divided into six sections (on Musulman territory) :
(a) Section of the Chelif : 2 stations : St. Cyprian and
St. Monica of the Attafs: 7 missionaries, 21 sisters, 290
converts.
(b) Section of Kabylia : 7 stations : Beni-Mengalet,
Beni-Yenni, Taymount-Azouz, Ouadhias, Beni Ismail,
Ighil Ali, Kerrata: 39 missionaries, 41 sisters, 11 catechists, 689 converts.
(c) Section of Aurks : 3 stations: Arris, Medina,
Djemaa-Sahridj : 9 missionaries, 19 sisters, 14 converts.
( d ) Section of Tunisia : 1 station, St. Joseph of
Thibor (between El Kef and Beja), 30 converts.
( e ) Prefecture of Ghardaia : 3 stations, Ouargla,
Ghardaia : 8 missionaries, 11 sisters.
(f)Tassili of the Touareg Ahaggar : 1 station,
TamaiQBset, hermitage of an independent priest affiliated
to the order, the Rev. Father Charles de JBsus (Charles

* The Renoult amendment, presented to the Senate, demands the

expulsion of the White Fathew.

144

THE MOSLEM WORLD

de Foucauld).* Eighteen dispensaries, 12 hospices, 3

hospitals in all.
The 29 schools were closed by the government last
spring.
In these countries, particularly difficult to evangeliee
because of both the local fanaticism and the anti-clerical
laws of the government, the progress of evangelisation
follows three stages appointed by the sup&rieurs.t
(1) A t first, and as long as it is thought necessary,
comes a period of contemplation, during which the
missionaries work especially a t their personal sanctification by prayer, by ladoration rkparatrice,t by
meditation and penance, limiting their intercourse with
the Moslems to direct charity in all its forms-hospitals,
dispensaries, hospices, workshops, schools, lazar-houses ;
they abstain from speaking of religion. When they are
questioned on that subject, they answer shortly without
entering upon discussion, without even giving an explanation of their belief. The result is that suspicion i8
allayed; after a few years the missionaries gain the
confidence and esteem of the whole population. This
is one point gained.
(2) Among this well-disposed population, they address
individually sincere souls whom they haye come to know
in their daily intercourse with the natives. These, by
their sincere conversion, which demands almost always
heroic courage on account of the difficulties of their
surroundings, form the nucleus of young Christian communities. This stage, already arrived a t in the stations
among the Kabyles, is nearly reached by those in the
Sahara. The insistence upon religious neutrality deprived the schools of their moral efficacy. In any case,
they have just been closed by authority.
* The former explorer of Morocco, author of the celebrated work

Exploration of Morocco, (1883-1888), the basis of the scientific

topography of the country.
t Documents transmitted by the Order end by its coadjutors.
$ The perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, this sourca of
supernatural life in missions, is entrusted later on to a special body of
coadjutors--e.g., the sisters of Marie Mparatrice at Entebbe
(Uganda). Cf., the spiritual co-operation of the Contemplative
Trappists with the mimions in China, and of the Carmelites of Algiers
with the preliminary efforta of the White Fathers.

ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH AND ISLAM 141

(3) The third stage is that of the spread of Christian
thought by conversation, by pamphlets, by the work of
zealous converts; it has been attempted successfully
only in one or two stations.
On this subject one must mention the little Syrian
Arabic rcview of the White Fathers, a1 Mccsurrah;
the Arabic Jesuit Bible of Beyrout; the Translations
of the great Summa of St. Thomas Aquinas, of the
M W n of St. Alph. Radriguez, of the Imitation of
Jesus Christ ; and a little masterpiece already old, the
Mosdmurtit Qorpjdnnah, by Abbot Bourgade, on the
comparison of the Bible and the QurAn.
All these writings unfortunately smack of modern
translation ; they have not the true flavour of classical
Arabic.* How much finer is the language of the GreekCatholic missal, and especially certain prayers of the
Book of Hours (a1 Sawbiyah) of the Greek-Catholics;
in these traditional prayers, which are old translations
from the biblical writers, the Arabic version almost
lends to the devotions of the resdcr the force of the
original Hebrew.
Such are the three stages of evangelisation; the
calculated deliberation of the first two stages prepares
for the success of the third. Before inviting well-disposed souls to repentance, the missionary must have
learnt to conform his whole life to the discipline of his
duties, he must have found his place as a living stone
in the edifice of the church under construction. In order
to make their light shine before others, in order to make
the Musulman, who is accust,omed to deny the Trinity,
the Incarnation, and the Atonement, appreciate the
harmonious structure of the dogma, the undying splendour of the liturgy, the exquisite suitability of piety,
it is necessary that the three divine virtues should abide
in the heart of the missionaries. I n order that they may
become examples of evangelical life, by showing f&h
the Gospel in their lives, by being themselves living Gospels,
so that in seeing them men may know the meaning of the

* This is the reproach which the learned Sheikh Mahmud Shukri

Alousi made in our presence, at Bagdad, against the Arabic publications
of Christian missionaries.

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THE MOSLEM WORLD

Christian life, the meaning of the Gospel, a.nd ?nag come

to k m w Jesus Himself.. Such are the very words of the

coadjutor with the White Pathers in Hoggar, the Rev.
Father Charles de Foucauld (article xxviii. $5, of the
Rule of the union of the Brothers and Sisters of the
Sacred Heart of Jesus, founded in 1909, to co-operate
with the mission of the White Fathers). The country
of the Tuaregs, to which this order was consecrated, is
particularly unapproachable to the mission, and the Rev.
Father de Foucauld, without . hoping for immediate
conversions, has lived for twenty years in the Sahara a
secluded life of hard penance, of perpetual adoration, in
order to prepare the way for the missionaries of to-morrow. Gradually the Tuaregs have come to his hermitage,
and his goodness of heart enables him toact as a peacemaker among them even before their wills are affected.
He does nothing more for the present. It is only a
germ, a seed corn planted deeply in the soil awaiting
the missionaries of the future, those whose lives will
manifest this heroic combination of the Christian virtues
which the church defines as Holiness, For the soul
is effective for good in proportion to its holiness.*
LOUISMASSIQNON.
Paris.

Foucauld, 2.c.