LEMBRANÇAS PARA JAPÓN: ANOTHER UNPUBLISHED WORK WRITTEN BY THE JESUIT GIL DE LA MATA

Abstract

The history of the first attempt to Christianize Japan has yet to be written. The study of moral theology’s mission, as well as research into ethical problems, may provide new information about the first contact of Christianity with the pagan cultures. The numerous documents, still little known, propose solutions to the issues that crop up in the mission lands. This article aims to retrieve a subsequent unpublished manuscript found in the Archive of the Society of Jesus in Rome (ARSJ). The Lembranças of Japan, handwritten by the missionary Logroño Gil de la Mata, specifically consists of regulations or provisions in Spanish of the Padre General of the Jesuits Claudio Aquaviva against excessive adaptation to the “catangues” of Japan promulgated by Alessandro Valignano. In this manuscript reside the orders directed to the Father Visitor to preserve the principles and foundations of the Society of Jesus and against the process of inculturation assumed at that time.