THE CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA
Tournon, Charles-Thomas Maillard de, papal
legate to India and China, cardinal, b. of a noble
Savoyard family at Turin, 21 Dec, 166S; d. in con-
finement at Macao, 8 June, 1710. After graduating
in canon and civil law he went to Rome where he
gamed the esteem
of Clement XI,
who on 5 Dec,
1701, appointed
him legate a latere
to India and
(iiina. The pur-
jiiise of this lega-
ti<m was: to estab-
lish harmony
among the mis-
sionaries there; to
]irovide for the
needs of these ex-
tensive missions;
to report to the
ll.ily See on the
ni'iieral state of
I lie missions, and
the labours of the
liiissionaries; and,
liually, to enforce
Chaules-Tuomas Maii.i.ard Cardinal the decision of the
DE Tournon JJoJy Ofhce against
From an old engraxing jj^g further tolera-
tion of the so-called Chinese rites among the native Christians. These rites consisted chiefly in offering sacrifices to Confucius and the ancestors, and in using the Chinese names Hen (heaven) ixnAxangti (supreme emperor) for the God of the Christians. On 27 Dec, 1701, the pope consecrated Tournon bishop in the Vatican Basilica, with the title of Patriarch of Antioch.
The legate left Europe on the royal French vessel Murepas, 9 Feb., 1703, arriving at Pondicherry in India on 6 Nov., 170.3. It was with greater zeal than prudence that he issued a decree at this place, dated 23 June, 1704, summarily forbidding the missionaries under severe cen.-5ures to permit the further practice of the Malabar rites (q. v.). On 11 July, 1704, he set sail for China by way of the Philippine Islands, arriv- ing at Macao in China, 2 April, and at Peking on 4 Dec, 170.5. Emperor Kang hi received him kindly at first, but upon hearing that he came to abolish the Chine,se rites among the native Christians, he de- mandefl from all missionaries on pain of immediate expulsion a promise to retain these rites. M Rome the Holy Office had meanwhile decided against the rites on 20 Xov., 1704, and, being acquainted with this decision, the legate issued a decree at Nanking on 2.5 Januar>-, 1707, obliging the missionaries under pain of excommunication tote sententice, to abolish the rites. XV.— 1 1
Hereupon the emperor ordered Tournon to be im-
prisoned at Macao and sent some Jesuit missionaries
to Rome to protest against the decree. Tournon
died in his prison, shortly after being informed that he
had been created cardinal on 1 August, 1707. Upon
the announcement of his death at Rome, Clement XI
highly praised him for his courage and loyalty to the
Holy See and ordered the Holy Office to issue a De-
cree (25 Sept., 1710) approving the acts of the legate.
Tournon's remains were brought to Rome by his suc-
cessor, Mezzabarba, and buried in the church of the
Propaganda, 27 Sept., 1723.
Memorie stor. deW Em. Mgr. card, di Tournon esposte con mon- umenti rari ed autentici non piu dati alia luce (8 vols., Venice, 1761-2), anti-jesuitical; (Villermaules), Anec. sur t'etat de la religion dans la Chine (7 vols., Paris, 1733-42), Jansenistic and extremely biassed against the Jesuits; Pray. Hist, controvcrs. de rilibu.'i sinicis (Pest, 1789). German tr. with numerous additions (.Augsburg, 1791). Concerning his alleged murder by the Jesuits see Ddhr, Jesuiten-Fabeln (4 ed., Freiburg, 1904), 776, 7S6.
Michael Ott.
Touron, Antoine, Dominican biographer and his- torian, b. at Graulhet, Tarn, France, on 5 Sept., 1686; d. at Paris, 2 Sept., 1775. Of this author but little has been wTitten, though the number and merit of his works have caused his name to become illustrious, particularly in his order. He was the son of a mer- chant, and seems to have joined the Dominicans at an early age. After the completion of his studies he taught philosophy and theology to the students of his province (Toulouse) ; but the later years of his life were devoted to biography, history, and apologetics. From his pen we have twenty-nine volumes, dealing largely with the history of the Dominican Order and the biographical sketches of its notable men. His writings are valuable contributions to Dominican literature, and essential to students of Dominican history. Pcre Mort.ier, in his "Histoire des maJtres gi5n6raux de I'ordre des freres precheurs", now in course of publication, has made generous use of his "Histoire des hommes illustres . . . ". Touron's writings include his "Vie de saint Thomas d'Aquin" (consideied his best work); "Vie de .saint Dominique avec une hist. abr6g6e de ses premieis di.'-ciples"; "Hist, des hommes illustres de I'ordre de saint Dom- inique"; "De la providence, traite hist., dogmat. et mor."; "La main de Dieu sur les incn'dules, on hist. abr<5g<e des Israelites", a work in which he shows that as often as the Chosen People proved false to their Divine vocation, they were punished by God; "Par- allele de I'incredule et du VTai fidele"; "La vie et I'esprit de saint Charles Borromee"; "La verit6 ven- g6e en faveur de saint Thomas"; and "Hist. g<5n6rale tie r.Vm^iique depuis sa dficouverte", which is really an ecclesiastical history of the New World.
MoRTlER, Hist, des maitres gfn. de I'ordre des freres precheurs (5 vols.. Paris, 1903-11), pa,ssim: Hurteh, Nomenclator literarius. Ill {Innsbruck. 1895), 164-5.
Victor F. O' Daniel.
