Ca’ Foscari Japanese Studies

Series | Ca’ Foscari Japanese Studies
Monograph | A Failing Mission?
Chapter | 3 • Failed Correspondence: The Vow of Obedience

3 • Failed Correspondence: The Vow of Obedience

Abstract
This chapter considers the importance of obedience in the Society of Jesus, and the strategies implemented to maintain it over long distances, such as between Europe and Asia. Believing his fellow missionaries were disobeying him, Cabral initially articulated his own method of control of the Japanese mission through visitations; however, he purported that only the creation of a special residence (whose exact nature changed often) could really rein in wayward missionaries, both European and Japanese ones. This chapter analyses Cabral’s endeavours to practice (and demonstrate) obedience towards his own superiors and how this attitude of his, together with a lack of response from Europe, led to a standstill of all possible reforms.


Open access | Peer reviewed

Submitted: June 21, 2023 | Accepted: Sept. 25, 2023 | Published Jan. 31, 2024 | Language: en


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