Vita di Confucio Filosofo. Un’opera di Carlo Orazi da Castorano, nel contesto della controversia dei Riti cinesi

The knowledge of the life and thought of Confucius in Europe is strictly connected to the image the Catholic missionaries in China reported of him in their writings through the centuries. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the contents of a 1739 writing by the Franciscan Father Carlo Horatii da Castorano taking into account the historical, religious, and social background in which it was written. The text is entitled Vita Confusii Philosophi apud Sinenses Sapientissimi ac Sanctissimi Magistri (Life of the philosopher Confucius, the wisest and holiest master for the Chinese). Father Carlo da Castorano was in China from 1700 to 1734 and played an important role in the Chinese Rites Controversy, being one of the voices of the group of missionaries and, in general, Europeans, who opposed the positions of the Jesuits. Before presenting and analyzing the content of the text, a brief outline of the life of the missionary will be presented, together with the historical context of the missions in China at the beginning of the eighteenth century. These aspects will both be relevant to understand the features of the text and to draw some conclusions on it and on the missionary activity of Father Carlo da Castorano.