英文摘要 |
The Catholic Liturgical Calendar is the reference for and manifestation of the religious life for Catholics. The calendar is different from secular calendars, which follow the cycles of nature and seasons, and is established following the salvation history of Jesus Christ and the various rituals and ceremonies held by the Catholic Church. The calendar is updated and published annually by the Roman Curia and is adopted by all mission areas worldwide. The Catholic Church utilizes rituals, ceremonies, regulations, and other religious practices on the calendar, in order to cultivate and enhance the beliefs of the faithful and to encourage them to lead their lives on the basis of Christian spirituality. This study reconstructs the daily lives of Catholics through external observation and content exploration based on the Chinese Church Calendar for 1931. Having been printed by Yanzhoufu Catholic Press in Shandong province, this calendar was widely used in the mission areas of Sinyang in southern Henan province and also by Fr. George Foffel(1989-1992), a member of the Societas Verbi Divini(namely Society of the Divine Word) in his mission area. This study offers a different perspective in examining the lives of Chinese Catholics at that time and unveils characteristics of the interaction and integration of foreign religion and traditional Chinese culture and rural society. |