從耶穌會的羅馬聖母聖像看中國聖母的特質及其世界史脈絡

The Characteristics of the Virgin Mary in China and Its World-Historical Context: The Madonna Icon in the Santa Maria Maggiore

本文結合圖像與文字史料，對十六、十七世紀中國天主教聖母主題進行初步研究。十六、十七世紀是天主教聖母在中國第一次被大量翻譯和解讀的時期，過去關於中國天主教的研究，更多聚焦於耶穌或天主如何被翻譯和解釋，相對而言，聖母如何被翻譯，及其在地化解讀等，則鮮少被注意。雖然我們常從聖母圖像的在地化，或與佛教觀音的可能混融，做為宗教交流時的文化調適現象，但仍缺乏對於天主教聖母主題的深刻分析。由於聖母在天主教世界史中佔據重要位置，天主教世界史的視野有助於我們更深刻瞭解聖母如何被翻譯進入中國，以及中國對其解釋的特殊性等，此即是本文研究的重點。1599至1600年間，從羅馬寄到澳門羅馬大聖母堂（Santa Maria Maggiore）的聖母抱子像，是此像進入中國的最早紀錄。中國西安所發現的聖母∕觀音立軸畫，則是近十多年來羅馬聖母聖像最有名的一件仿本。聖母和觀音到底在中國曾發生什麼樣的互動，是了解明末以來中國天主教聖母必須面對的議題。本研究將以羅馬聖母像為中心史料，將說明這幅聖像的特色，它除了顯現耶穌會聖母天后圖像學的特質，也為我們提供許多了解此時期中國聖母信仰發展的歷史線索。本文著重羅馬聖母像的世界史和耶穌會視角，並嘗試與中國的聖母∕觀音雙圖像比較，提供適切的解釋。

This research is a preliminary study of the Virgin Mary in Chinese Catholicism in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, using both images and written sources. This was the first great period of translating and interpreting the Catholic Holy Mother in China. In the world history of Catholicism, the Virgin Mary often interacted with local deities. Previous research on the China mission, however, has focused on the translation and interpretion of Jesus, and thus we know less about the Virgin Mary. Scholars have emphasized the visual indigenization of the Virgin Mary or her imagery in terms of possible conflation with the Buddhist deity Guanyin, as a cultural accommodation, but we lack thorough investigation of this phenomenon and its meanings for shaping Chinese Catholicism. This article focuses on the Roman Madonna icon in the Santa Maria Maggiore, its missionary history, and its duplication in China. The Virgin Mary provides a good case for a comparative perspective on Chinese Catholicism. The Roman icon and its possible duplicates in China reveal many clues to understand the characteristics of the Chinese Virgin Mary and its spread in this period. Furthermore, the dual iconography and blend of Mary/Guanyin opens pertinent and useful interpretations in a comparative world-historical perspective.