Crapez Henri, The Lazarists and the Chinese Clergy

The last two sovereign Pontiffs' encyclicals about the Missions, and above all the promotion of several local priests to the bishops' dignity, have put on the agenda the question of the local clergy. Since then, new seminaries have been created, and the personnel of the old ones have been increased considerably. At the same time numerous interesting monographs on this special topic have appeared; and they revealed to us the generally admirable efforts which have been accomplished.
A missionary of China, Mr. Henri Crapez, has informed us about the Lazarists' contribution concerning their missions in what has been the Empire of the Middle Kingdom. He had the patience of gathering all the material which was related in the old missionaries' correspondence with the formation of the Chinese clergy. This method has the advantage of expounding without bias and without tendentious or rigged calculations, but frankly and loyally, the irrefutable proofs of the constant concern, which the old Lazarists had, from their arrival in China, of creating a local clergy. One can see there at the same time the numerous difficulties, which they had to overcome, in order to realize this program.