Carlo di Orazi da Castorano e la condanna dei riti cinesi. Sulle tabelle dei defunti,

The article focuses on the Chinese rites performed to honour the familial’s ancestors and on the role played by Carlo Horatii da Castorano in Rome in the years immediately preceding the condemnation of Chinese rites (1742). From Matthew Ricci onwards, the Society of Jesus maintained that the Confucian ceremonies had no religious nature, but all religious orders didn’t share this interpretation and the Roman Church continuously attempted to bring uniformity to the practice. So we can read the activities of the cardinals and members of the Congregation of the Inquisition who started meeting on August 24th 1741 to argue and work out the papal condemnation of the Chinese rites. The need to standardize the practice stands out among subtle discussions on the form and material of the tables dedicated to the ancestors and the specific circumstances of the ceremonies for the departed (on which Castorano gave an important contribution).