Bellarmino Award received by Fr. Víctor Manuel Aguilar Sánchez

Saint Robert Bellarmino, born on 4 October 1542 in Montepulciano, near Siena, was the nephew of Pope Marcello II. After completing his humanistic training, he entered the Society of Jesus on 20 September 1560. Ordained a priest on 25 March 1570, he was a professor of theology in Leuven for a few years. Later called to Rome as a professor at the Roman College, he was entrusted with the chair of “Apologetics”. On March 3, 1599 he was created cardinal by Pope Clement VIII and, on March 18, 1602, he was appointed archbishop of Capua. He died in Rome on September 17, 1621. Pope Pius XI beatified him in 1923, canonized him in 1930 and proclaimed him Doctor of the Church in 1931.

The Bellarmino Award (Premio Bellarmino) was established in order to stimulate scientific research and promote the two best dissertations defended in the Pontifical Gregorian University (within every school year) one in Theology and one in the disciplines of the other Faculties or other Institutes.

On April 30, 2020, the office of the Vice-Academical Rector and the Commission in charge of evaluating the nominations for the Bellarmino Award, after an in-depth evaluation of the research work carried out by the individual candidates, has decided to nominate Dr. Víctor Manuel Aguilar Sánchez winner. The award ceremony took place at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome on May 25, 2020, with an open link YouTube connection to watch the ceremony to Víctor Aguilar, who lives in Macau, China, to confreres, family and friends. Hence, Dr. Prof. Henryk Pietras, sj, director of Victor’s dissertation, received the award on behalf of Dr. Aguilar.

In his dissertation, Víctor Aguilar, affirmed that “looking back at the history of Christianity in China we realize how for centuries the missionaries have struggled to confront many challenges related to the inculturation of the Gospel. More specifically during the Yuan and Ming Dynasties we may recall Franciscan, Dominican and Jesuit missionaries who have distinguished themselves in this great labour. However, the Gospel of Christ has more ancient roots in the mission of the Eastern Syrian monks who at the beginning of the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD) announced for the first time the story of Jesus to the Chinese people using Chinese language”.

The formidable task, accomplished by the so-called “Nestorian missionaries” or the members of the “luminous teaching” (“Jingjiao”) community, chronologically constitutes the first documented engagement between Jesus’ message and the Chinese people. Two documents, entitled “Thus have I heard: On the listening of the Messiah” and “Discourse on the One-God” studied during the doctoral dissertation present a focus on the individuation, exposition, and explanation of the Christian view on God with its Christological and Soteriological concepts.

Moreover, the dissertation featured the Chinese face of the pastoral and missionary enterprise carried out by the members of the “luminous teaching” community highlighting its efforts of  ‘understanding’, ‘translating’, ‘explaining’, and ‘transmitting’ the story of Jesus into Chinese categories. The model of inculturation developed by these early missionaries in China is the first invaluable approach and will remain a reference for Christian and missionaries in the Chinese context they should always learn from. (For an extract on the dissertation cf. MCCJ-Bulletin 280, July 2019, 57-68).

Congratulations to Dr. Prof. Aguilar and best wishes in his teaching and pastoral service in the Chinese world.