Item number: M421

Year: AD 1889-1996 presumed

Material: Bronze

Size: 36.5 x 32.0 x 1.6 mm

Weight: 13.0 g

Manufactured by: Lyon

Provenance: Private Collector, France, 2024

This piece is a commemorative medal likely first produced in AD 1889 for the beatification of Father Jean-Gabriel Perboyre. Father Perboyre was martyred in AD 1840 for carrying out missionary work in China.

The obverse depicts, at the centre, a half-length portrait of Jean-Gabriel Perboyre (Chinese name: Dong Wenxue). He is shown wearing a dingdai, the court cap used by Qing officials below the rankings of the nine grades, together with a front-closing magua jacket. As Perboyre held no official rank in the Qing bureaucracy, this attire should be understood as a French imaginative rendering of local gentry dress. The shoulders of the bust extend to the inner boundary, visually projecting the figure beyond the central field. A fine beaded circle separates the bust from the outer legend. Around the rim is inscribed “BIENH. J. G. PERBOYRE PRIEZ POUR NOUS”, meaning “Blessed Jean-Gabriel Perboyre, pray for us.” The small inscription “L. PENIN” to the left is the abbreviation of “Ludovic Penin”, the designer of this medal. Penin belonged to a renowned family of engravers with a long tradition of producing religious art, and he himself had been granted the title of graveur pontifical (Engraver to the Pope). The small inscription “A. Lyon” on the right indicates manufacture in Lyon. By the time this medal was issued, Ludovic Penin had long been deceased; his son-in-law, Alexandre Poncet, had inherited and expanded the Penin family enterprise, continuing to issue medals designed by Penin during his lifetime.

The reverse bears, at the centre, the horizontal legend “JEAN GABRIEL PERBOYRE MARTYRISÉ EN CHINE LE XI SEPTEMBRE MDCCCXL BÉATIFIÉ LE X NOV. MDCCCLXXXIX”, i.e. “Jean-Gabriel Perboyre, martyred in China on 11 September AD 1840, beatified on 10 November AD 1889.” Both obverse and reverse feature an inner beaded circle with an outer rim, the edge being flat. A suspension loop is fitted at the top for threading a cord.

Jean-Gabriel Perboyre, known in Chinese as Dong Wenxue, was a priest of the Paris Foreign Missions Society. Born into a farming family in the department of Lot in France, he was devout from childhood and later entered the Society, being ordained in AD 1825. In AD 1835 he was sent to China, where he worked in Henan and Hubei provinces, in defiance of Qing prohibitions on Christianity, to evangelise and instruct new converts. Gentle and humble in disposition, and rigorous in conduct, he was deeply loved by the local faithful. In AD 1839, as the Qing court entered into the First Opium War and hostility towards Westerners intensified, the authorities renewed their enforcement of the ban on Catholicism. Zhou Tianjue, then Governor-General of Huguang, strengthened efforts to suppress missionary activity, which led to the discovery of Perboyre’s work. After his arrest, Perboyre refused to divulge the names of local Christians and was tortured. On 11 September AD 1840, he was executed by strangulation in Wuchang, becoming one of the most renowned missionary martyrs in China. His martyrdom soon circulated widely in Europe and indirectly contributed to revisions in the Treaty of Whampoa of AD 1844. This unequal treaty was concluded by the July Monarchy of France to secure interests in China comparable to those obtained by Britain under the Treaty of Nanking. In response to Perboyre’s case, a clause on the protection of churches was added. The Holy See beatified Perboyre in AD 1889, and he was canonised by Pope John Paul II in AD 1996.

物件編號: M421

年代: 公元 1889-1996 年

材質:青銅

尺寸: 36.5 x 32.0 x 1.6 mm

重量: 13.0 g

製造地: 里昂

來源: 法國私人收藏 2025

這是一枚可能最早於公元1889年製作的董文學神父宣福禮紀念章。董文學神父於公元1840年因在中國傳教而殉道。

紀念章的正面中央為讓-加布里埃爾·佩布瓦爾(Jean-Gabriel Perboyre，漢名董文學)的半身像。頭戴清朝不入品官員所著頂戴，身披對襟的馬褂，董文學未在清朝領有官職，是故大概為法國人對於當地仕紳的想像。半身像肩臂線直達邊緣，使人像跨越內外圈。以環繞的細珠圈相隔，外側環列「BIENH. J. G. PERBOYRE PRIEZ POUR NOUS」，即「真福讓-加布里埃爾·佩布瓦爾，請為我們祈禱」。左側小字「L. PENIN」應為「Ludovic Penin」的縮寫，為本紀念章的設計者路多維克·佩寧，其出身自著名的雕刻家家族，幾代皆精於宗教雕刻的創作，本人並曾獲得「教宗雕刻師」(graveur pontifical)的稱號。右側小字「A. Lyon」，標示於里昂所造。於本紀念章發行時路多維克·佩寧已身故許久，由其婿亞歷山大·龐塞(Alexandre Poncet)繼承並發揚佩寧家族企業，龐塞繼續發行了其翁生前所設計的紀念章。

背面中央為橫列的銘文「JEAN GABRIEL PERBOYRE MARTYRISÉ EN CHINE LE XI SEPTEMBRE MDCCCXL BÉATIFIÉ LE X NOV. MDCCCLXXXIX」，即「讓-加布里埃爾·佩布瓦爾，1840年9月11日在中國殉道，於1889年11月10日被宣為真福」。正背面章緣皆為內珠圈外環，邊稜平直。上方有供穿繩吊飾用的圓環。

讓-加布里埃爾·佩布瓦爾，漢名董文學，為法國遣使會會士，生於法國洛特省的農家，自幼篤信基督信仰，後入遣使會，公元1825年晉鐸。公元1835年受派遣來華，在河南、湖北一帶，違反清朝的禁教令，從事傳教與培育新信徒的工作。其人性情溫和謙遜，行事嚴謹，深受當地教友愛戴。公元1839年，清廷對外陷入鴉片戰爭，對於西方人的敵意與日俱增。對內復申嚴禁天主教，時任湖廣總督周天爵因此加強搜捕，從而發現了董文學的活動。董文學被捕後，因拒絕供認教友名錄而遭刑訊，最終於公元1840年9月11日在武昌被絞死就義，成為來華傳教士中最知名的殉道者之一。其殉道事蹟隨後在歐洲廣泛流傳，間接促成公元1844年《黃埔條約》條款的修訂。《黃埔條約》為法國奧爾良王朝，尋求與英國《南京條約》一同獲得進一步的在華利益，而簽訂的不平等條約，條約由於董文學的教案而增訂了保護教堂的條款。羅馬教廷則於公元1889年將其列為真福品(Blessed)，並於公元1996年由若望·保祿二世冊封為聖人。