[Mexico]. [Religion]

Estracto de la Noticia de Mons. de Forbin-Janson Obispo de Nancy y de Toul, Sobre la Obra de la Santa Infancia para el Rescate de los Niños Infieles de la China y de Otros Paises Idolatras... [caption title]

[Mexico City]: Imprenta de M. Murguia y Ca. [ca. 1852]. Broadsheet, 12.75 x 9.25 inches. Previously folded. One very short separation and minor loss along horizontal fold line. Very light dust soiling and toning. Very good. Item #1760

A rare broadsheet presenting the efforts and goals of the Bishop of Nancy to Mexican Catholics regarding his urgent requirement to rescue infidel children from China and other “idolater” countries. The sheet presents the suffering and needs of the innocents, going into great detail on the supposed barbaric practices of China, describing the many ways unchristian people kill children such as drowning them in buckets of hot water, feeding them to dogs or pigs, and throwing them into rivers tied to pumpkins. The document begins:

"Arrebatar de las garras de la muerte un sin número de criaturas, hijos de padres infieles, que el capricho y la miseria, la superstición y la más horrible y desnaturalizada barbarie hace morir a centenares y a millares, arrojados a los rios y en el mar, y aún comidos por perros y cerdos....El [Obispo] desea ante todas cosas abrir al mayor número posible de estos seres infelices, desheredados en su nacimiento del afecto paternal, las puertas del cielo por el bautismo; y también preparar un medio seguro y poderoso para regenerar las naciones idolatras dando una educación cristiana a los niños y niñas libertados de la muerte y hacer de ellos con el tiempo instrumentos de salvación, como maestros, médicos, presbíteros y aún misioneros indigenas...”

The broadsheet goes on to announce the formation of a Catholic organization to aid these poor souls, headquartered in northeastern France, and to appeal in florid language to the devout citizens of Mexico for their generous contributions to the cause. The verso also prints extracts of the regulations for this main organization at Nancy, and it includes the names of the central council in France and the Mexican principals in charge of collecting money for the cause. OCLC locates only one copy of an 1852 French printing of a similar appeal, but no copies of a Mexican imprint. A highly unusual and scarce Mexican broadsheet.

Price: $750.00