Papal legate to India and China, cardinal, born of a noble
Savoyard family at Turin, 21 December, 1668; died in confinement
at Macao, 8 June, 1710. After graduating in canon and civil law
he went to Rome where he gained the esteem of Clement XI, who on
5 December, 1701, appointed him legate a latere to India and
China. The purpose of this legation was: to establish harmony
among the missionaries there; to provide for the needs of these
extensive missions; to report to the Holy See on the general
state of the missions, and the labours of the missionaries; and,
finally, to enforce the decision of the Holy Office against the
further toleration of the so-called Chinese rites among the
native Christians. These rites consisted chiefly in offering
sacrifices to Confucius and the ancestors, and in using the
Chinese names tien (heaven) and xang ti (supreme emperor) for
the God of the Christians. On 27 December, 1701, the pope
consecrated Tournon bishop in the Vatican Basilica, with the
title of Patriarch of Antioch.
