THE PENALTY OF PIETY: The Benedictine Beginning of Fu Jen Catholic University

THE PENALTY OF PIETY:

The Benedictine Beginning of Fu Jen Catholic University

SCENE ONE Peking, The Forbidden City

[MUSIC: Theme music]

[IMAGES: Emperor and Dowager Empress]

[SFX: Gong]

TEACHER VOICE: Pupils, what did the Emperor of China say on June 11, 1898?

STUDENT CHORUS1: Scholars are now without solid and practical education; our artisans are without scientific instructors; students are without English language courses. Changes must be made to accord with the necessities of the times.

STUDENT CHORUS 2: Let all take advantage of the opportunities for the new education thus open to them. Palace examinations are useless, superficial, and obsolete. Let there be a great university in Peking.

[SFX: Gong]

TEACHER VOICE: Pupils, what did the Empress Dowager of China say on September 12, 1901?

STUDENT CHORUS 1: Let all colleges in the empire be turned into schools of western learning; each provincial capital should have a university.

STUDENT CHORUS 2: Young men and women of scholastic promise should go abroad to study any branch of western science or art best suited to their tastes, that in time they may return to China and place the fruits of their knowledge at the service of the empire.

[SFX: Gong]

[MUSIC: Theme Music]

SCENE TWO Guild Hall in Tientsin,1911

[IMAGE: Guild Hall]

[MUSIC: When the Saints Go Marching in]

[SFX: Crowd noises]

[Belgian priest VINCENT LEYHEN and Chinese newspaperman and patriot LIEN CHIH YING prepare to speak to a crowd of leading Chinese families in Tientsin.]

YING: [Excited] Fr.Vincent, all the tickets are sold out! Canton Guild Hall is full and overflowing with the Chinese elites in Tientsin. Everybody wants to attend the community lectures. I’d better rent the Guild Hall for three days next week. Soon we’ll be speaking to crowds every night of the week.

LEYHEN: We’re witnessing an education revival in China, Mr. Ying; and with educated citizens, we hope to bring China to the Chinese and the Chinese to Christ. That’s our motto. Right, Mr. Ying? All hopes are permitted!

YING: That’s my one hope, Fr. Vincent. I’m ready to give my life for that.

LEYHEN: We’re a mission team, Mr. Ying; God is the force and you’re the voice. I wonder if you’re ready to become a Catholic?

YING: When I do become a Catholic, Fr. Vincent, I’d like to choose “Vincent” as my Christian name.

LEYHEN: Not for me, my friend, but for St. Vincent, who taught total sacrifice, true love, and constant joy.

YING: A worthy challenge.

LEYHEN: The lectures are raising enough funds to publish a Catholic journal, but we need money to print the newspaper, too. Use your oratory talent to touch their hearts and their pocket books tonight, Mr. Ying.

YING: I’ll remember St. Vincent’s example.

[MUSIC: Hymn fades out]

[SFX: Applause]

YING: Citizens of China! The talent of the people is the soul of a nation! If a nation loses the service of able citizens and industries, it cannot hope to exist, much less to compete with the powers of the world! The duty of fostering education and promoting industries to sustain the soul of China lies with you, my friends, the influential citizens of our country!

[Two young communist AGITATORS in a group of students, interrupt his speech with anti-foreign slogans.]

[SFX: Crowd noises under]

AGITATORS: [Shouting] Down with foreign missionaries and their lackeys! Who are you to tell us what China needs! Capitalist slave! Shut up your lies about “soul!” Down with foreign powers in China! Abolish unequal treaties!

[SFX: Crowd noise increases]

[XIANGBO MA, close friend to YING, calls out to him from behind the platform.]

MA: [Loudly] Ying! Fr. Vincent! Over here! There’s going to be trouble.

YING: (Surprised] Mr. Ma, are you here? [To LEYHEN] Fr. Vincent, follow me quickly!

[SFX: Hurried footsteps; wooden door opens and shuts sharply]

[SFX: Crowd noise fade low]

MA: We’ll wait backstage until the police disperse the crowd.

LEYHEN: Who were those agitators? Student communists?

MA: Yes. They get their radical ideas from Karl Marx’s Manifesto.

YING: Fr. Vincent, meet my dear colleague, Mr. Xiangbo Ma, China’s leading light. He founded two universities in Shanghai, the Jesuit one, Aurora, and Fudan, but none in Peking yet!

LEYHEN: Thank you for your help Mr. Ma. I was sorry to hear you left Aurora University.

MA: I couldn’t persuade the Jesuits to adopt English language instruction and offer a liberal arts diploma for non-religious Chinese students.

LEYHEN: To my regret, my French Catholic brothers abandoned the methods of Mateo Ricci.

MA: Would you help us, Fr. Vincent? I’ve come to ask Mr. Ying to write a letter to Rome, to Pope Pius X, the Holy Father himself!

YING: What do you mean?

MA: Our situation is desperate. The new China education reform movement does not have a single Catholic leader. Most Catholic missionaries go to the rural areas where they serve only poor farmers. Why? If we don’t build a Catholic university in Peking for the influential citizens—

YING: I know; we’ll have anarchy instead of a Republic.

LEYHEN: I have to admit it seems as if the Catholic Church has its eyes on numbers of converts from among the poor and ignorant rather than looking to the education of the higher ranks of society. Of course, I’ll help you.

YING: We’ll write our petition in Latin.

MA: And French.

LEYHEN: That’s the spirit, Mr. Ma!

[MUSIC: Theme]

SCENE THREE St. Vincent Abbey, Latrobe, Pennsylvania

[MUSIC: Gregorian Chant]

[IMAGES: St. Vincent Abbey]

[SFX: Meeting with hushed voices]

[At St. Vincent Abbey, ARCHABBOT STEELE opens a meeting of Benedictine Confreres, and introduces FR.O’TALLEY who reports on his trip to Rome and Hong Kong. FR. BRANT and FR. ROTT are present.]

STEELE: Dear brothers, thank you for coming to St. Vincent Abbey. I know it is not a convenient time to call a meeting, but the matter is urgent. As you know, before his death Pope Benedict XV issued an encyclical laying down the doctrine for missionaries to non-Christian countries, and we Benedictines in America have been asked to support this noble enterprise. Our own Fr. O’Talley had a private audience with his successor, the Holy Father Pope Pius XI. Fr. O’Talley, we will hear your report.

O’TALLEY: Following the receipt of the Peking letter describing the lack of Catholic education for the upper classes in China, Rome admits that in departing from the educational policy of the early Jesuit missionaries to China, our Catholic missions made a serious mistake.

BRANT: Excuse me, Fr. O’Talley, what “Peking letter?”

O’TALLEY: A letter written by two Chinese individuals in Peking who claimed to be the sole Catholic intellectuals in China. May I continue?

[SFX: Affirmative mumbles]

O’TALLEY: The Holy Father expressed to me his most intense desire that the Order of St. Benedict, which during the Middle Ages saved Latin and Greek literature from certain destruction, should found a Catholic university in Peking.

BRANT: But Fr. O’Talley, this is the 1920s, not the Middle Ages. And we have a mission in America.

ROTT: China has millions of poor people. When it comes to missions, we need to occupy ourselves with charity and in so doing follow the example of our master.

BRANT: Our only hope is in the second generation of Catholic converts.

O’TALLEY: Of course, you’re right Fr. Brant and Fr. Rott. When I investigated the situation in Hong Kong, I saw many extenuating circumstances. But an evil, even though it can be explained, is still an evil, and must be cured by remedies rather than excuses.

BRANT: I don’t know what you mean by “excuses.” The Dominicans have been in China for over seventy years; the Jesuits longer! We Benedictines don’t have the experience or sufficient personnel for such remedies.

STEELE: We all know China has many missionaries, mostly non-Catholic, but I firmly believe China will be converted by the monastic monk. Don’t forget the success of our apostolic mission in America.

ROTT: But we have only high schools and colleges in America. Benedictines have never established a university before. How can we possibly run a university on the other side of the world?

O’TALLEY: I suggest you study geography and history, Fr. Rott. To expect the Church to thrive on intellectual darkness and illiteracy in China, a country where literary culture and scholarship are universally esteemed as the highest excellence, is absurd.

STEELE: Thank you everyone for your opinions. Thank you, Fr. O’Talley. Brothers, we’ll vote by secret ballot and let God determine the outcome.

SCENE FOUR Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Hong Kong

[MUSIC: Gregorian Chant]

[SFX: Ceremonial bells]

[LEYHEN, APOSTOLIC DELEGATE COSTANI, and O’TALLEY meet in front of the cathedral.]

LEYHEN: Pardon me, Monsignor Costani?

COSTANI: Yes? [Recognizing LEYHEN] Fr. Vincent, is that you? I hardly recognized you! Must you wear a tattered Mandarin gown even in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception? This is Hong Kong, not Tientsin.

LEYHEN: I know, but Monsignor Constani, please meet Fr. O’Talley from America. He is the Benedictine representative from St. Vincent Abbey in America.

O’TALLEY: Monsignor Costani, it is an honor for St. Vincent Abbey to be invited to Hong Kong for the anniversary of the Dominican Congregation in China.

COSTANI: Fr. O’Talley from America? Ah yes, all the bishops in Rome are talking about how the American Benedictines will build a Catholic university in Peking.

O’TALLEY: You heard about the Holy Father’s commission? I regret Archabbot Steele was unable to come; he could explain our –

COSTANI: You Americans will save the Chinese language and literature like the Benedictine monks preserved Latin from extinction in the Middle Ages.

[SFX: Excited women’s voices]

O’TALLEY: Who is that? He looks familiar.

LEYHEN: [Interrupting] Fr. Charday and his following of female fans.

O’TALLE: I’ve heard of him. Is he lecturing in Hong Kong?

COSTANI: I’m afraid not. The Church has censured his lectures and ordered him to continue his paleontology research in Tientsin. We won’t hear Fr. Charday’s ideas about a new humanity in Hong Kong.

LEYHEN: He’ll find Tientsin is fertile ground for an audience.

COSTANI: [Low voice] You must be more cautious, Fr. Vincent. [To O’TALLEY] When will the Benedictine’s embark for China, Fr. O’Talley?

O’TALLEY: The Archabbot chose two Benedictines from St.Vincent Abbey; and they will arrive in July, Monsignor Costani.

COSTANI: I’ll see they are given excellent quarters at Peitang, our Catholic Mission.

O’TALLEY: We appreciate your generosity. I’ll inform Archabbot Steele.

COSTANI: Tell Archabbot Steele the matter is urgent. China needs a Catholic university in Peking. Peking is not a Forbidden City any more; it’s the Education City; there are six and half million students in the heart of Peking.

O’TALLEY: Pardon me, Monsignor, but surely you agree the task is too great for one Abbey? Perhaps we could begin with a high school—

COSTANI: The Holy Father has donated $5,000.00 from his personal account!

O’TALLEY: But—

COSTANI: We’ll meet again in Peking, Fr. O’Talley. Please excuse me.

[SFX: Departing footsteps]

O’TALLEY: He must have meant $5,000,000.00.

LEYHEN: I doubt it; only Rockefeller has that kind of money.

[MUSIC: Gregorian chant]

SCENE FIVE Peking Chinese Opera House

[IMAGES: Chinese opera wall; Mei Lanfang]

[MUSIC: Peking Opera, Mei Lanfang]

[SFX: Theater audience noise]

[XIANGBO MA, YUAN CHEN, and YING meet outside the Opera House.]

CHEN: Hey! Mr. Ying, wait!

[SFX: Running footsteps]

CHEN: They told us at the Peking Post Office you received a telegram from America.

YING: Yes. I have it here. I’m glad to see you Mr. Chen. [To Ma] How are you, Mr. Ma?

MA: I’m curious. Who is it from?

YING: Well, it’s signed, “Fr. O’Talley.”

MA: Hmm, an Irish name. Open it; let’s hear what he wrote.

YING: I’m anxious about what it says.

CHEN: You’ll never know until you read it.

YING: All right. [Reading] Two Benedictines from St. Vincent Abbey in—[hesitates on the names] I need my glasses.

CHEN: Let me read it. [Pronouncing words clearly] . . . Latrobe, Pennsylvania will arrive in July. Expect further word from Fr. Brant and Fr. Rott.

YING: When we wrote our petition to Pope Pius X, I assumed the Church would send us priests from Europe.

CHEN: How long ago was that?

YING: Twelve years.

CHEN: Times have changed.

MA: They’re sending two Benedictines!

[SFX: Applause]

MA: Is Mei Lanfang performing at the Chinese Opera House?

YING: Yes, it’s a farewell performance before his Japan tour.

CHEN: That means another student revolution.

MA: How do you know?

CHEN: Mei always leaves China when one is brewing.

YING: Why does he do that?

CHEN: He’s sympathetic to the student cause, but he won’t be a political pawn in their hands.

MA: I wonder if the world sees China only as Peking Opera?

CHEN: Or a sitting Peking Duck, maybe?

YING: Come to the Fu Jen Society meeting in Hsiang-Shan. I want to make plans for the university curriculum.

CHEN: Why did you name the group “Fu Jen?” “Righteousness preserved” is such an idealistic title.

YING: All hopes are permitted, Mr. Chen.

[MUSIC: Peking Opera]

[SFX: Angry mob voices]

[Two communist AGITATORS interrupt the Peking Opera performance.]

AGITATORS: [Shouting] Down with decadent singers! Stop robbing the people! You’re nothing but a painted fossil! China doesn’t need useless people!

[SFX: Crowd Noise increases]

MA: I fear an evil is destroying the good before it has time to take root.

CHEN: I wonder if it’s too late for “righteousness.”

[SFX: Chinese gong, cymbals]

CHEN: Here comes one of the Y.M.C.A. parades.

MA: The communists are using them as a front for their propaganda.

YING: But they think they’re true patriots parading around with the new China anthem in the streets of Peking.

MA: Let’s go before they pass this way.

[MUSIC: New China Anthem. 1915-1916]

SCENE SIX Archeological Site, near Tientsin

[MUSIC: Chinaman Blues]

[IMAGE: Archeological site]

[SFX: Digging]

[FR. CHARDAY is excavating at Tientsin for evidence of human ancestors. LUCY LANE, an admirer of Fr. Charday is nearby, sculpting a clay model. LEYHEN observes for a while.]

LANE: Fr. Charday, there you are digging for human ancestors like an inspired paleontologist, and I’m supposed to be sculpting a prehistoric human skull without the slightest idea of what one looked like!

CHARDAY: Look at this, Miss Lane: the tooth of Sinanthropus. Buried in the earth for millions of years, it rises from its dusty grave to speak of the unity of mankind and the earth. Behold, the fragment of a total terrestrial consciousness.

LANE: But it’s just one tooth! I need to see the whole head to make an accurate sculpture.

CHARDAY: You must experience the tooth first, Miss Lane, touch it and you will see a vision of the whole.

[SFX: Footsteps on dirt]

LEYHEN: May I interrupt your scientific lecture, Fr. Charday?

CHARDAY: Fr. Vincent! What are you wearing? You look like a beggar! But please join me. I hoped you would come to the excavation site. Meet Miss Lane, my American sculptress in the field.

LEYHEN: How do you do, Miss Lane.

LANE: Quite busy with my model as you can see; er, Fr. Vincent, is it?

CHARDAY: When Rome banished me to Tientsin, I renewed my search for the lost Peking Man and Miss Lane is preparing a model for the museum in Boston.

LEYHEN: They told me at St. John the Baptist School you were digging again. I came over to tell you about a new university to open in Peking.

CHARDAY: And by whom? More Protestants?

LEYHEN: The Benedictines from America.

CHARDAY: Oh, the monastics.

LEYHEN: I thought you might be interested in a lectureship there.

CHARDAY: Rome would never allow that!

LEYHEN: At least you could meet the Chinese committee.

CHARDAY: I couldn’t leave Tientsin. You see, how I’m digging into the heart of things.

LANE: I suggest we have tea together; and anoint our dusty teeth, if you’ll forgive my dry sense of humor, er, Fr. Vincent.

CHARDAY: There, you see, we are evolving in our humanity with the earth and God.

LEYHEN: China is an evolution, Fr. Charday.

CHARDAY: I will name it “cosmogenesis.”

LANE: The tooth? Or tea?

[MUSIC: THEME BRIDGE]

SCENE SEVEN Theater Hall, Peking, May 7, 1924

[MUSIC: Indian Sitar]

[IMAGE: Theatre Hall, Rabindranath Tagore]

[XIANGBO MA, DR. WILLIAM and LYDIA PETRIE, and ALISON WILSON attend the foreign lecture by Bengali poet TAGORE invited by the Crescent Moon Society.]

MA: Master Tagore, since your talk here at the Peking Theater Hall will conclude your tour to China, I would like to introduce you to Dr. and Mrs. William Petrie. Dr. Petrie is director of the North China Language School for foreigners and a highly trained linguist from America.

PETRIE: I’m deeply honored to meet you, Master Tagore. My wife, Lydia, and I were very happy you were awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

TAGORE: In Bengal, my poetry was awakened by British linguist William Carey, Dr. Petrie. I commend your noble mission.

LYDIA: Master Tagore, we enjoyed the performance of your play, Chitra, at Peking Normal University last evening. And our houseguest, Alison Wilson, came with us.

TAGORE: You’re alone in Peking, Alison?

ALISON: Oh no, Master Tagore. I’m visiting my father Commander Wilson. He’s in Chongqing for awhile to build a new road with the U. S. Army Corps on Engineers.

TAGORE: Have you read my original novel of Chitra, Miss Wilson?

ALISON: Oh, yes, Master Tagore, and the English translation of your short stories, Glimpses of Bengali Life. Would you autograph your book for me?

TAGORE: For you, I will sign with my Chinese name given to me by my host, Mr. Ma; it is Zhu Zbendan. I wish you to remember we met in China.

ALISON: Thank you, Master Tagore. I will.

MA: We’d better go to the stage now, Master Tagore.

[SFX: Loud applause]

MA: Distinguished guests, this evening we are aware of the great responsibility we bear in China to the whole mankind; therefore I think there should be a warm spirit of cooperation between India and China. It is the honor of the Crescent Moon Society to welcome Anglo-Indian poet, Master Rabindranath Tagore, on the occasion of his sixty-fourth birthday. Master Tagore we warmly welcome you.

[SFX: Applause]

TAGORE: Thank you, kind friends. Allow me to speak first to the students of Peking. You are like the morning star shining with hope. A new time has come for you to discover your power to free the human soul from the machinery of greed.

[Two Communist AGITATORS interrupt TAGORE’S speech with slogans.]

AGITATORS: [Shouting] Slave of imperialism! You’re too out of date to know anything! Save your breath! We won’t listen to your nonsense.

[SFX: Crowd noise]

TAGORE: Please listen to me. I know some of you are opposed to my poems, because you think they might check your modern enthusiasm for western progress and weapons. You protested when I visited the famous Chinese Opera performer, Mei Lanfang, because you want to discard the beauty of the ideal.

AGITATOR 2: [Shouting] Bewildered dreamer!

TAGORE: True, if you want a man who will help you feed the appetite of the giant of material power, you are mistaken in asking me. I have nothing to teach you here. You already have ten thousand able teachers in the streets; go to them.

AGITATOR 3: [Shouting] Thank you, Mr. Tagore! We already have too many Confuciuses and Mensiuses in China!

TAGORE: I preach the freedom of man from the fetish of hugeness, the non-human.

AGITATOR 1: [Shouting] Servile imperialist! Stick to you poems!

AGITATOR 2: When you can’t manage your own country, don’t meddle in world affairs.

[SFX: Crowd noise]

TAGORE: I have done what I could.

AGITATOR 3: [Shouting] Why don’t you distribute the money from the Nobel Prize to the poor and starving Indians?

TAGORE: What do you want from me?

MA: [Pulling Tagore away] No, no, Tagore; you must not waste yourself. Please come away. I apologize for them.

PETRIE: My driver is waiting with a car, Mr. Ma. We’ll take Master Tagore to the Legation for safety.

TAGORE: No, thank you. If those young communists see me in an American Cadillac, they’ll have enough propaganda for a war! I can go alone.

LYDIA: I wish there were something we could do.

TAGORE. Perhaps another time.

LYDIA: Alison , come dear, your father will be worried.

ALISON: [Staying behind] I’m very sorry, Master Tagore, I met many Chinese students in Peking who admire your poems.

MA: You should leave immediately.

PETRIE: Very well.

[SFX: Confused crowd noises]

ALISON: Is this your fan, Master Tagore? I hope you haven’t left anything behind.

TAGORE: [Sadly] Nothing, except a portion of my heart.

[MUSIC: Theme Bridge]

SCENE EIGHT St. Ignatius Cathedral Shanghai

[IMAGE: Cathedral; Our Lady of China]

[MUSIC: Liturgical organ]

[COSTANI, YING, and MA talk following the dedication of the painting Our Lady of China at the St. Ignatius Cathedral in Shanghai. ALISON and a young artist, LUKE CHEN approach them.]

MA: Fifty Chinese Bishops attended the unveiling of the new painting, Monsignor Costani. Now the holy image of Our Lady of China will hang in St. Ignatius Cathedral to pray for the people of China.

COSTANI: Thank you, Mr. Ying and Mr. Ma for coming to Shanghai for the ceremony.

The Bishops know how much you’ve done for the Catholic mission in China.

YING: But the Protestants are building schools everywhere and still no Catholic university in Peking.

COSTANI: Patience, Mr. Ying. Let’s go outside. I have good news.

[SFX: Footsteps]

[MUSIC: Fade out]

MA: What is your good news, Monsignor Costani?

COSTANI: When we return to Peking, you’ll meet the two Benedictines from St. Vincent Abbey, Fr. Brant and Fr. Rott.

MA: Ah, German names.

YING: We’ll take the train back to Peking in the morning.

[SFX: Hurried footsteps on pavement]

ALISON: Oh, Mr. Ma! Hello, do you remember meeting me at Tagore’s lecture in Peking?

MA: Of course I do, Miss Wilson. Monsignor Costani, this is Alison Wilson; her father is a close friend of Dr. Petrie at the Northern China Language School.

COSTANI: Then your father must be a military officer, Alison.

ALISON: Yes, he’s an officer in the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, but he teaches the Chinese language to other military officers at the Language School for Dr. Petrie because he believes officers must speak the language to perform their duties in China.

MA: Of course, he’s right, Alison, but certain people prefer not to go to Dr. Petrie’s Language School because of the U. S. military presence. I’m sure you understand.

COSTANI: [Interrupting him] You were among the guests attending the dedication of the Our Lady of China painting, I believe. Are you also interested in Catholic art, Alison?

ALISON: Yes, I am Monsignor. And my friend is too. This is Luke Chen. He admires the painting of Our Lady of China very much and asked me if I could introduce him to an art teacher at a Catholic university.

COSTANI: Luke Chen? But I recall seeing an exhibit of your paintings in Peking a few years ago, Luke. You’re already an accomplished artist.

LUKE: Thank you, Monsignor. After seeing the painting of Our Lady of China today, I am inspired to paint scenes from the Catholic bible in a Chinese style.

MA: Are you a Catholic, Luke?

LUKE: No, Mr. Ma, but I believe if I paint the wonders of Christianity according to the ancient rules of Chinese art, the painting will exert a new and unusual effect.

YING: In my Fu Jen Society, we need a master painter to teach Chinese painting.

MA: Could you come with us to Peking, Luke? Later, there may be a chance for you to open a painting class of your own at the new Catholic university of Peking.

COSTANI: It’s settled.

YING: We can discuss it on the train to Peking.

ALISON: Luke, your wish is coming true sooner than you thought. I’ll write to you in Peking. It was nice to meet you, Father.

COSTANI: Perhaps I’ll meet Commander Wilson someday, Alison.

ALISON: I’m proud to be his daughter.

MA: Are you staying in Shanghai, Alison?

ALISON: Yes, I’m studying calligraphy at Aurora University. Good-bye, Luke!

YING: We have much to do before meeting Fr. Brant and Fr. Rott. Monsignor, are you coming with us to Peking?

COSTANI: I’ll travel with Bishop Jarline. I’m sure it’ll take two of us to persuade the Benedictines not to delay the university.

YING: Our Lady of China will do that for us.

MA: Give my regards to Bishop Jarline, Monsignor, and tell him I’ve settled my dispute with the Jesuits over Aurora.

COSTANI: Good.

[SFX: Rickshaw sounds]

SCENE NINE Shanghai Harbor

[MUSIC: 1920s popular music]

[IMAGE: Mei Lanfang]

[SFX: Harbor noises]

[MEI LANFANG responds to questions from REPORTERS as he prepares to board the ship to Japan. ALISON is among them]

[SFX: Excited crowd]

REPORTERS: Mei Lanfang! Why disappoint your fans in Shanghai by sailing to Japan? Tell us your secret, Mei! Why do you always play women’s roles? Yeah! Why do you dress in women’s clothes on the stage?

MEI: Here is the secret. Only a man can appreciate a woman’s beauty.

[SFX: Laughter]

ALISON: Mr. Mei, show everyone the fan Master Tagore gave you for your birthday.

MEI: The great Indian poet Tagore honored me with a fan inscribed with this poem I will treasure forever: “You are veiled, my beloved, in a language I do not know. As a hill that appears like a cloud behind its mist.”

[SFX: Applause]

[Two communist AGITATORS appear from the crowd to taunt Mei.]

AGITATORS: [Shouting] Imperialist pet! Useless puppet! Relic of the past! Foreign Fake! You belong in Japan. China doesn’t need people like you.

[SFX: Angry crowd noise]

[SFX: Ship horn]

[MUSIC: Theme Bridge]

SCENE TEN Peitang Catholic Mission in Peking

[IMAGE: Peitang]

[MUSIC: Gregorian chant]

[FR. BRANT reads aloud a letter he is writing to Archabbot Steele.]

BRANT: Fr. Rott, listen while I read our letter to the Archabbot. [Reading aloud] “Right Reverend Archabbot: Fr. Rott and I are securely lodged in the Catholic Mission in Peking. It’s quite safe behind very high walls. Please don’t insist we attend the Language School; it will only upset our hosts. Mr. Ying and Mr. Ma promise to find us a tutor soon. Ever since our arrival in Peking, we have heard nothing else but the founding of a Catholic university. Our plan to start a high school first was rejected outright by the Monsignor Costani and Bishop Jarline. They suggested no Chinese students would attend any school less than a university.” [Pausing] Well, Fr. Rott, do you think I’ve made our position clear?

ROTT: [Quietly] Yes, but is the Archabbot willing to understand? Fr. Brant, please ask him to mail my books.

[MUSIC: Gregorian chant]

SCENE ELEVEN Tientsin Excavation Site

[IMAGE: Drawings of human face]

[MUSIC: Chinaman Blues]

[SFX: Digging]

[SFX: Cold wind]

[CHARDAY digs. LEYHEN sips tea. LUCY LANE is sculpting as before.]

LEYHEN: Hot tea keeps a body warm even out in this cold wind.

[SFX: Teacup to saucer sound]

LANE: I’ll pour another cup for you, er, Fr. Vincent.

[SFX: Pouring sound]

LEYHEN: Thank you. Don’t you find it difficult to sculpt outside? I’m sure you have a studio in America.

LANE: Yes, but Fr. Charday’s work is here; and I’m creating a sculpture for the evolution of man museum in Boston.

[SFX: Sound of dropped shovel]

CHARDAY: Look, I uncovered a second tooth!

LEYHEN: Another archeological prize for you, Fr. Charday.

CHARDAY: I’ll name it, “The Fossil’s Revenge!”

LEYHEN: Or “The Resurrection of the Body!” Every hope is permitted.

LANE: I’ve finished my sculpture, Fr. Charday. What do you think?

LEYHEN: An astonishing likeness!

CHARDAY: You have been sculpting a model of me, Miss Lane?

LANE: Yes, Fr. Charday, a tribute to our friendship and your contribution to the science of the human mind.

[SFX: Packing sounds]

LANE: I’m taking the train to Shanghai in the morning. Let’s meet in Boston at the award ceremony for your honorary doctorate, Fr. Charday.

CHARDAY: Oh, Rome would never allow that!

LANE: Then, good-bye, er, Fr. Vincent. There’s more tea. I’ll expect your letters, Fr. Charday.

LEYHEN: Good-bye, Miss Lane. Come back to China when the revolution is over!

[SFX: Digging]

CHARDAY: I’m sure the skull of Peking Man is buried somewhere under here.

SCENE TWELVE Chicago Automotive Office Building

[IMAGE: 1920s Chicago skyscrapers; Cadillac 1924 red model]

[MUSIC: George Gershwin music]

[STEELE enters the offices of THEODORE MACMANUS, wealthy journalist and Catholic philanthropist. The SECRETARY greets him.]

SECRETARY: Good morning, Archabbot Steele. Mr. MacManus is expecting you. Please sit down. He’ll be here in a few minutes.

STEELE: Thank you.

SECRETARY: Is this your first trip to Chicago?

STEELE: Yes, it is.

SECRETARY: Did you ever see so many automobiles?

STEELE: No, not even in Pittsburgh.

SECRETARY: They’re all here: Cadillac, Chrystler, Dodge, and Mr. MacManus writes the advertisements for all of them. Did you see this one in The Saturday Evening Post?

[SFX: Magazine page turn]

STEELE: No, I seldom read The Post.

SECRETARY: It’s inspiring. [Reading] “If the leader truly leads, he remains the leader. Master poet, master painter, master workman; each in his turn is assailed and each holds his laurels through the ages. That which is good or great makes itself known, no matter how loud the clamor of denial. That which deserves to live – lives.”

[SFX: Buzzer]

SECRETARY: Oh, excuse me. [Answering] Yes, Mr. MacManus. Yes, Archabbot Steele is here. I’ll tell him. [To STEELE] Mr. MacManus will see you.

[SFX: Door opens]

MACMANUS: Fr. Steele, welcome to Chicago. I read your letter about founding the Benedictine university in Peking. Come into my office where we can discuss the matter. [To SECRETARY] Hold my calls.

SECRETARY: Yes, Mr. MacManus.

[SFX: Door closes]

STEELE: As I mentioned, the Pope has laid the mantle of responsibility on the American Benedictines to found the first Catholic university in Peking. This marks a new spirit in the Vatican mission to China.

MACMANUS: Yes, I know. I read the Vatican news closely. My wife Alice and I are planning to build a stone church of St. Hugo on our family estate at Stonycroft and we hope to have the Pope’s blessing.

STEELE: I’ll do every thing in my power to communicate your wish to the Holy Father.

MACMANUS: I appreciate your help, Fr. Steele, and I’m very sympathetic toward your project, but doesn’t it seem dangerous for the Benedictines to go to Peking especially now? You know the emperor Pu-Yi has been expelled from the capital by General Feng?

STEELE: Yes, we heard the news at St. Vincent Abbey. I planned to be in Peking by November, but my trip was delayed until the fighting stops.

MACMANUS: What will you do in the meantime?

STEELE: Rome charges us with a mighty task, Theodore, and for this reason authorizes me to appeal for aid from all the faithful in America. I don’t need to tell you how our non-Catholic competitors in China have richly endowed universities. To vie with them, we must muster all the resources at our command. Rome insists that the university be a genuine one, in every respect.

MACMANUS: How can I help you?

STEELE: To start with, we have to purchase property in Peking for the university.

MACMANUS: I’ll donate $85,000.00 right now; I’d like the MacManus name to be represented favorably in China. The U. S. State department has given us a black eye as a result of the new Immigration Act.

STEELE: I deeply appreciate your generosity, Theodore. And I’ll make certain the Pope is informed of your gift.

MACMANUS: Alice asked me to invite you to Stoneycroft this weekend for some rest. I’m sure you need it.

STEELE: Thank her for me, but I do have to hurry back to St. Vincent. I’m very concerned about Fr. Brant and Fr. Rott whom we sent to China. Apparently they left Peking soon after their arrival and we haven’t heard from them.

MACMANUS: I’d be interested to know if the Chinese people have seen the1924 Landau model Cadillac; it’s red.

STEELE: You’ll hear from me. Good-bye, my friend. You’ll never know how much this means to me personally.

MACMANUS: Don’t forget St. Hugo.

STEELE: Of course not. Didn’t he say, “That which deserves to live—lives.”

MACMANUS: [Chuckling] It does!

[MUSIC: Theme Bridge]

SCENE THIRTEEN Catholic Mission in Kaifeng

[MUSIC: Nun’s Gregorian chant]

[IMAGE: Pagaoda in Kaifeng]

[BRANT and ROTT read a telegram from Archabbot Steele.]

BRANT: Fr. Rott, just listen to this telegram from the Archabbot. [Reading] “Dear Fr. Brant, leave high school in Kaifeng. I insist you return to Peking immediately. Don’t substitute anything for the university. Obedience! I am coming.” Archabbot

ROTT: Does the Archabbot know what’s happening? I’ve already started teaching at Pei Wen Catholic Academy. Here we can found a feeder school to train young Catholic men. And for another thing, it’s far away from the fighting in Peking.

BRANT: The Archabbot has completely knocked the wind out of my sails. I never wrote him we want to “substitute” Pei Wen Academy for the university in Peking.

ROTT: The Bishop in Kaifeng has welcomed us! Write to him again.

BRANT: Telegrams take six weeks. There’s no time. I’m afraid he’s on the way to Peking.

ROTT: But it’s impossible for us to travel to Peking now. The roads are closed. Refugees are living in the Bishop’s houses!

BRANT: We’re stranded. Perhaps the Bishop knows when travel restrictions will be lifted; let’s go talk to him.

ROTT: The Sisters of Charity have asked me to serve Mass for them this evening.

BRANT: Then, I’ll go alone.

ROTT: Forgive me, Fr. Brant. But, I won’t return to Peking. I’d rather stay in Kaifeng.

[MUSIC: Gregorian chant]

SCENE FOURTEEN Peking Railway Station

[IMAGE: International Train draped with US and other foreign flags]

[SFX: Train Station noises]

[PETRIE says good-bye to LYDIA; ALISON and SR. HELENA from the Sisters of Charity is with them. The U.S. Marines ordered all foreign women to leave the Peking Legation for their safety. The women are waiting to board the International Train to Shanghai.]

PETRIE: Lydia, Alison, don’t worry. The U. S. Marines always send the foreign women to Shanghai when fighting breaks out in Peking. The International Train is prepared for that purpose and Sr. Helena from the Catholic Mission will accompany you. Where is the Sister?

LYDIA: I asked her to go back for my coat, William.

PETRIE: The hotel in Shanghai answered my cable; they’ll have rooms for you when you arrive.

LYDIA: Shouldn’t I pack up the pieces we’ve collected for the museum?

PETRIE: The Legation is the safest place for them, Lydia. Commander Wilson and the Marine Guard are stationed here.

LYDIA: Then, you could come to Shanghai soon, William?

PETRIE: I’ll stay with Commander Wilson in case he needs interpreters or other support. General Wu and General Feng have made Peking their battlefield.

ALISON: [Anxious] Peking looks very different now. Everything is changing so fast.

[SFX: Mob sounds]

AGITATORS: [Shouting] Down with foreign missionaries! Kick the foreign devils out! Down with imperialists! Down with capitalists.Give China back to the Chinese! Abolish foreign railroads!

[SFX: Running woman’s footsteps]

HELENA: [Shouting] Dr. Petrie!

LYDIA: [Worried] It’s Sr. Helena!

PETRIE: [Quickly] What happened Sr. Helena?

HELENA: Looters are running wild, Dr. Petrie. I managed to get your coat from the shop, Mrs. Petrie, but some of the rioters tried to steal it and I ran as fast as I could.

PETRIE: Where’s your American flag, Sister? The flag is your safety badge. You must carry one at all times.

ALISON: Here, Sister. Take this one. My father gave me several. Did you happen to see Luke Chen at the Legation, Sister Helena?

PETRIE: He’s with Fr. Costani, Alison. They’re making plans for a Chinese art course when the new Catholic university opens.

[SFX: Train whistle]

PETRIE: There’s the International train now with British and American flags draped over the engine. Hurry, you have a soft berth, one with beds. Sleep when you can, but be alert to gunfire along the tracks.

LYDIA: Good-bye, William!

HELENA: I’ll look after them, Dr. Petrie, and God will look after me.

PETRIE: Thank you, Sister.

ALISON: Where will the Catholic university be located?

PETRIE: I’m helping the Benedictine’s to lease the palace of Prince Tao in the old section of Peking. We’ll visit it when you come back.

LYDIA: I’ll wire you when we arrive at the hotel, William.

[AGITATORS enter and see them boarding the train]

AGITATORS: Over there! Death to foreign missionaries! Kill! Kill!

ALISON: Look out, Dr. Petrie!

[SFX: Train moving out of station]

LYDIA: William!

PETRIE: Don’t get off the train until you reach Shanghai!

AGITATORS: Go home! Go home! Go home!

[MUSIC: Theme bridge]

SCENE FIFTEEN Prince Tao Estate in Peking February 1925

[IMAGE: Palace grounds of Prince Tsai Tao]

[SFX: Garden and fountain]

[PETRIE introduces STEELE and O’TALLEY to PRINCE TAO. YING is with them.

PETRIE: Your Highness Prince Tao, thank you for inviting us to your palace. May I introduce Professor Ying Chih Lien and his supporters from America, Archabbot Steele who will be Chancellor of the new university and Fr. O’Talley who will serve as Rector.

STEELE: Prince Tao, I am very impressed by your palace gardens. Here is an atmosphere of pure refinement very suitable for the new Catholic university.

TAO: Gardens are my hobby, but to you, they are an escape from the anarchy in Peking.

PETRIE: Prince Tao and I became friends during his visit to America last year. I told him about my narrow escape at the Peking train station.

TAO: Mr. Ying, I see you’re wearing a black armband. Are you in mourning?

YING: Yes, Your Highness, my wife passed away recently.

TAO: I’m very sorry. It’s kind of you to bring one of your calligraphy scrolls for me to carry to America.

O’TALLEY: Are you traveling to America, your Highness?

TAO: Yes, Dr. Petrie has made arrangements for me.

PETRIE: Prince Tao is convinced the nationalists will destroy his palace if he remains the owner. Therefore, he accepts the Benedictine’s offer of $85,000.00 and a permanent lease on condition the Benedictines preserve the original Chinese architecture and landscape.

O’TALLEY: Most assuredly, Prince Tao. It is to be the Chinese Catholic University of Peking founded by the Benedictines who preserved Latin in the Middle Ages.

STEELE: I appointed Mr. Ying, Dean of the MacManus Academy of Chinese Studies, Your Highness. The Chinese name is Fu Jen She, the same as his former study group.

TAO: You are a true patriot, Mr. Ying.

O’TALLEY: Mr. Ying is translating the Rule of St. Benedict into Chinese for us.

YING: I desire no credit; I could not do otherwise. You see, in doing this work I fulfill the dream of a lifetime, and by an inner compulsion I am unable to give to it anything less than all that is in me.

[MUSIC: Theme]

SCENE SIXTEEN Gothic Cathedral

[IMAGE: St. Benedict]

[MUSIC: Gregorian chant]

VOICE: Pupils, what is the Rule of St. Benedict?

YOUNG CHORUS: If, perchance, any difficult or impossible task be required of a brother, let him receive the order with all meekness and obedience.

YOUNG CHORUS: If, however, he sees that the gravity of the task is altogether beyond his strength, let him quietly submit the reasons for his inability to his Superior, without pride, protest, or dissent.

YOUNG CHORUS: If, however, after his explanation, the Superior still insists on his command, let the younger be convinced that it is good for him; and let him obey from love, relying on the help of God.

TEACHER VOICE: This is the penalty of piety.

[MUSIC: Gregorian chant]

THE END

Penalty of Piety: The Benedictine Beginning of Fu Jen Catholic University

By Llyn Margaret Scott