Document signed twice.

4to. 3 pp. on bifolium. In Latin. Sealed twice. An oath renouncing the practice of the Chinese rites, as required by the Papal Bull "Ex Quo Singulari" (1742), taken by François Le Chartier (1717 - after 1760), priest of the Missions étrangères de Paris (M.E.P.) destined for China, and co-signed by Carlo Francesco Durini in his office of Apostolic nuncio in France. The oath was sworn on the Bible, and a form signed in one's own hand ("manu propria") had to be produced as evidence. Most of these documents are co-signed by church officials or superior friars as witnesses to an oath sworn in their presence ("in manibus meis"), in this case the nuncio Durini. The document was amended with a rare abridged version of the oath, again written and signed by Le Chartier and signed and sealed by Durini. - Little is known of François Le Chartier, who was born in Avranches and entered the M.E.P. seminary in 1741. Soon after taking the oath, Le Chartier embarked on his voyage to East Asia. Although originally destined for missionary work in China, the procurator in Macau decided instead to send him to East Tonkin (Vietnam), due to the severe persecutions of missionaries in mainland China. There, Le Chartier took over a district near Hanoi and later worked with bishop Louis Néez, Vicar apostolic of Western Tonkin, preparing ordinands. Due to a serious illness, Le Chartier returned to Macau in 1757, hoping he would be able finally to do missionary work in mainland China after his recovery. However, due to his poor condition, the procurator Olivier-Simon Le Bon decided to send him back to France, where he died some time after 1760. - During the early years of their mission to East Asia, the Jesuits led by Matteo Ricci accommodated Catholicism to Chinese customs and Confucian practice in important ways, both for political reasons and in hopes of attracting more converts. Criticism of this syncretism is as old as the Chinese rites themselves, and Ricci's direct successor Niccolò Longobardo attempted to change course, which led to his replacement as provincial. When Dominican and Franciscan missionaries entered China, they reported critically to Rome on the Jesuit practices. A first condemnation was decreed by Pope Clement XI in 1704 and confirmed in the 1715 Bull "Ex Illa Die". In "Ex Quo Singulari", Pope Benedict XIV re-affirmed "Ex Illa Die" and required all missionaries in East and South-East Asia to take the oath renouncing the practice of Chinese rites and similar accommodations to local beliefs and religious practice. - Co-signed by a secretary named Joseph or Giuseppe Finali. - Well preserved.