明末西方傳教士入華，不僅引入了新宗教、科學及西方文化，而且還改變了中國本土術語的含義。傳教士雖然採用儒家的術語，但通過重新定義與再詮釋，而賦予儒家術語以新的含義，並逐漸演變成了天主教的專門術語。本文即以「聖」及相關術語為例，討論明末清初天主教有關「聖」的言說，及其所帶來的語義流變。文章首先梳理西方基督教的聖人崇敬傳統，然後討論「聖」在漢語中的語義流變，重點討論明末清初天主教有關「聖」及相關術語的再詮釋，並討論由此引發的士大夫的反彈。漢字「聖」的轉化及天主教相關術語的形成，可被視作明末清初「新觀念」形成的典型案例。

During late Ming and early Qing dynasties, Western Missionaries not only introduced new religion, science and western culture into China, but also changed the meanings of some Chinese terms. Although missionaries used Confucian terms, they brought new meanings to these terms by redefining and reinterpreting them, and they gradually became the exclusive terms of Catholicism. With the case study on the Sheng (Holy) and related terms, this article tries to explore Catholic discourses on the term Sheng and its semantic changes during late Ming and early Qing. It firstly illustrates the tradition of saints’ worship in western Christianity. Then it discusses the semantic changes of Sheng in Chinese since pre-Qing period. It focuses on the reinterpretation of the Sheng and related terms in Catholic texts and the response to them by anti- Catholicism. The change of meaning of the Chinese character Sheng and the formation of Catholic terms related to it, could be regarded as a typical case of new ideas which were introduced and explained by missionaries in late Ming and early Qing.