By Gianni Criveller
Pope Benedict XVI established the day of prayer for the Church in China in 2007 with his letter to Chinese Catholics. It was celebrated for the first time the following year when he composed a special prayer for Our Lady of Sheshan.
Unfortunately since 2008, authorities have prevented many from accessing the shrine during the month of May.
In 2020, due to the Covid-19 coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic, the shrine was closed. A year later, the amusement parks are open for the public, but not the shrine due to pandemic restrictions. The trust of Chinese Catholics in Mary’s help has not diminished despite the difficulties. In fact, there were difficult moments in the past when Catholics experienced the protection of the Mother of God. And, honouring that, I would like to offer here a brief description of Marian devotion in China.
Our Lady of the Eastern Syrian Church
Christianity was brought to China in 635AD thanks to the missionaries of the Eastern Syrian Church. Coming from Seleucia-Ctesiphon, the metropolitan seat of the Assyrian Church (near present-day Baghdad), they reached Xi’an, then the capital of China.
They began translating Christian texts into Chinese, just as Buddhist monks were translating the sutras of the Buddha’s teaching into Chinese. Chinese Buddhism came out with Guanyin, the popular goddess of mercy, which is somewhat similar, both from an iconographic and doctrinal point of view, to the figure of the Virgin Mary.
Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci, entered the Forbidden City in Beijing, in January 1601. He presented 16 gifts to the Wanli emperor, including a copy of the image of Maria Salus Populi Romani, traditionally attributed to St. Luke. Ricci himself was very devoted to the Madonna. As a child, he had visited the shrine of the Holy House in Loreto, not far from Macerata, Italy.
The Madonna of the Franciscans
Roman Catholicism arrived in Beijing in 1292 thanks to Franciscan missionary John of Montecorvino and other Franciscan missionaries who followed him. A portrait of Madonna with Child, dated 1342, was found with other Christian cultural objects in the city of Yangzhou. The Madonna was portrayed in Chinese style.
The Madonna by Matteo Ricci
Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci, entered the Forbidden City in Beijing, in January 1601. He presented 16 gifts to the Wanli emperor, including a copy of the image of Maria Salus Populi Romani, traditionally attributed to St. Luke. Ricci himself was very devoted to the Madonna. As a child, he had visited the shrine of the Holy House in Loreto, not far from Macerata, Italy.
Thousands of faithful, including four bishops and 100 priests, reported that on 23 May 1995, on the eve of the feast of Mary Help of Christians, an extraordinary movement of the sun took place at the Donglu shrine. The reported event would make people think of the “miracle of the sun” in Fatima on 13 October 1917.
Donglu’s story
Two images and shrines of Our Lady are most loved by Chinese Catholics. They are both dedicated to Mary Help of Christians as both shrines originated from Mary’s intervention to protect Christians. Donglu’s story begins in 1900 during the Boxer Rebellion.
The Catholic village of Donglu, 40 kilometres from Baoding in the province of Hebei, was surrounded by thousands of rioters ready for a massacre. The 700 faithful and their priest invoked the Virgin Mary, certain that their death was imminent.
The Catholic chronicles then narrate that a woman surrounded by light appeared, making the rebels withdraw. A church was built to thank the Virgin Mary for her protection. An image of the Dowager Empress Cixi in imperial dress was used as a model to portray the Madonna and Child.
In 1924, the bishops of China, gathered for the Synod of Shanghai and established Donglu Church as a shrine. In 1932, Pius XI approved the cult and the shrine. Destroyed by the Japanese in 1941, the shrine was rebuilt between 1989 and 1992 and dedicated to Mary Help of Christians.
Thousands of faithful, including four bishops and 100 priests, reported that on 23 May 1995, on the eve of the feast of Mary Help of Christians, an extraordinary movement of the sun took place at the Donglu shrine. The reported event would make people think of the “miracle of the sun” in Fatima on 13 October 1917.
Our Lady of Sheshan
The story of Our Lady of Sheshan begins in 1863 with the purchase by the French Jesuits of the hill of Sheshan. On 1 March 1868, the bishop of Shanghai consecrated the chapel and blessed the image of Our Lady Help of Christians, modelled after Our Lady of Victory in Paris.
In September 1870, the bloody revolt of the Tai Ping Army arrived in Shanghai and the Catholic community was in grave danger. The superior of the Chinese Jesuit community, Father Gu Zhensheng, vowed to build a Marian church on top of Sheshan Hill if the Virgin Mary would protect them. And so it happened. On 24 May 1871, in the presence of thousands of faithful, the new church was initiated. It was consecrated in 1873.
Father Gianni Criveller of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions is dean of studies and a teacher at PIME International Missionary School of Theology in Milan, Italy. He taught in Greater Chinafor 27 years and is a lecturer in mission theology and the history of Christianity in China at the Holy Spirit Seminary College of Philosophy and Theology in Hong Kong.
