The month of May is Our Lady’s month and Christians suddenly become pilgrims rather than tourists as they flock in their tens of thousands to Marian shrines throughout the whole of the Christian world.
An extremely large number travel to Lourdes, France; others go to Fatima, Portugal or to Ireland to honour Our Lady of Knock, to Poland to venerate the famous Black Madonna of Czestochowa; Italians are partial to Loreto and in the Americas thousands go to Mexico to pray at the beloved shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
A Marian shrine is usually a place where the faithful and the Church believe Our Lady has appeared or where some miracle or other supernatural event has taken place through the intercession of the Holy Mother, whom the Chinese like to call Our Lady.
May is also Our Lady’s special month in China. May is the time when Chinese Catholics take to the waterways in their sampans or make their way up mountaintops by the tens of thousands to pray at shrines dedicated to Our Lady.
27 May, 2004
CHINA
China’s Marian shrines
Hong Kong (AsiaNews/Sunday Examiner) - The month of May is Our Lady’s month and Christians suddenly become pilgrims rather than tourists as they flock in their tens of thousands to Marian shrines throughout the whole of the Christian world. An extremely large number travel to Lourdes, France; others go to Fatima, Portugal or to Ireland to honour Our Lady of Knock, to Poland to venerate the famous Black Madonna of Czestochowa; Italians are partial to Loreto and in the Americas thousands go to Mexico to pray at the beloved shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
What is a Marian shrine?
A Marian shrine is usually a place where the faithful and the Church believe Our Lady has appeared or where some miracle or other supernatural event has taken place through the intercession of the Holy Mother, whom the Chinese like to call Our Lady.
May is also Our Lady’s special month in China. May is the time when Chinese Catholics take to the waterways in their sampans or make their way up mountaintops by the tens of thousands to pray at shrines dedicated to Our Lady.
Marian shrines in China
China has a number of Marian shrines. There is the shrine of Our Lady of Bliss situated in the hills north of Guiyang, the capital of Guizhou province in southwestern China. This shrine is reputed to be at least 200-years-old. It was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution and since it was reopened in 1980, has attracted numerous devotees of Our Lady annually. There is the new shrine in Fuzhou, opened on 30 April 1993 on top of the hill in Longtian village near Fuzhou city, Fujian province. This shrine is dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary and called Rosary Villa. The title given to the shrine is reminiscent of the fact that the Dominicans, who were in Fujian province before Liberation, had dedicated the area to Mary of the Rosary. A statue of Our Lady, a gift from Italy, stands in the middle of the Chinese style pavilion on the shrine grounds. The shrine is used as a place for priests’ retreats and for group pilgrimages. It was set up by Fuzhou’s elderly bishop to promote unity and community in the Catholic Church.
On 1 May 1994, the famous Marian shrine adjacent to the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes in Qingyang township in Nanjing diocese, Jiangsu province, reopened after having been closed for some 55 years. Tens of thousands of pilgrims were drawn to the site.
In 1901, according to Old Catholics, Our Lady of Lourdes appeared in Qingyang and healed many of the sick. The Church bought a piece of land and built a church where Our Lady is said to have appeared and it immediately became a popular pilgrimage site. The building was bombed by the Japanese in 1939 and was later turned into a factory. It still functions as a factory today. However, in 1993, some 200 metres from the original site, construction began on a new church. Some 40,000 of the faithful attended the blessing of the new church on 1 May 1994. Regular pilgrimages resumed in 1995 with people coming from Wuxi, Shanghai and all the nearby dioceses. There are, however, two shrines that stand out in a very special way: the Marian shrine in Donglu and the Marian shrine at Sheshan.
Our Lady appears in China
In 1900, China reported three apparitions: one in Beijing in which Our Lady was accompanied by St. Michael the archangel who, in turn, was surrounded by multitudes of angels. A second apparition involved a weeping statue of Our Lady in the village of Santai during the Boxer Rebellion. The third apparition occurred in Donglu. Donglu is about 40 kilometres from Baoding in Hebei province, and it is one of the strongholds of the unofficial Catholic Church in China. Witnesses recount that a beautiful lady, recognised as Mary, appeared in the skies. The Catholics implored Our Lady to save them from their enemies and their city from destruction. In thanksgiving for Our Lady’s protection over the city of Donglu during the Boxer Rebellion, a beautiful church was built in her honour. It was meant to serve as a constant reminder to the people of Mary’s loving and motherly protection. The pastor, at the time, secured a painting of the Dowager Empress Ci Xi dressed in imperial robes.
He commissioned an artist to use it as the background for the image of Our Lady holding the Christ Child. The picture was hung in the Church of Donglu, which eventually became a famous place of pilgrimage.
The shrine at Donglu
People began coming to the shrine in Donglu in 1924, but the first official pilgrimage took place in 1929. By 1932, the location had become such a popular pilgrimage site that Pope Pius XI approved it as an official Marian shrine. Since 1929 tens of thousands of pilgrims have made their way up the hill to the shrine, especially in the month of May.
The miracle of the sun
On 23 May 1995, pilgrims witnessed another phenomenon. Over 30,000 Catholics from the unofficial Church had gathered for Mass at the Donglu shrine. It was the vigil of the Feast of Our Lady, Mary Help of Christians, a favourite of Chinese Catholics. There were four bishops of the unofficial Church concelebrating the Mass and nearly 100 unofficial priests standing in the open field, all eager to honour Our Lady in a special way during her special month. Suddenly, during the opening prayer and again during the consecration, the people observed the sun spinning from right to left. Light rays of various shades emanated from the sky. The people, mesmerized by the phenomenon, could look directly at it without blinking. Suddenly from the centre of the sun people saw what they later described as an apparition. Some beheld the Cross; others said they had seen the Holy Family. Still others had seen Our Lady holding the Infant Jesus while others claimed they had seen the Sacred Host. People, overwhelmed by the vision, suddenly became conscious of their sinfulness and began to cry out, “Holy Mother, forgive me my sins,” or “Holy Virgin Mary, have pity on us your children.” The phenomenon of the sun changing colors, approaching and then retreating while radiating various hues, lasted for about 20 minutes.
The government’s response
Needless to say, the government has not been terribly enthusiastic about having thousands upon thousands of people gather anywhere. This is all the more threatening when the gathering involves religion and people of the unofficial Church. The Public Security Bureau, the agency in charge of keeping watch over the unofficial Catholic community, periodically flexes its muscles to prevent anyone from going on pilgrimage to Donglu. In 1995, when tens of thousands of pilgrims flocked to Donglu for the Feast of Mary Help of Christians on May 24, the Public Security barred all pilgrims from joining anyone on the hill. The police forced people back into buses and trains without offering any explanation. Still, thousands successfully reached the area by finding alternative ways to get there. As many as 100,000 participated in the celebration.
Again in 1996, an official announcement forbade anyone from going to the Donglu shrine. This time two reasons were given for the prohibition: it was an illegal gathering and it was bad for social stability. Teams of Public Security agents as large as 500 strong were dispatched to all the villages surrounding the Donglu area and to towns all over Hebei Province. As they travelled around, they tried to force the members of the unofficial community to join the Patriotic Association and to do away with unrecognized religious premises such as Donglu. Priests in the towns and villages were ordered not to leave their residences and were forbidden to preach from May 13 until further notice. Lay people were also forbidden to leave their villages. Parents were not allowed to take their children to church or to wear any religious objects.
Against all odds
It seems no amount of pressure can dull the enthusiasm of Catholics intent on honouring Our Lady at the Donglu shrine. Every May, regardless of prohibitions, tens of thousands of pilgrims make their way up the steep hill, either in silence or reciting the rosary or singing hymns to praise one who is truly their mother and protector.
The shrine at Sheshan
In June 1989, Pope John Paul II prayed that the Virgin of Sheshan Help of Christians, would look kindly on “the beloved Chinese people.” This remark by Our Holy Father indicates the importance of this shrine as a symbol of Christian renewal in China. Sheshan, with its “nine peaks above the clouds” is situated about 35 kilometres from Shanghai city. Its forest of bamboo, its scenic winding paths and running brooks are a fitting location for communing with God and Our Lady. The mountain, according to legend, gets its name from a hermit named She who centuries ago, lived atop the mountain.
In 1866, the Church in Shanghai built a hexagonal pavilion and placed within it an altar and a statue of Our Lady. Five years later, the Jesuits built a church at the summit of the mountain and dedicated it to Our Lady Help of Christians, opening it in 1873. In 1924, the bishops of China consecrated the nation to Our Lady and following the consecration they made a pilgrimage to Sheshan. Work on a basilica began in 1925 and was completed 10 years later. This church was the first basilica in all of the Far East and it became China’s favourite pilgrimage site. During the Cultural Revolution the beautiful bronze statue of Our Lady at the pinnacle of the basilica disappeared and other religious symbols, including the altar and the stained glass window were all virtually destroyed. A replica of the bronze statue of Mary holding up the Christ Child was finally re-installed on top of the tower in the year 2000. Some 10,000 believers paid for it. Pilgrimages to the shrine resumed in 1979.
Every year since then, pilgrims by the thousands have flocked to Sheshan. In 1990, the first pilgrimage of the decade saw 30,000 Catholics coming to Sheshan for Our Lady’s feast. The elderly and the young made the long steep climb from the foothills of the mountain to the summit as a testimony of their love and devotion to Our Lady. One large group of pilgrims are the fisherfolk of Jiangnan who, from earliest times, sailed up the Yangtze, carefully steering their craft through the canals surrounding the foothills of the mountain. Every year, they come, moor their boats and spend three days and nights at Sheshan to implore Our Lady’s help for the future and to thank her for favours received. But they are only a small group compared to the thousands from all over China who come to pay tribute to their heavenly mother in whom they place so much of their trust.
http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=872
27 May, 2004 CHINA
At Dong Lu shrine devotion to Mary seen as union with Rome
Beijing (AsiaNews) – This year –as has been the case the last 9 years –Chinese Catholics have been prohibited from making pilgrimages to Dong Lu (Hebei), where there has been a national shrine dedicated to Our Lady of China since 1926.
AsiaNews sources said police warned all the village’s inhabitants not to conduct formal public ceremonies and have banned them from hosting Christian pilgrims traveling there from other parts of the country. In recent years the village's festival dedicated to the Virgin Mary has attracted thousands of faithful and hundreds of priests from all over China. An underground bishop said that so far in the first half of May only a few Catholics have been able to get past police security controls, yet were only able to pray privately in homes and not at the sanctuary itself.
“It’s impossible to visit Dong Lu, since police stop anyone coming there from outside the village,” the bishop said. “And security checks are even tighter in May.”
Only the village's 2500 official resident Catholics were able to gather at the shrine, where there is a large statue of Mary holding the baby Jesus dressed in imperial clothing. The village's Patriotic church Catholics were led by auxiliary bishop Su Changshan of Baoding.
The sanctuary in Dong Lu was instituted after Chinese bishops approved it during a Synod held in Shanghai on May 12, 1924. The Synod was of great importance for evangelizing in China, since the meeting also passed policies along the lines of enculturation and localization of Church practices and preaching. The Marian shrine in Dong Lu is part of this scheme of inculturation.
Thanks to the efforts of the then papal nuncio, Celso Costantini, the Vatican agreed to ordain the first Chinese bishops and to change the course of studies at China's seminaries, integrating western Christian theology with traditional Chinese philosophy. In 1932 Pope Pius XI approved Dong Lu as a pilgrimage destination. Because of this link to a papal decision, Catholic pilgrims have always experienced the trip to Dong Lu as an expression of fidelity to Rome. The Shanghai Synod and its importance for China is remembered in another Marian shrine, the Sheshan sanctuary.
Last May 8 (the feast of our Lady of China) 5000 faithful gathered for Mass at the Basilica of Our Lady Help of Christians. The bishop of Shanghai Jin Luxian recalled the work of Celso Costantini during his homily given on that occasion.
http://www.cardinalkungfoundation.org/articles/miracle.htm
The Cardinal Kung Foundation
A Miracle?
Date Published: Summer 1995
Supernatural Celestial Phenomenon Witnessed at the Shrine to Our Lady of Dong Lu in 1995
What can only be described as a supernatural phenomenon was witnessed by about 30,000 underground Catholics and the majority of the concelebrants on May 23, 1995. These faithful had gathered at the Marian Shrine of Dong Lu in the Province of Hebei, China, to attend a Holy Mass concelebrated by four underground bishops and about 110 underground priests in an open field. During the opening prayer of the Mass and the consecration of the Holy Eucharist, the congregation and the majority of the concelebrants witnessed and were comforted by a supernatural phenomenon of the sun in motion. Many compared the incident to the miracle of the sun at Fatima.
As described by several witnesses, and confirmed by the Bishop of the Diocese, the sun suddenly lost its overpowering brightness so that the people gathered could look directly at the sun with ease. The sun spun alternatively to the right and to the left. The center of the sun was covered by a white host, with the sun's circumference surrounded by multiple layers of colors. Rays of various colors emanated from the sun. With the passing of the minutes, the sun changed colors, first to yellow, then red, blue, and followed by other colors. Subsequently, people saw different apparitions in the core of the sun: a holy cross, the Holy Family, Holy Mary, and the Holy Eucharist. At times, the sun would approach the crowd and then retreat. People were heard crying out: "Holy Mother, have pity on us, your children", "Holy Mother, please forgive my sins", and other expressions.
The congregation was so transfixed at the phenomenon that when they witnessed the changing colors of the sun, the whole congregation spontaneously shouted and applauded with joy: "Yellow, red, blue..." This lasted about twenty minutes, when followed by a sudden white ray, the sky returned to normal.
This phenomenon happened on the vigil of the feastday of Mary, Helper of Christians. On this day, we pray especially to Our Lady for her miraculous victory over the evil one.
There are two nationally famous Marian shrines in China, Dong Lu in Boading and Sheshan in Shanghai. While the Shrine of Our Lady of Sheshan in Shanghai is now unfortunately controlled by the Patriotic Association, the Shrine at Dong Lu remains firmly with the loyal underground Roman Catholic Church. With the exception of the Cultural Revolution, Catholics, since 1924, have journeyed every May from all areas of China to Dong Lu to pray before the Blessed Mother of Christ.
Since the communists came to power in China, pilgrimages to Dong Lu have been unauthorized, considered an illegal religious activity. These pilgrimages often involve months of preparation under grave risks. Every obstacle has been deployed by the government to stop this annual pilgrimage. Still, tens of thousands of people braved the physical abuses, roadblocks, and other restrictions to pay their respects. During May, all roads leading to Dong Lu were blocked by the government. Tickets for all modes of public transport to Dong Lu and neighboring towns were selectively sold to only officially deemed non-Catholics . Those caught driving to Dong Lu would have their driver's license revoked. Yet, multitudes of loyal underground Catholics, over 100,000 in 1995, arrived at Dong Lu.
The Roman Catholic Church is loyal to the Pope, and has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist government and forced to go underground since 1949. These persecutions still continue today. The Roman Catholic Church is illegal in China and is commonly referred to as the underground, loyal, clandestine, or suffering Roman Catholic Church.
In contrast, the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association (CCPA) was established by an atheistic Chinese Communist Government. It continues to reject the Pope's authority and is not recognized by the Roman Pontiff. All CCPA bishops are appointed by the Chinese Government and are ordained without the Pope's approval.
In recent years, the CCPA presented itself to the free world as the "Catholic Church in China", causing great confusion in the west while generating enormous financial support from unsuspecting, well intentioned Catholics in US. and Europe.
In union with other Roman Catholics worldwide, underground Chinese Catholics pray to Mary during the month of May. This year, well over one hundred thousand people knelt and prayed, keeping a 24-hour vigil, before the statue of Holy Mary. After 40 years of religious persecution, they could no longer control their emotions and love for Mary. Kneeling at the feet of their mother, Mary, many cried openly and poured their hearts out. They had finally come home. They were desperate for Mary's intercession. They prayed privately such as:
"Mother of the Church and queen of China. Have pity on your children! Keep the suffering Church in China in your heart, show solicitude for our sufferings, our weaknesses, and our needs. Do not leave us. Protect and direct us so that we may not fall into the snares of the devil. Grant us the courage to continue our struggle. Dear Mother, we beg you to look after the Church in China."
It would appear that Holy Mother this year has come to comfort her children at Dong Lu, rewarding them for their enormous sacrifice and risk in taking this pilgrimage, with a spectacular, supernatural statement in the sky.
In his signed statement about this phenomenon, the underground Bishop, His Excellency Most Reverend Su Zhimin, Bishop of Baoding, Hebei, China, whose jurisdiction includes Dong Lu, expressed his belief that the Holy Mother has:
1. Manifested her great power to strengthen the faith of the pilgrims, because many of them had to overcome various immense obstacles to be at Dong Lu;
2. Reaffirmed that the Church who is faithful to the Pope is the true Catholic Church, supported by God; and
3. Asked us to repent and return to God.
