Our Lady of China

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mosaic of Our Lady of China tympanum at the National Shrine of Our Lady of China Meishan (梅山鄉) CHIAYI, Taiwan

Our Lady of China (Simplified Chinese: 中华圣母, Traditional Chinese: 中華聖母, pinyin: Zhōnghuá Shèngmǔ) is the name given to an apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Donglu, China, first appearing in 1900.

An officially sanctioned image of Our Lady of China was blessed, granted and promulgated by Pope Pius XI in 1928, in response to the requests made by the 1924 Shanghai Synod of Bishops in China, the first national conference of bishops in the country. Following the event, Archbishop Celso Costantini(剛恆毅), Apostolic Delegate in China, along with all the bishops of China, declared the Chinese people dedicated to Our Lady of China, using the official image. In 1941, Pope Pius XII designated the feast day as an official feast of the Catholic liturgical calendar. In 1973, following the Second Vatican Council, the Chinese Bishops conference, upon approval from the Holy See, placed the feast day on the vigil (day preceding) of Mothers Day (the second Sunday of May).

Christian devotion to Our Lady of China has been popular in Donglu.

Several churches, chapels, and pastoral centers around the world, predominantly those focused on ministry to Chinese-speaking Catholics, have adopted the name, including a mission in Washington, DC [1]. There is a mosaic of Our Lady of China in the National Shrine of the United States in Washington, DC, established and dedicated in 2002 under the Most Rev. Michael J. Bransfield [2]. There has been some controversy because the image used in the Chapel is not the officially approved image of Our Lady of China, but instead uses the image of Our Lady of China and Baby Jesus painted by John Lu Hung Nien. The late Cardinal Thomas Tien Keng-Hsin, the first Chinese Cardinal, used this image for the prayer card for the persecuted in China, which was widely promoted in the U.S.A. and Canada. Critics have accused John Lu Hung Nien's image of the Virgin Mary, of resembling the Buddhist bodhisattva Guan Yin.

The Our Lady of Sheshan is another, similar apparition which has attained like acclamation and fame among Chinese Christians.

Now in the Philippines, in the Chapel of Our Lady of China now in Binondo Church in the district of Binondo, Manila near in Manila Chinatown, Santa Maria Parish Church in Iloilo City and Sacred Heart (Chinese) Church in Cebu City with the other devolties from the local Filipinos and the Chinese Filipinos to praying to the church of Our Lady of China here in the Philippines.

References

• http://www.cardinalkungfoundation.org/articles/newsletter/christmas_greetings2002.htm
• A history of Our Lady of China of Donglu (in Chinese)
• http://www.udayton.edu/mary/resources/olchina.html
• http://www.udayton.edu/mary/questions/yq2/yq328.html
• http://www.catholicculture.org/docs/doc_view.cfm?recnum=3172