Our Lady of Lourdes de Luzhuang - Marian Sanctuary of the Diocese of Xianxian

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The village of Luzhuang owes its own name to Lourdes. He was born next to a place of prayer chosen by missionaries who remembered the French sanctuary and, from 1901, has been the common Marian destiny of the diocese of Xianxian. Destruction, a flood and decades of prohibition did not end the pilgrimage: the community rebuilt the church and the Marian hill in a new village.

The Rosary by the Ziya River

In 1879 the French Jesuits Hoefel and San Pablo Denn, martyred in 1900 and canonized among the holy martyrs of China, they worked in Fangeda, by the Ziya River. One day in May they walked with the rosary to a small elevation near the old pier. The water, the trees and the landscape reminded them of Lourdes, in France, and there they prayed together.

That simple gesture was repeated. A decade later, the land was acquired with the intention of raising a Marian place, although the violence of the Boxer rebellion interrupted the project. After the persecution, Catholic families who had sought refuge in Fangeda decided to settle by the hill.

A village called Lourdes

The Church bought land for families, raised a church and a school and gave the new settlement the name of Luzang, literally "village of Lourdes." The toponym is also written today, with a first different character but similar pronunciation; the Catholic sources normally retain the religious writing of Lourdes.

In May 1901, the superior Jesuit Ma Zexuan led there to the clergy and seminarians, consecrated the new church and entrusted the diocese to the Virgin. When he was appointed bishop that same year, he formally established Luzhuang as diocesan sanctuary and set the pilgrimage on the second Sunday of May.

The grotto and the great pilgrimage

The influx grew from Beijing, Tianjin, Baoding, Shandong and Henan. In 1926 the Jesuit provincial Joseph Subtil recommended the construction of a Marian Grotto. The apostolic delegate Celso Costantini supported the project during his visit in 1927 and the Grotto de Lourdes was consecrated in May 1928.

The traditional day began with a procession from Fangeda, accompanied by litany and singing. The Eucharist was held before the Grotto; in the afternoon there was a Eucharistic procession and, at night, a march with candles inspired by Lourdes. The sanctuary was thus linked to Marian prayer, the Rosary and the worship of Christ in the Eucharist.

War, flood and displacement

In July 1939, during the Japanese occupation, Luzhuang and six other churches were burned. The pilgrimage fell and the last great call of that stage was held in 1953. The following year the Ziya River broke its defenses and flooded the village; its inhabitants moved outside the dam and built the new Luzhuang.

During the Cultural Revolution, veneration was prohibited and Marian hill was destroyed. The memory remained in the families. In 1980, when the feast of Lourdes was held again in a simple church of the new village, thousands of faithful came spontaneously.

The Reconstructed Sanctuary

In 1983 Bishop Liu Dinghan and parish priest Liu Jingfu established the sanctuary within the new village and recovered the May pilgrimage. The Marian hill was rebuilt in 1988. Since then, groups of many provinces and also Catholic visitors from abroad have returned.

Contemporary vitality is well documented. In 2003 an assembly of the Rosary brought together more than 17,000 people; in 2013 more than 10,000 pilgrims participated and in 2014, despite the rain and mud, about 8,000. The 14 May 2017 Bishop Li Lianguì consecrated the new church of the sanctuary, built during the previous year.

The sense of advocation

Luzhuang does not claim to be the place of a new apparition. His advocation prolongs devotion to Our Lady of Lourdes born in France and incarns it in the concrete history of Hebei. The grotto, the white image of Mary and the pilgrimages remember Lourdes' call to prayer, conversion and trust in God.

Verified location

The fountains place the sanctuary in Luzhuang, municipality of Guxian, city of Hejian, next to Fangeda and to the north of the new Ziya River. The Chinese street identifies the village with the UID cac5fc7621fc1cf32cb96dc8 and focuses it, once the coordinates BD-09 are converted to the WGS-84 system, around 38.47847, 116.45536.

This is the point of the village's administrative centre, not the church. In the aerial photography, about 400 meters south-east, the religious building shown by the 2014 chronicles is distinguished: a long ship with red cover, a clear facade of pointed vanos and a large explanade for pilgrims. The marker is set on that ship in 38.47509, 116.45757 (WGS-84). The shape, the square, the size, the position within the village and contemporary photographs make it possible to verify the enclosure.

Spirituality of Our Lady of Lourdes of Luzhuang

The history of Luzhuang shows a devotion that can take root and rise again. The water destroyed the old village, the war burned its buildings and the persecution brought down the hill, but the Rosary remained alive in the families.

Mary leads here to her Son. The Marian processions lead to the Eucharist and trust asks to become service: together with the sanctuary a work of care for the elderly has been working since 1997, continuing the compassionate dimension associated with Lourdes.

Prayer to Our Lady of Lourdes of Luzhuang

St. Mary, Our Lady of Lourdes, who accompanied the community of Luzhuang through war, flood and persecution, keeps the families of Hebei and the diocese of Xianxian. Hold the sick and the elderly, strengthen those who rebuild their lives and always bring us Jesus, a source of mercy and peace. Amen.

Sources consulted

• Diocese of Xianxian: extensive history of origin, grotto, destruction and recovery of the sanctuary.
• Diocese of Xianxian: diocesan pilgrimage of 2013.
• Diocese of Xianxian: consecration of the new church in 2017.
• Faith Press / Xinde: pastoral preparation for the May 2009 pilgrimage.
• Diocese of Xianxian: itineraries and geographical relationship between Luzhuang, Fangeda and the Ziya River.
• Directory of care: center of care for the elderly of Luzhuang and its location in Guxian.

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