Our Lady of the Joy of Caoshan (Guiyang, China)

Marian devotion

Where is he?

The shrine of Our Lady of Joy - also translated into sources such as Our Lady of the Jubile or Our Lady of the Beatitude - is located on the hills north of Guiyang, capital of the province of Guizhou, in southwestern China. The research report of the Australian Refugee Review Court reproduces a news from AsiaNews that identifies the place as a Marian sanctuary of the Guiyang hills. The map's coordinate is located in the town of Guiyang, not in the shrine building: OpenStreetMap has not provided for this lot an unequivocal geometry of the enclosure and therefore the tab declares the accuracy of the location.

Documented history

The archived source describes the sanctuary as a place to which at least two centuries old are attributed. This antiquity appears as a reputation transmitted by the news, not as a founding date demonstrated by a complete historical record. The same source states that the site was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution and reopened in 1980. From that reopening he would have attracted many devotees of the Virgin every year. These data document the public memory of the sanctuary and its devotional continuity; they do not allow to be filled with names of founders, constructive dates or architectural details that do not contain.

Marie de Nazareth includes in her relationship of Chinese Marian churches and sanctuaries a reference to Kwei-Yan - Guiyang - as the place of Our Lady of the Regocijo and Mother of Tsao- Shan. The Caoshan / Tsao- Shan form reflects different transcripts of the name. The tab retains the clearest name for the Spanish reader and keeps the Chinese reference as an identification data, without converting an orthographic variant into two different sanctuaries.

Tradition and Legend

The local tradition retains the ancient sanctuary and the perseverance of the devotees after reopening. There is no individualized local Marian apparition, a list of seers or an approved miracle story. The expression "Our Lady of Joy" is presented as a title of veneration and not as an affirmation that the Church has recognized a supernatural phenomenon. When the sources do not require the origin of the advocation, the right thing to do is to leave it in "no record."

Ecclesial State

The state is recorded as permitted veneration in a limited sense: the sources consulted describe a Marian sanctuary and the public devotion of Catholic faithful. It does not contain a specific decree approving an apparition, a miracle or a private revelation linked to Caoshan. The presence of a place of worship and the pilgrimage do not in themselves amount to a declaration of supernatural.

Anecdotes and stories

The destruction during the Cultural Revolution and the reopening in 1980 are the best documented episode of the recent history of the sanctuary. The resumption of visits after a period of prohibition and destruction expresses the resistance of a believing community, but does not authorize the addition of annual figures or individual testimonies that the archived documentation does not identify. The record records this memory with respect and separates the historical fact transmitted from the devotional interpretation.

Prayer

Our Lady of the Joy of Caoshan, pray for the Church to pilgrim in China, for those who kept faith in times of trial and for the families of Guizhou. Intercede before your Son Jesus that we may receive a true joy, founded on hope and service. Amen.

Sources

• Refugee Review Tribunal Australia, China - Catholics, Sodality of Our Lady and Marian congregations (2008), pp. 4-5: reference to the shrine of Our Lady of Joy to the north of Guiyang and its reopening in 1980.
• Marie de Nazareth, China: Kwei-Yan / Guiyang, Our Lady of the Regocijo and Mother of Tsao- Shan.
• Wikidata Q192271, Guiyang: coordinate of the town used only as a cartographic reference, not as an exact location of the sanctuary.

Documentary extension

The most specific written reference for Caoshan comes from a report from the Refugee Review Court of Australia summarizing information on Catholic communities in China. The report places the sanctuary of Our Lady of Joy in the hills north of Guiyang and says that it was attributed an antiquity of at least two hundred years. The formulation is prudent: it is a historical reputation collected by a secondary source, not a date of foundation verified by a search of the building.

The same source reports that the sanctuary was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution and that, after its reopening in 1980, it again attracted devotees. This data explains the recent continuity of the pilgrimage, but does not allow to calculate the number of visitors or to rebuild each stage of the compound. Nor does it convert the history of the sanctuary into approval of apparitions, cures or messages. The fact sheet retains the distinction between the existence of a Marian place of worship and the lack of a specific pronunciation on supernatural.

For this reason the map uses the Guiyang coordinate as a location reference. The archived source does not identify a building with unambiguous geometry and the point has not been moved to a specific hill by memory approach. If a subsequent cartographic source identifies the sanctuary, the accuracy can be reviewed without altering the story already published.