Marian devotion
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On the mountain plateau of Luona, one of the largest communities in the village Bunun of Taiwan, there is a church dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes. The devotion received from the universal Church has been welcomed here within a community with its own language, memory and life.
Chinese name: The Holy Mother of Rona Luther.
Place: 142-3 Xinbi Lane, village of Luona, Xinyi, Nantou County.
The beginning of the Catholic mission: 1956.
First meeting place: 1957.
First church of Lourdes: 1961-1962.
Current temple: built by the community in 1999.
Jurisdiction: Catholic diocese of Taichung.
Lengua litúrgica habitual: bunun; mandarin on the last Sunday of the month.
Patron party: around February 11.
Special condition: Jubilee church in 2016 and 2025.
The Catholic Faith in Luona
The stable Catholic evangelization began in 1956, in an environment where Protestant Christian communities already existed and where the linguistic difference made the mission difficult. As the faithful increased, a first meeting place was set up in 1957. The diocesan directory dates the parish of Our Lady of Lourdes in 1961, while academic research places the construction of that first church in 1962.
The community then gathered its efforts and external assistance to lift the current building in 1999. This story avoids presenting the inhabitants as passive recipients: the parish was built, sustained and transmitted by Luona's own faithful.
The Virgin of Lourdes on the land Bunun
The advocation refers to the apparitions recognized by the Church in 1858 to Saint Bernardita Soubirous, in the Grotto of Massabielle, France. Mary became known as the Immaculate Conception and called for prayer, penance and conversion.
Luona does not claim to be a new place of apparition. His name expresses the local adoption of the spirituality of Lourdes. Next to the temple there is a Marian grotto inspired by Massabielle, a space where the community can present to God its diseases, hopes and needs.
Liturgy, language and community
The diocese regularly publishes Sunday Mass in a bunun language and reserves the last Sunday of the month for the Mandarin. Fairs, confession, Eucharistic worship, child catechesis, youth group and visits to the sick are also announced. These data show that the temple is not a mere cartographic reference: it articulates an active believing community.
The presence of the bunun in the liturgy retains the language as a vehicle of prayer and allows the Gospel to be expressed from the identity of the people. True inculturation does not erase that identity, but purifies it and makes it able to offer its gifts to the whole Church.
Lourdes, the sick and hope
St. John Paul II recalled that the message of Lourdes leads to the mystery of the Immaculate Conception and that the grotto became a place of prayer, especially close to the sick and suffering people. The February 11 party also coincides with the World Sick Day.
In 2025 the diocese celebrated the Day of the Sick in Luona next to the patron's feast. Thus, the invocation is translated into a concrete responsibility: to accompany, visit and support those who go through disease, solitude or fragility.
Verified location
The official directory offers the address 142-3 Xinbi Lane, Luona. The 7QM2JVHC + 9C mapping code focuses on 23.6284375, 120.8710625. The marker corresponds to the parish of Luona, in Nantou, and not to other Taiwanese temples dedicated to Lourdes.
To visit
It is a place of worship within a living indigenous community. It is appropriate to confirm the times with the parish, ask for permission before photographing people or celebrations and approach without turning the cultural expressions bunun into a show. The published Sunday Mass begins at 10: 00, but the hours can change.
Prayer to Our Lady of Lourdes
Our Lady of Lourdes, accompanies the Bunun people of Luona and those who go up to these mountains seeking comfort. Take to your Son the sick, their families and those who care for them. Teach us to pray with humility, to convert the heart and to respect the gifts that God has sown in every people and every tongue. Amen.
Sources consulted
- Diocese of Taichung: parish, direction, language and time of veneration.
- Diocese of Taichung: institutional directory and year of foundation.
- Diocese of Taichung: extensive history of the parish.
- Chengchi National University: research on Luona, mission and reconstruction.
- GCatholic: location and retirement appointments.
- St. John Paul II: ecclesial meaning of the message of Lourdes.
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