Marian devotion
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The church of Our Lady of Lourdes of Zhuoxi was born so that the inhabitants of a mountain community would not have to walk to Yuli to participate in the mass. Sixty years after its construction, about a thousand faithful gathered to thank that history of evangelization, perseverance and service within the Bunun people.
Chinese name: 卓溪露德聖母
Place: Zhongzheng Road 3, village and municipality of Zhuoxi, Hualien.
Initiation of the regional mission: 1953.
Church construction: 1959.
First important restoration: posterior a 1975.
Jurisdiction: Catholic diocese of Hualien, pastoral area of Yuli.
Preferred originating people: bunun.
Ecclesial status: parish and Marian pilgrimage place.
Special designation: Gate of Mercy at the 2016 Jubilee.
Party holder: February 11.
Walk to Yuli to celebrate the faith
In 1953, Father René Louage of the Foreign Missions of Paris began Catholic evangelization from Yuli. Zhuoxi still had no church and its inhabitants had to walk the distance to the parish of Yuli to attend Mass.
When Father Yu Fa-kuang took pastoral care, he sought donations abroad and received the support of the diocese. In 1959, the church of Our Lady of Lourdes was able to rise in the community of Zhongzheng. Their origin therefore responds to a concrete need of the faithful and to their desire to celebrate faith in their own territory.
Restore an old house
Father Yu returned ill to France in 1975 and was succeeded by Father Chia Shih- lin. The walls of the church were damaged and disconnected. The new priest used his savings and asked for help from relatives and friends from abroad to restore the building.
After Father Chia's death in 2011, the parish was entrusted to local priests. In February 2019 the diocese celebrated the sixty years of the church with the bishop, numerous priests and about a thousand faithful. The celebration put evangelization - not the building alone - at the center of memory.
Lourdes in a bunun community
The advocation refers to the apparitions recognized by the Church in Massabielle in 1858. Mary called prayer, penance and conversion, and presented herself as the Immaculate Conception. Zhuoxi receives that spirituality, but does not claim that there would be a new apparition here.
Faith is lived within a bunun community with language, family ties and traditions of its own. The history of the sanctuary must be told by recognizing its inhabitants as protagonists and avoiding reducing indigenous identity to a picturesque note.
Centre of a mountain network
Since Zhuoxi, many communities and chapels have been served or have been articulated: Lunshan, Taiping, Zhongping, Zhuole, Gufeng, Luntian and Shiping. Some have their own Marian titles and should be studied as separate places when their history and coordinates can be verified.
The parish seat also has community services. Recent public records identify in their direction a day-care centre, a sign that the ecclesial presence continues to be linked to the social accompaniment of the population.
Pilgrimage and mercy
The designation as the Gate of Mercy during the 2016 Extraordinary Jubilee made the sanctuary a diocesan destination for reconciliation, prayer and reception of the sacraments. This condition was temporary; it should not be presented as a privilege in force forever.
St. John Paul II recalled that Lourdes leads to Christ and especially approaches the sick and suffering people. In Zhuoxi, pilgrimage also means remembering those who walked for years to Yuli and thanking the perseverance with which they built a closer church.
Verified location
Hualien's directory and public records confirm Zhongzheng Road 3, Zhuoxi. The search for the official name and address places the enclosure in 23.3486183, 121.3084462. The marker corresponds to the parish seat and sanctuary, not the center of the municipality or its dependent chapels.
To visit
It is an active cult community in a mountainous indigenous municipality. It is appropriate to confirm schedules and accessibility, respect the celebrations and ask for permission before photographing people. The visit should not be separated from the listening and respect due to the Bunun people.
Prayer to Our Lady of Lourdes
Our Lady of Lourdes, accompanies the Bunun people of Zhuoxi and those who walk the roads of these mountains. Remember before your Son the sick, the older and the families; strengthen those who support the smaller communities. Make this sanctuary a school of conversion, mercy and service. Amen.
Sources consulted
- Diocese of Hualien: official historical chronicle of the sixtieth anniversary.
- Diocese of Hualien: direction and parish network.
- GCatholic: parish and sanctuary status.
- GCatholic: Gate of Mercy in 2016.
- Hualien Government: current address and community service.
- St. John Paul II: ecclesial sense of the message of Lourdes.
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