Our Lady of China

Marian Advocation of China (China)

La advocación de Our Lady of China is identified, in recent Catholic historiography, with the devotion born around Donglü/Donglu (Hebei) and with the Chinese Marian title Mother of China/ Holy Mother of China ("Holy Mother of China" or "Mother of China"), linked to an apparition during the lifting of the boxers in 1900. The local tradition refers that the Virgin appeared with the Child Jesus in arms to protect the persecuted Catholics, although that core belongs to the plane of the devotional tradition and not to an exhaustive, first-hand ecclesiastical documentation.

Main data

Origin and history

La advocación de Our Lady of China is identified, in recent Catholic historiography, with the devotion born around Donglü/Donglu (Hebei) and with the Chinese Marian title Mother of China/ Holy Mother of China ("Holy Mother of China" or "Mother of China"), linked to an apparition during the lifting of the boxers in 1900. The local tradition refers that the Virgin appeared with the Child Jesus in arms to protect the persecuted Catholics, although that core belongs to the plane of the devotional tradition and not to an exhaustive, first-hand ecclesiastical documentation.

La documented history shows that devotion was progressively consolidated in the 20th century. According to various Catholic synthesis, 1908 a painter of Shanghai was commissioned an image of the Virgin of Donglü, and in 1924during the First Council of the Chinese Catholic Church, he was named "Queen of China”. En 1932, Pius XI raised the sanctuary of Donglü to the official place of pilgrimage; that papal consideration explains why the place was particularly associated with the fidelity of Chinese Catholics.

The image and the sanctuary

The imagen if it presents a habitual como Virgin with the Child, stylized as emperatriz china, with garments and bearing of the imperial iconography; that visual inculturation seeks to express the Marian faith in Chinese language. In the sources consulted it is described as a devotional image of strong spread between Catholics from China and the diaspora, but no con seguridad in these sources the exact material of the original image and a complete technical sheet of the current piece.

The main sanctuary associated with this advocation is that of Donglü, en la diócesis de Bading, Hebei province. The sources present it as the only Catholic temple in China with official pilgrimage site category granted by the Holy See in 1932; instead, no consta in the sources provided which are minor basilica or national sanctuary.

Sponsorship and coronation

The patronage associated with this advocation is прежде all national and ecclesial: if you present it National Marian icon of Chinese Catholics and as a sign of the Church's communion in China. In the sources consulted does not contain a documented canonical coronation.

Party and devotion

The party appears in the sources with a certain variation: the Second Saturday después de Pentecostes and, in some calendars, 12 May. It is also indicated that the shrine of Donglü concentrates a particularly large pilgrimage May 24, date of Maria Auxiliadora, deeply rooted in Chinese Catholic piety.

The devotion is characterized by the pilgrimage, the memory of the 1900 persecution and the identification of Mary as the protector of the believing people in China. The sources do not provide reliable data of quantified inflow; they do emphasize the symbolic importance of the place as an expression of fidelity to the Holy See and continuity of the Catholic faith in Chinese context.

Link to the Rosary

A specific and exclusive historical link between Our Lady of China and a specific rosarian prayer or brotherhood. However, as in other Marian advocacy, the Rosary It naturally accompanies this devotion because it contemplates the mysteries of Christ with Mary and strengthens the spiritual reading of the history of the Church in China, marked by trial, maternal intercession and hope.