Anecdotes about the Virgin Mary

"Our Lady of Sheshan: The Helper on the Hill of Shanghai"

Sheshan, Shanghai (China) (1873)

On Sheshan Hill, just outside Shanghai, stands the grand Basilica of Our Lady of Sheshan, China's principal Marian shrine and a beloved pilgrimage site for Chinese Catholics. There, the Virgin Mary is venerated as Mary Help of Christians, with an image depicting her holding the infant Jesus aloft.

The devotion dates back to the 19th century. After a period of hardship for Catholics, the Jesuits working in the region promoted the construction of a chapel on the hill around 1873, as a sign of trust and gratitude to the Virgin Mary. Over the years, that first chapel evolved into a larger basilica, completed in the early decades of the 20th century, which today crowns the summit of Sheshan.

Sheshan is above all a place of pilgrimage and prayer for the Church in China, especially in May, the month dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Pope Benedict XVI composed a prayer to Our Lady of Sheshan and proposed May 24 as a World Day of Prayer for the Catholic Church in China, which has strengthened the international profile of the shrine.

It is important to distinguish between documented and devotional aspects. The history of the shrine is well documented: the chapel of 1873, the construction of the basilica, and its role as a national pilgrimage center. Specific accounts of favors received and the life of the shrine during difficult times are known primarily through testimonies; details not found in identifiable sources should be treated with caution. There is no evidence of a specific original link with the Rosary, although Marian prayer, including the Rosary, permeates the pilgrimages, especially in May.