Back from Shanghai
That was much too short of a trip. I'll have some more posted by the weekend, but one of the highlights for me we getting to see that fantastic work-in-progress, St. Ignatius Cathedral.
A very special xie xie goes to Adam who took some time out of his incredibly busy schedule with travel and deadlines to make sure we received a proper introduction to the beautiful St. Ignatius Cathedral. Since photographs are not allowed inside the church you will need to follow that link to get a glimpse of what you, too, could see if you visit the Cathedral. Adam also was kind enough to walk us around the church property in that area and talk a bit about the history of the church in that area. I wish we all had more time yesterday. I need to go back to Shanghai and read the window descriptions in more detail. As Adam wrote about in his article in the Atlantic, the windows of the Cathedral are being replaced from Cultural Revolution clear (like via the Jesuit website above) to stunning stained glass. This is a project that will take years, but what has been completed already is quite stunning. On the ground level (there are three levels of windows in this 100-year-old gothic church), the windows show a story from the gospel, symbols appropriate to the story that also have meaning in China (for instance, an abacus for the story of the money changers), and a four-character summary of the gospel story. Reducing these stories to essentially four syllables has not been easy for Bishop Jin. Adam noted that for some of them the Bishop has had to reach deep into the Chinese language and has used characters that aren't easily read by average Chinese people. An example of these windows can be found via the link above, but directly here. The artist, Wo Ye, has done some magnificent work.
In addition to the Cathedral, Adam gave us a brief introduction to the Catholic world and history of Shanghai. At one time, the entire Xujiahui area was Church property. It was the headquarters of the Jesuit operations throughout China. In one of the surviving Church structures (that has been returned to the Diocese of Shanghai), there hangs a picture of the area in 1930. There were convents and seminaries and schools and colleges, all run by the Jesuits.
In the immediate area of the Cathedral, stand structures owned by the the Diocese, old and new.
The Diocesean headquarters. This includes apartments for all the diocesan priests that are an easy commute from the Cathedral.
Before Wo Ye started making the windows for the Cathedral, she had to train the sisters in her workshop, so they made several stained-glass windows for the diocesan building, including these of flames for the cafeteria.
Near the Cathedral is (probably) the oldest European building in Shanghai. Built in 1847, this was the main Jesuit library for China. It continues to house an amazing treasure-trove of books and documents that remarkably survived the 20th century in Shanghai, but especially the Cultural Revolution. This includes a hand-written Latin to Chinese dictionary. Wow. One look at this building, too, made me wonder if I took a wrong turn and ended up in New Orleans.
This building across the street from the Cathedral is one of the last remaining old properties in the immediate area. It was originally a convent, and immediately after the Cultural Revolution it housed all the remaining priests and nuns on separate floors, with the first floor dedicated to a pillowcase factory. I can't even imagine the hardships and uncertainty they faced living there. Needless to say, as soon as they were free to do so, none of them lived there. Currently the diocese rents this out to a restaurant.
I am just so grateful to Adam for taking time with us to give us this introduction to this side of Shanghai. He's a great guy, and it was so refreshing to meet a young, single American man in China that isn't into any of the things most of the foreign men I meet here are into, if you know what I mean. Really, Adam doesn't just write about the Church, he even goes to church. And he put up with a certain Mylenator who needed to test the echo chamber that is the Cathedral.
A very special xie xie goes to Adam who took some time out of his incredibly busy schedule with travel and deadlines to make sure we received a proper introduction to the beautiful St. Ignatius Cathedral. Since photographs are not allowed inside the church you will need to follow that link to get a glimpse of what you, too, could see if you visit the Cathedral. Adam also was kind enough to walk us around the church property in that area and talk a bit about the history of the church in that area. I wish we all had more time yesterday. I need to go back to Shanghai and read the window descriptions in more detail. As Adam wrote about in his article in the Atlantic, the windows of the Cathedral are being replaced from Cultural Revolution clear (like via the Jesuit website above) to stunning stained glass. This is a project that will take years, but what has been completed already is quite stunning. On the ground level (there are three levels of windows in this 100-year-old gothic church), the windows show a story from the gospel, symbols appropriate to the story that also have meaning in China (for instance, an abacus for the story of the money changers), and a four-character summary of the gospel story. Reducing these stories to essentially four syllables has not been easy for Bishop Jin. Adam noted that for some of them the Bishop has had to reach deep into the Chinese language and has used characters that aren't easily read by average Chinese people. An example of these windows can be found via the link above, but directly here. The artist, Wo Ye, has done some magnificent work.
In addition to the Cathedral, Adam gave us a brief introduction to the Catholic world and history of Shanghai. At one time, the entire Xujiahui area was Church property. It was the headquarters of the Jesuit operations throughout China. In one of the surviving Church structures (that has been returned to the Diocese of Shanghai), there hangs a picture of the area in 1930. There were convents and seminaries and schools and colleges, all run by the Jesuits.
In the immediate area of the Cathedral, stand structures owned by the the Diocese, old and new.
The Diocesean headquarters. This includes apartments for all the diocesan priests that are an easy commute from the Cathedral.
Before Wo Ye started making the windows for the Cathedral, she had to train the sisters in her workshop, so they made several stained-glass windows for the diocesan building, including these of flames for the cafeteria.
Near the Cathedral is (probably) the oldest European building in Shanghai. Built in 1847, this was the main Jesuit library for China. It continues to house an amazing treasure-trove of books and documents that remarkably survived the 20th century in Shanghai, but especially the Cultural Revolution. This includes a hand-written Latin to Chinese dictionary. Wow. One look at this building, too, made me wonder if I took a wrong turn and ended up in New Orleans.
This building across the street from the Cathedral is one of the last remaining old properties in the immediate area. It was originally a convent, and immediately after the Cultural Revolution it housed all the remaining priests and nuns on separate floors, with the first floor dedicated to a pillowcase factory. I can't even imagine the hardships and uncertainty they faced living there. Needless to say, as soon as they were free to do so, none of them lived there. Currently the diocese rents this out to a restaurant.
I am just so grateful to Adam for taking time with us to give us this introduction to this side of Shanghai. He's a great guy, and it was so refreshing to meet a young, single American man in China that isn't into any of the things most of the foreign men I meet here are into, if you know what I mean. Really, Adam doesn't just write about the Church, he even goes to church. And he put up with a certain Mylenator who needed to test the echo chamber that is the Cathedral.
Comments