Sacred Heart Church Mentougou
It's Mid-Autumn Festival (aka Mooncake festival) so Randy has three days off from work. We're spending the next three days doing the things we love to do, hiking and tracking down history in the Beijing countryside.
Today our Grand Plan was to go to Changyucun (again!) immediately after lunch this time so that we could make the two-hour hike from the village to the Great Wall and back down again before dark. However, in paying overzealous heed to our GPS Karen's commands, Randy made a premature left turn. Once we realized it, it was too late to turn back. We could still make Changyucun, even continuing on the road we were on or turning back, but we had already lost enough time that our hike would be abbreviated. We decided to enjoy our drive through the mountains.
It wasn't long before we passed a sign that indicated we had passed into Mentougou District. I had a thought....would we possibly be near a particular old church, Sacred Heart, in that same district. Ignoring the cost, I went online on my phone and found the name of the village--Housangyu. We were actually very close to this little ancient village, so we set it as an interim destination point.
Arriving in Housangyu, it was not hard to find the church. The village is on a hill, backed by higher hills and mountains. All we had to do was look for the cross.
We parked just below the church, next to these ancient walls. I have to wonder if they might be part of the church property, because in front of them were bulletin boards, the kinds of which I've seen all over China that might contain daily news or public health education posters, but on these were Church news and pictures of Jesus. I could have asked someone, but we never know what our limits are and what is acceptable for a foreigner in this situation.
We walked up the narrow lane, coming to the outer door of the church, and then entered the courtyard.
An elderly woman bent over her cane greeted us warmly and with her free hand waved us to go into the church. It was open, to my surprise.
In several of the smaller churches I've attended or visited these past few years (Nantou, Yanzikou, Yongning, probably others, too) I've loved to see how the daily Mass-goers make themselves at home. Often I see a unique cushion or pillow and a prayer book, sometimes a blanket and a box of tissue. Houshangyu is the same.
Every time I see them, I am tempted to look through the pages of these old prayer books. I wonder how old they are, if they show visible signs of the 20th century history endured. How did they survive? How did anyone?
I don't pry; I don't even touch them. I imagine these books, even left here where anyone could disturb them, do not want so casually to reveal their secrets. It is enough to look and to know.
Oh, and because I LOVE confessionals
The church's history is interesting, though it is probably more accurate to say the history of the Catholic Church in this town is interesting. According to the diocesan history, there has been a church at this site since 1334. My guide to the Catholic Church does not contradict this. In 1294 the Franciscan missionary Giovanni da Montecorvino arrived at Dadu, the name for Beijing during the Yuan dynasty. More Franciscans followed him for a time, and grew the number of faithful and churches until their activity stopped when the Christians were expelled in the early Ming Dynasty in 1369. When the Jesuits arrived a few hundred years later, a new church was built here. It was then enlarged in the late 1800s. There is no mention on the diocesan website of any Boxer-era destruction. It is possible it was spared then. However, when the Japanese invaded, it was burnt. The history on the Beijing Diocese website (in Google-translated English) memorializes the parishioners as exceptionally patriotic during the Japanese invasion, many becoming mountain guerrillas in defense of their home. The last renovation/reconstruction was in the 1980s in advance of it re-opening.
Beyond the history of the place, I was intrigued by the obvious signs of parish life. When we entered the courtyard we could hear some number of women chanting the rosary in some other room on the church grounds. As we were leaving, we noticed younger people, some families even, arriving at the church, some with the ubiquitous mooncake boxes. On the hill above the church we could see people and hear them singing. There's a Marian shrine on the hillside. There must have been a church celebration for Mid-Autumn Festival, today's holiday.
Today our Grand Plan was to go to Changyucun (again!) immediately after lunch this time so that we could make the two-hour hike from the village to the Great Wall and back down again before dark. However, in paying overzealous heed to our GPS Karen's commands, Randy made a premature left turn. Once we realized it, it was too late to turn back. We could still make Changyucun, even continuing on the road we were on or turning back, but we had already lost enough time that our hike would be abbreviated. We decided to enjoy our drive through the mountains.
It wasn't long before we passed a sign that indicated we had passed into Mentougou District. I had a thought....would we possibly be near a particular old church, Sacred Heart, in that same district. Ignoring the cost, I went online on my phone and found the name of the village--Housangyu. We were actually very close to this little ancient village, so we set it as an interim destination point.
Arriving in Housangyu, it was not hard to find the church. The village is on a hill, backed by higher hills and mountains. All we had to do was look for the cross.
We parked just below the church, next to these ancient walls. I have to wonder if they might be part of the church property, because in front of them were bulletin boards, the kinds of which I've seen all over China that might contain daily news or public health education posters, but on these were Church news and pictures of Jesus. I could have asked someone, but we never know what our limits are and what is acceptable for a foreigner in this situation.
We walked up the narrow lane, coming to the outer door of the church, and then entered the courtyard.
An elderly woman bent over her cane greeted us warmly and with her free hand waved us to go into the church. It was open, to my surprise.
In several of the smaller churches I've attended or visited these past few years (Nantou, Yanzikou, Yongning, probably others, too) I've loved to see how the daily Mass-goers make themselves at home. Often I see a unique cushion or pillow and a prayer book, sometimes a blanket and a box of tissue. Houshangyu is the same.
Every time I see them, I am tempted to look through the pages of these old prayer books. I wonder how old they are, if they show visible signs of the 20th century history endured. How did they survive? How did anyone?
I don't pry; I don't even touch them. I imagine these books, even left here where anyone could disturb them, do not want so casually to reveal their secrets. It is enough to look and to know.
Oh, and because I LOVE confessionals
The church's history is interesting, though it is probably more accurate to say the history of the Catholic Church in this town is interesting. According to the diocesan history, there has been a church at this site since 1334. My guide to the Catholic Church does not contradict this. In 1294 the Franciscan missionary Giovanni da Montecorvino arrived at Dadu, the name for Beijing during the Yuan dynasty. More Franciscans followed him for a time, and grew the number of faithful and churches until their activity stopped when the Christians were expelled in the early Ming Dynasty in 1369. When the Jesuits arrived a few hundred years later, a new church was built here. It was then enlarged in the late 1800s. There is no mention on the diocesan website of any Boxer-era destruction. It is possible it was spared then. However, when the Japanese invaded, it was burnt. The history on the Beijing Diocese website (in Google-translated English) memorializes the parishioners as exceptionally patriotic during the Japanese invasion, many becoming mountain guerrillas in defense of their home. The last renovation/reconstruction was in the 1980s in advance of it re-opening.
Beyond the history of the place, I was intrigued by the obvious signs of parish life. When we entered the courtyard we could hear some number of women chanting the rosary in some other room on the church grounds. As we were leaving, we noticed younger people, some families even, arriving at the church, some with the ubiquitous mooncake boxes. On the hill above the church we could see people and hear them singing. There's a Marian shrine on the hillside. There must have been a church celebration for Mid-Autumn Festival, today's holiday.
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