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The Blessed Virgin Mary: Queen of China

 Tue, 18 Dec 2007  PRINT   E-MAIL  

That Our Lady might be truly the "Queen of China" was the express desire of Pope John Paul II. When we examine the vexed history of the evangelization of China, it becomes clear that the more important advances in the Christianization of the nation have been closely linked with the Blessed Virgin. Beyond confirming a general principle, this observation indicates the way forward for the generation of a future great Catholic China.

The work of evangelization in China could be said to have begun around the middle of the first millennium after Christ. The name of Mary is found for the first time in the famous stele of Si-ngan-fu, which dates from the year 781 AD and is one of China's ancient Christian monuments.

China's first evangelists we re Nestorian monks from the Middle East, who arrived in Si-ngan-fu in 635 and began to teach the great truths of the Christian Faith according to the Revelation of Sacred Scripture.

Unfortunately, and with particular regard to the mystery of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the first evangelization of China by the Nestorian was distorted by the very grave error of the bishop Nestorius, who denied Mary's Divine Maternity-- an error for which he was condemned by the Council of Ephesus in 431, when the Divine Maternity of Mary was defined as a dogma of the Faith.

In the 13th century, however, one of the greatest missionaries in Chinathe Franciscan John of Montecorvino (1247-1328), preceded b) Friar John of Pian del Carpine, resumed the work of evangelization with the Franciscan friars, and succeeded in refuting the heresy of the Nestorians, affirming the orthodoxy of Marian cult ac cording to the correct and perennial Faith of the Catholic Church. He was followed by the other great Franciscan missionary in China, Blessed Odoric of Pordenone (1265-1331).

The work of the evangelization of China, begun and carried forward by the Franciscans, from time to time, down to the present day, forms an epic that has given many apostles and martyrs of the Faith to the Church. It was above all the Franciscans who inflamed the hearts of the Chinese with a deep love for the Mother of God, Who is almost always portrayed bearing the Child Jesus in Her arms.

In 1583, the great apostle of China, Fr. Matteo Ricci, a Jesuit, made use chiefly of the Marian heritage of the Franciscans when he resumed the work of China's evangelization, after it had been destroyed by the fall of the Mongol emperors. It was in particular the preaching of the mystery of the Blessed Virgin Mary that opened even the doors of the imperial palace, where some members of the royal family as well as the Prime Minister of the empire, Paul Sin-Koang-K'i, accepted the Faith and re quested Baptism.

On September 8, 1609, in order to provide effective help for his work of evangelization, Matthew Ricci established the first Chinese Marian Congregation, made up of a group of laity actively engaged in catechesis and in teaching Christian doctrine to the people.

This first foundation of the Marian Congregation was soon laboring diligently and fruitfully for the growth of the Faith in China. Gaining the approval of the Chinese people, the Man-an Congregation began to grow with such rapidity that, only forty years later, Marian Congregation groups were to be found throughout most of the Chinese empire. Moreover, it was subdivided into a Marian Congregation for the learned and one for the people.

Fr. Stefano Manelli is the founder and the Minister General of the Franciscans of the Immaculate. He is a popular writer and speaker. A doctor of Sacred theology, Fr. Stefano is known for his contribution to Mariology especially his works: The Biblical Mariology and Jesus, Our Eucharistic Love. A good number of his books are available in our online bookstore.