The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, commonly referred to as Ping'anqiao Catholic Church, is the

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

cathedral of the Diocese of Chengdu, situated on Xihuamen Street,

Qingyang District Qingyang District () is one of 11 urban districts of the prefecture-level city of Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province, Southwest China. It is bordered by Jinniu District to the northeast, Jinjiang District to the southeast, Wuhou District t ...

, in

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

's capital city of

Chengdu Chengdu (, ; Simplified Chinese characters, simplified Chinese: 成都; pinyin: ''Chéngdū''; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively Romanization of Chi ...

Description

The construction of the cathedral started in 1897, under the supervision of Jacques-Victor-Marius Rouchouse, a French missionary of the

Paris Foreign Missions Society The Society of Foreign Missions of Paris (french: Société des Missions Etrangères de Paris, short M.E.P.) is a Roman Catholic missionary organization. It is not a religious institute, but an organization of secular priests and lay persons ...

and the first bishop of the Diocese of Chengdu, who was appointed to supervise the work by Bishop . It was not completed until 1904. The English political economist

Audrey Donnithorne Audrey Gladys Donnithorne (27 November 1922, Santai County, Sichuan, Republic of China – 9 June 2020, Hong Kong) was a British-Chinese political economist and missionary, prominent in her efforts to rebuild the Catholic Church in China after t ...

was baptized at this cathedral after converting from

Anglicanism Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the ...

to Roman Catholicism in 1943. The buildings, including the cathedral, the Bishop's Office and the Episcopal Residence, cover an area of 16,566.3 square meters and have a usable area of 8,508.5 square meters. Built in a

cruciform Cruciform is a term for physical manifestations resembling a common cross or Christian cross. The label can be extended to architectural shapes, biology, art, and design. Cruciform architectural plan Christian churches are commonly described ...

design with a

neo-Byzantine Neo-Byzantine architecture (also referred to as Byzantine Revival) was a revival movement, most frequently seen in religious, institutional and public buildings. It incorporates elements of the Byzantine style associated with Eastern and Orthod ...

façade, the cathedral and its surrounding buildings constitute the Chinese character "" meaning "fear", representing "The beginning of wisdom is fear of the Lord" (

Proverbs A proverb (from la, proverbium) is a simple and insightful, traditional saying that expresses a perceived truth based on common sense or experience. Proverbs are often metaphorical and use formulaic speech, formulaic language. A proverbial phra ...

9:10). The right part of the character means "rule", which represents the function of this building as a cathedral, as Jesus said in the

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

: "Amen, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (

Matthew Matthew may refer to: * Matthew (given name) * Matthew (surname) * ''Matthew'' (ship), the replica of the ship sailed by John Cabot in 1497 * ''Matthew'' (album), a 2000 album by rapper Kool Keith * Matthew (elm cultivar), a cultivar of the Ch ...

18:18).

Mass times

English Mass is celebrated on Saturdays at 4:00pm. Service in local language is held on Sundays starting at the same hour.

Gallery

File:Altar of Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Chengdu.jpg, Main altar File:Statue of Jesus Christ in Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Chengdu.jpg, Chapel of the

Sacred Heart of Jesus The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus ( la, Cor Jesu Sacratissimum) is one of the most widely practised and well-known Catholic devotions, wherein the heart of Jesus is viewed as a symbol of "God's boundless and passionate love for mankind". This dev ...

File:Statue of Holy Mary in Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Chengdu.jpg,

Lourdes grotto The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes () is a Catholic Marian shrine and pilgrimage site dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes in the town of Lourdes, Hautes-Pyrénées, France. The sanctuary includes several religious buildings and monuments around ...

File:Diocesan curia of Roman Catholic Diocese of Chengdu.jpg, Diocesan curia

References

{{Reflist Churches in Chengdu Neo-Byzantine architecture

Roman Catholic cathedrals in China Roman Catholic churches completed in 1904 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in China 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in China

Description

Mass times

Gallery

See also

References