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 letter ...

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 Distric ...

, 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 th ...

's capital city of

Chengdu Chengdu (, ; simplified Chinese: 成都; pinyin: ''Chéngdū''; Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ), alternatively romanized as Chengtu, is a sub-provincial city which serves as the capital of the Chinese provin ...

. It has been subjected to the control of the state-sanctioned

Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association The Catholic Patriotic Association (), abbreviated CPA, is a state-sanctioned organization of Catholicism in the People's Republic of China. It was established in 1957 after a group of Chinese Catholics met in Beijing with officials from the Chi ...

since 1957.

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 de ...

and the first bishop of the Diocese of Chengdu, who was appointed to supervise the work by Bishop Marie-Julien Dunand. It was not completed until 1904. The English political economist Audrey Donnithorne was baptized at this cathedral after converting from Anglicanism 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 design with a neo-Byzantine façade, the cathedral and its surrounding buildings constitute the Chinese character "" meaning "fear", representing "The beginning of wisdom is fear of the Lord" ( Proverbs 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 a ...

: "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 18:18).

Mass times

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

Gallery

File:PAQ-altar.png, High altar File:PAQ-altar2.png, Low altar File:PAQ-cathedra.png, The bishop's seat File:Statue of Jesus Christ in Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Chengdu.jpg, Entrance to the chapel of the Sacred Heart of Jesus File:PAQ-sacred heart.png, Side view of the Sacred Heart Chapel 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 File:PAQ-plaque.png, The plan of the cathedral site, in the form of the Chinese character "悚"

References

{{Christianity in Sichuan Churches in Chengdu Neo-Byzantine architecture Renaissance Revival 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