St. Francis Cathedral Of Xi'an

St. Francis Cathedral ( zh, s=圣方济各主教座堂, t=聖方濟各主教座堂) is a Catholic cathedral located in Xi'an, Shaanxi, China. Its construction began in 1716 and was completed in 1727. Since 1930, the church has been the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Xi'an.

The church has a history of land disputes with various Chinese governments that has continued into the 21st century. Though the Qing government proscribed Christianity in 1724, some underground missionary activities remained, and the church was completed three years later. It was eventually confiscated by the Qing government, but returned in 1866 and rebuilt in 1884. It was closed in 1966 and reopened in 1980.

The cathedral combines Chinese and western architectural styles. It currently houses the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Yellow River Soup Kitchen, and also contains a relic of St. Francis of Assisi.

Naming

In English, the cathedral is known as "St. Francis Cathedral". Other variations include "Cathedral of St. Francis" and "Francis of Assisi Cathedral". The Chinese government calls the cathedral "Wuxing Street Catholic Church" () in reference to its address.

The cathedral is sometimes also known as Nan Tang ( zh, c=南堂, p=Nán táng, l=Southern Church / Cathedral) in Chinese because it is to the south of another older Catholic church in Xi'an. The U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China called it "South Cathedral" in one of their reports, and ''The Washington Post'' called it the "Southern Cathedral".

History

Qing dynasty

Founding

According to ''History of Shaanxi: Religious History'' (), Catholicism first entered Shaanxi when the Italian missionary Giulio Aleni visited the province in 1620. In 1696, the Holy See made Shaanxi an apostolic vicariate and appointed , a Franciscan, as its first apostolic vicar. In 1704, Antonio Laghi, also a Franciscan, became apostolic administrator after Brollo's death.

In 1716, Laghi instructed an Italian missionary known in Chinese as Daidi Ma () to purchase a piece of land at Tudimiao Shizi ( zh, s=土地庙十字, l= Tudi temple crossing, links=no) in Xi'an and build the St. Francis cathedral. It was completed in 1727.

Beginning in January 1724, Emperor Yongzheng banned Christianity in China. He banished all foreign missionaries in October of that year. However, some church activities remained hidden and continued for some time. Laghi was expelled to Guangdong, but managed to come back to Xi'an secretly and died at the church in 1727, the year when the church was completed. Another Franciscan priest at Xi'an, Francesco Saraceni, also hid and was not banished. However, churches were gradually closed in the Qing Empire. The Xi'an church was confiscated by the government and turned into a civil property, and the local officials eventually sold the church building to three households.

Return, rebuild, restoration

In 1860, the French required the Qing government to return all confiscated Catholic properties under the Convention of Peking. Many of the confiscated churches had either disappeared or were repurposed. According to Liu Xiang, the Qing government, still distrustful of foreign missionaries, reluctantly offered other properties as compensation to the Catholic missions.

When the convention was signed, the cathedral was being used as the family home of the late (). In consideration of this, Liu Rong (), the ''Xunfu'' of Shaanxi, offered the Catholic mission a mosque and five other houses instead of the church building. From 1862 to 1865, Chiais and his auxiliary Amato Pagnucci, unaware that the Zhang family was living in the cathedral, negotiated with the Shaanxi government for the return of the original building. In 1866, after pressure from the French envoy to China and the Qing imperial court, the Shaanxi government returned the church to the Catholic mission and paid 10,000 taels