Xishiku Cathedral
Encyclopedia
Xicheng District
Xicheng District is a district in Beijing, China. Xicheng District spans 32 square kilometres, making it the largest portion of the old city , and has 706,691 inhabitants . Its postal code is 100032. Xicheng is subdivided into 15 subdistricts of the city proper of Beijing...
, Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. Of all the cathedrals and churches located in Beijing, the Xishiku Cathedral is one of the most ornate and magnificent.
The church was originally established by the Jesuits in 1703 near Zhongnanhai
Zhongnanhai
Zhongnanhai is an area in central Beijing, China adjacent to the Forbidden City which serves as the central headquarters for the Communist Party of China and the State Council of the People's Republic of China. The term Zhongnanhai is closely linked with the central government and senior Communist...
(opposite the former Beijing Library), a land bestowed by Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
to the Jesuit in 1694, following his recovery from illness thanks to medical expertise of Fathers Jean-François Gerbillon
Jean-François Gerbillon
Jean-François Gerbillon was a French missionary, who worked in China.He entered the Society of Jesus, 5 Oct, 1670, and after completing the usual course of study taught grammar and humanities for seven years...
and Joachim Bouvet
Joachim Bouvet
Joachim Bouvet was a French Jesuit who worked in China, and the leading member of the Figurist movement.-Biography:...
. The Emperor also hand-written the calligraphy plaque and couplets for the building. It was named "Savior Church" and officially opened on 9 February 1703.
In 1887 the Church had to be relocated and was moved and rebuilt to its current location, at the request of the Guangxu Emperor
Guangxu Emperor
The Guangxu Emperor , born Zaitian of the Aisin-Gioro clan, was the eleventh emperor of the Manchurian Qing Dynasty, and the ninth Qing emperor to rule over China. His reign lasted from 1875 to 1908, but in practice he ruled, under Empress Dowager Cixi's influence, only from 1889 to 1898...
, who needed the original space near the Forbidden City
Forbidden City
The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. It is located in the middle of Beijing, China, and now houses the Palace Museum...
to create the Zhongnanhai Park. The cathedral's present cast iron Gothic architectural
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
style and elaborate grey marble facade was built in 1890, under the direction of Lazarist missionary Bishop Pierre-Marie-Alphonse Favier
Pierre-Marie-Alphonse Favier
Pierre-Marie-Alphonse Favier-Duperron C.M. was the controversial Roman Catholic Lazarite Vicar Apostolic of Northern Chi-Li , China Pierre-Marie-Alphonse Favier-Duperron C.M.(Chinese: 樊國樑 Pinyin:Fan Guoliang Wade-Giles: Fan Kouo-Léang) (born 22 September 1837 at Marsannay-la-Côte, France; died 4...
(1837-1905), who designed it. The church stands in a spacious grounds surrounded by pine and oak tree and two Chinese pavilions.
The Xishkiku Cathedral is also where the Beijing Cardinal Bishop Office is located at and it is affiliated with the Patriotic Catholic Church of China
Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association
The Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association , abbreviated CPA, CPCA, or CCPA, is an association of people, established in 1957 by the People's Republic of China's Religious Affairs Bureau to exercise state supervision over mainland China's Catholics...
.
The siege of the Beitang (14 June-16 August 1900)
During the Boxer Uprising, the Roman Catholic Church's Beijing Northern Cathedral (known as the Peitang, and later Beitang) was under siege by an estimated ten thousand Boxers from 14 June 1900 until 16 August 1900. Its defence was led by Pierre-Marie-Alphonse FavierPierre-Marie-Alphonse Favier
Pierre-Marie-Alphonse Favier-Duperron C.M. was the controversial Roman Catholic Lazarite Vicar Apostolic of Northern Chi-Li , China Pierre-Marie-Alphonse Favier-Duperron C.M.(Chinese: 樊國樑 Pinyin:Fan Guoliang Wade-Giles: Fan Kouo-Léang) (born 22 September 1837 at Marsannay-la-Côte, France; died 4...
(1837-1905), the Vicar Apostolic of the Roman Catholic Church's North Chihli Province
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Beijing
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Beijing is an archdiocese located in the city of Beijing in China.-History:* 1307: Established as Archdiocese of Khanbalik* 1375: Suppressed...
, and architect of the cathedral. According to W.A.P. Martin, "the defence of that cathedral forms the most brilliant page in the history of the siege." Favier's "successful defense of Peking's Peitang Cathedral was nothing short of a Christian miracle." According to Martin, "The new, or northern, cathedral, standing in an open ground by itself, was considered capable of defence. Monsignor Favier bravely resolved to hold it at all hazards, and thus preserve the lives of three thousand converts who had there taken refuge." As the Cathedral was located inside the Imperial City, Beijing near the western Gate, about three kilometres (2 miles) from the Legation Quarter, it was isolated from the foreign Legations. Martin explains:
Not until the siege was raised, however, had we any conception of the severity of the conflict that devoted band had to wage in order to keep the enemy at bay; for from us, though separated only by an interval of two miles in a direct line, they were cut off from communication as completely as if they had been situated at the north pole.
The Eastern and Southern Cathedrals were heavily damaged, as were all other Roman Catholic properties in Beijing. Favier estimated that during the Boxer Uprising that between 15,000 and 20,000 members of his 'flock' and that three-quarters of the chapels were destroyed. During the siege, more than 3,900 people (including about one hundred Europeans, primarily women and children, and 850 orphans) sought sanctuary within the stone walls of the Cathedral, which was defended by only forty-one French and Italian marines, led by two French officers. Believing the Cathedral would be attacked by the Boxers, from mid-May Favier was able to collect huge stores of food, weapons and ammunition, but the large numbers of refugees necessitated severe rationing until the siege was lifted on 16 August 1900 by the Japanese military. During his trip to China in the summer of 1901, missionary statesman Arthur Judson Brown
Arthur Judson Brown
Arthur Judson Brown was an influential American clergyman, missionary and prolific author.Brown was born in Holliston, Massachusetts, and was ordained as a Presbyterian minister in 1883...
(1856-1963) interviewed Favier, who gave detailed description of the damage inflicted during the siege:
I called on the famous Bishop. He was, for he has since died, a burly, heavily-bearded Frenchman of about sixty-five apparently. He received us most cordially and readily talked of the siege. He said that of the eighty Europeans and 3,400 Christians with him in the siege, 2,700 were women and children. Four hundred were buried, of whom forty were killed by bullets, twenty-five by one explosion, eighty-one by another and one by another. Of the rest, some died of disease but the greater part of starvation. Twenty-one children were buried at one time in one grave. Beside these 400 who were killed or who died, many more were blown to pieces in explosions so that nothing could be found to bury. Fifty-one children disappeared in this way and not a fragment remained.
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See also
- Cathedral of the Immaculate ConceptionCathedral of the Immaculate Conception in BeijingThe Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Beijing , also known as Nantang to the locals, is a historic Roman Catholic Church located in Beijing, China...
(Nantang) - Wangfujing CathedralWangfujing CathedralThe Wangfujing Cathedral , also named St. Joseph's Wangfujing Cathedral or to the locals, Dongtang is a historic Catholic cathedral located in downtown Beijing, near Wangfujing. A small church was first established in 1653 on the open grounds by the Jesuit Father Lodovico Buglio...
(Dongtang) - Xizhimen ChurchXizhimen ChurchThe Xizhimen Church , or Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church is a Roman Catholic Church located on the southern side at n.130 of Xizhimen Neidajie in Beijing. It is commonly referred to as Xitang to the locals.The Xizhimen Church was the last among the four historic Catholic churches in...
(Xitang)