History of Xinli Village Catholic Church in Shunde Diocese of Xingtai
The vicissitudes of the Weiwei Palace over the past century
—Recording the historical changes of the Xinli Village Catholic Church
As the landmark building of the village in the past, the Xinli Village Catholic Church is an accompanying It gradually evolved and developed with the development of Xinli Village. Therefore, I put the historical research on the Xinli Village Church into the development history of this area, so that I can see the role in the continuation of the cultural context, and then explore and reshape the value of these historical buildings to realize the understanding of the Xinli Village Catholic Church. A modern interpretation of history.
A few miles away from the village, you can see a Gothic building standing in the center of the village. The silver-gray cross shines brightly under the blue sky and white clouds. This is the Xinli Village Catholic Church.
The new church adopts the simplified French Gothic twin bell tower style. As long as you stand in the middle of the street and look through the European iron fence, you will see that the entire hall is thick and tall, with a spacious courtyard and orderly wing rooms. But looking at them together, there are two bell towers facing each other. The large bluestone above the center is engraved with the three characters of "Catholic Church". "Without beginning or end, the first thing is to make the true master of shape and sound, and to declare benevolence and righteousness with arms to save the great cause of death." The philosophy of the couplets is even more intriguing.
At this time, you cross the cement floor and step onto the large platform paved with colorful stones. The entire bell tower is made of reinforced bricks and cement concrete, and the top, bottom, left and right are decorated with white porcelain tiles to make the hall more stable. , elegant and honest. The temple is right in front of you. This is the place where Christ is present. This is the place where you listen to the Holy Word and witness with the Lord. You brush off the dust on your body, straighten your clothes, and enter the temple steadily. A vestibule is formed vertically inside the church. , middle hall, back hall, and above the back hall is the choir floor; the altar part adopts a stepped layout, with the main altar in the middle. It has a modern decoration that can accommodate more than 1,000 people praying at the same time. Kneeling benches are neatly placed on the ground, and there is also a screening The screen can display scriptures and hymns together with text, so that the eyes, mouth, and brain can be organically combined.
The hall naturally divides the entire courtyard into two parts. The east wing is a children's study room. It is a place for Bible study, singing and learning of sacred doctrines. The west wing is the priest's dormitory and kitchen.
In this poor country, the Holy Church is so tall and spacious, the decoration is so luxurious and elegant, the courtyard is so wide, the geographical location is so important, the rooms are so well-proportioned, and the facilities are so complete, you must be impressed. sigh! I can tell you an inaccurate figure for the overall area. The courtyard is 4047 square meters, nearly 7 acres.
However, the historical changes over the past century will make you even more amazed! These histories are not only effective, but also shocking.
In the eleventh year of Xianfeng in the Qing Dynasty, the main palace died in Rehe without any children. The concubine Nala had a son who was only 4 years old. Cixi was closely linked to China's security.
In the second year of Tongzhi, the royal brigadier general Hebei Southeast Sanfu II was stationed in Xian County as the bishop of the first district. Zhengding Shunde in the southwest district was the bishop of the first district in Zhengding. During the Tongzhi period, several households in Weicun, Wei County Church members (mainly Li Cui*, etc.). We bought some fields in a place called "Little House" at that time. As time went by, more and more land was purchased. These believers first moved during the seasons, and finally settled down one after another. At that time and for many years after Since the land is flat and abundant with rainfall, the water harvested every year is harvested. They used their hard work and wisdom to harvest autumn crops, mainly sorghum, and harvest wheat in summer. In this way, they could have enough food and clothing. After settling down, their ancestors not only brought the noble qualities of hard work and kindness, And brought the universal love of Christ. In order to praise the glory of God, a large wooden cross was built on the north side of the current church, covering an area of 200 meters on the north side of the church. Promote the virtues of the church through various good deeds. At that time, the church was prosperous.
It was the twenty-sixth year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu, the Boxer Movement in 1900
The Boxer Rebellion, formerly known as Boxer Boxing, was initiated by the White Lotus Sect. It was a civil society group whose main members were farmers, There are also a small number of intellectual feudal elements, small and medium-sized landowners and officials, as well as local ruffians. Poverty and ignorance meant that their resistance struggle could only follow the peasant uprisings of the past, using the methods of secret associations, developing the organization in the form of altars, and practicing boxing to attract the masses. The Boxers had a strong color of cult superstition, drawing talismans, chanting incantations, and inviting gods. Possessed, and held talismans and recited incantations, possessed gods, and were invulnerable to inspire fighting spirit. The fists were fierce, and the martial arts masters treated the Eight Treasures of the Immortal Family, soul-inducing flags, Huntian flags and thunder, nine-link rings, etc. There were those who were running around and shouting, secretly The planners, they launched ridiculous slogans: 'Zhu Shen Fist, Boxing of Boxing, just because the foreigners are in trouble in the Central Plains, it doesn't rain, the ground is dry, and all the churches cover the sky...etc.' Evil words, red scarves reveal their blades. To kill the Catholics.
In June, Youbao Zheng Anzhi and his gang burned down the Xinli Village Catholic Church.
In 1904, the French Father Ai raised funds and built a Gothic-style church on the north side of the current church. The church bell tower is three feet high, decorated with blue and white gray strips, and has 15 arched and tiled rooms. There are also arms surrounding eight pillars, which is very spacious.
In the ninth year of the Republic of China (1920), there was a severe drought in North China. At this time, the bandit Cui Fuyan was harassing here. After the bandit Hu Laoqi and Li Dasha were stationed in the church, there were famous names training in the Wei County guerrillas. Four regiments encircled and suppressed).
In this way, the victims of the "War on Fire" were innocent people. Not only were the prayers of the church members disturbed, but their normal social life and life safety were not guaranteed. In view of such a dangerous situation, Father Ai was extremely righteous and did not care about life and death. He went deep into the tiger's den alone, and several times, in order to get along, he raised his pistol and faced the lobbyists. In the end, under the guidance of Father Ai, the soldiers put down their weapons and the soldiers ensured the personal safety of the bandits. To commemorate this achievement, the two sides agreed to erect a stone monument that will be remembered forever. (The monument is located more than 10 meters southeast of the current platform. This incident occurred in 1923)
In the following ten years, the church became prosperous and a school was established, which was enjoyed by both internal and external disciples. Free education, the bells ringing for daily prayers, the sound of students reading loudly and singing songs constitute a wonderful symphony.
Time passed to 1937. After the July 7 Incident, Japanese bombers were buzzing and making people sleepless. They couldn't see tall buildings, so they dropped a few bombs or fired rows of machine gun bullets. However, they killed people without blinking an eye. Japs.
Facing the sign of the great love of Jesus Christ is not a violation, so people inside and outside the church from all over the country came to the Xinli Village Church to seek shelter. The church ate porridge and pulp, and the church members vacated their houses. Refugees. A few years later, an old man from Daxinzhuang Village said: "During the war in Japan, I stayed in the church in Xiaofangshang Village for more than half a month. I had good food and good housing, but I was in trouble for others. Who wants to say that Catholicism is not good? No conscience."
For some time afterwards, the parish priest was Father Young, a Polish national. Although he was a foreigner, he spoke fluent Chinese and could talk to the faithful. He grazed the Lord's cattle in an extremely harsh environment.
In the next seven or eight years, the Communist Party organized Japanese soldiers, the Imperial Army, the security forces, etc. From time to time, some believers were arrested by the military police or correctional police. Father Yang They argued over the province of the pastor, pledging that he was "a good Christian of mine", constantly offending the Japanese or the Imperial Army, and on several occasions nearly killed Father Young on the enemy's turret. In 1943, the situation became even worse. There was a severe drought in North China and locusts were raging. In such a dangerous situation, Father Yang still persisted in his post. It was not until May 1948, on the eve of the peaceful liberation of Beijing, that he performed a Taizé Mass and the Catholics said, " From now on, it will be up to you to save souls." We bid farewell with tears...
In 1958, the village branch forcibly demolished the bell tower of the hall in the name of using bricks for digging wells. Later, they demolished the eight pillars in the hall and replaced them with bricks to build collective beams. . In order to build a large steel industry, the iron bell door nose was knocked off and the hall was turned into four doors. At the back was a brigade warehouse, and then it was turned into a village primary school building. After many twists and turns. By 1976, the entire palace was gone, with only the Sanhe soil exposed by rain erosion, indicating that this place once had a period of glorious architecture.
By 1982, after Cui Shangwei of Xinli Village Catholic Church was ordained a priest, the church was in a prosperous situation. Five nuns, many seminarians, and finally young priests were ordained. Ah! Christ will always take care of our church. There will be people in the future who will promote the church and identify the human foundation.
In 1992, Father Cui "returned to the Lord". At this time, the current generation of young presidents headed by Yang Yulong first successfully held a memorial and burial ceremony for Pastor Cui in the entire diocese. There were more than 3,000 people in the church, more than 10 groups of military bands, dozens of caravans, and more than 4,000 onlookers. On that day, firecrackers gathered, gongs and drums were loud, scriptures were chanted, and flags were waved, until the burial was completed at 5 p.m., due to the tight organization , without making any mistakes, showing the ability of the new generation of social and organizational capabilities to work.
Jesus Christ has always been attached to us. In 1997, Father Xi became the parish priest, rebuilding the temple here and planning the agenda.
The wind of the Holy Spirit blew slowly, opening the hearts of the believers in Xinli Village and igniting the desire to rebuild the temple. The same message spread against the idea of "building a church, building a larger and taller one" "The temple of the Lord" Father Xi led the young president to mobilize the believers to implement the church and raise funds. At this time, the believers cheered and cheered to build the temple for the Lord. Faced with the high desires of the believers, on March 5, 1998 After the Mass on Sunday, a groundbreaking ceremony was held under the auspices of Father Xiao Fuyin, and the church announced that "the task of building the church was officially launched."
To build modern buildings without modern tools, these farmers, who have faced the loess and turned their backs to the sky for generations, have encountered major problems. At this time, two church members, Hou Wenming and Hou Wenzhong, from Cheng'an County, undertook the construction of the Qiu County Taxation Building. The construction came to an end in October. All construction tools, including several thousand square meters of control racks, were provided to Xinli Village free of charge. The church members built the church for use and sent technicians to do the construction for free. At this time, Wang Hualong of Mazhuang, Wei County, sent the drawings and assisted in the construction.
Taking advantage of the good weather to carry out work day and night, President Yang Yulong immediately decided to carry out the work and divided the church members into three shifts to work day and night. At night, it was even more of a scene, with electric welding flames spraying out. The buzzing of the mixer and the clashing of steel filled the whole night. I just want to say: The church members are tense, orderly, and not chaotic. They do their duty and stick to their posts for months. Such church members are better than ever. Yes, there are dozens of foreign teacher friends who come to the church to help for one day, two days, or more than ten days.
That is, in 1999, the main building and all things and wing rooms were completed for the Blessing of the Instruction.
The years have passed, the road has been twists and turns, and the changes from Xinli Village Catholic Church have made us truly awaken: Jesus Christ is with us, and the Virgin Mary protects us.