Qingyang Catholic Church

Qingyang Catholic Church

At the southern end of Qingyang Town stands a solemn and majestic building — the Qingyang Our Lady of Lourdes Church of the Nanjing Diocese of the Catholic Church.

The church was first built in February 1902 and dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes, hence named “Our Lady of Lourdes Church.” Starting from April of the same year, plagues broke out across the regions south and north of the Yangtze River. This led to a series of miraculous events at Qingyang Our Lady of Lourdes Church involving spiritual herbs that were believed to dispel the plague, which greatly enhanced the church’s fame.

In 1912, Qingyang Our Lady of Lourdes Church was rebuilt. In 1939, it was bombed by Japanese aircraft during the invasion of China, leaving only the bell tower standing. On May 1, 1995, the church was reconsecrated and reopened, attracting as many as 50,000 worshippers from all over.

Qingyang Our Lady of Lourdes Church is a renowned pilgrimage site both domestically and internationally. Devotees who make a pilgrimage here on days approved by the Pope are granted a plenary indulgence.

Qingyang Town: Qingyang, anciently known as Qing?D, was established as a township in the Northern Song Dynasty. It has a recorded history of over 1,700 years. Polished stone tools and black pottery from the Liangzhu culture, unearthed in the 1970s, indicate that as early as 5,000 years ago during the Neolithic Age, people had already settled and thrived here. By the Ming and Qing dynasties, owing to its location along key water transport routes, Qingyang flourished with the scene of “a thousand households and bustling boats and carts,” earning it the nickname “Little Wuxi.”

Qingyang covers a total area of 67.6 square kilometers with a population of 72,000. It is located in China’s economically developed eastern coastal region — the renowned Suzhou-Wuxi-Changzhou (Suzhou, Wuxi...) area. More detailed information about Qingyang Town ++