An apparition of Mary in China in 1995

Every year in May since 1996, thousands of soldiers are sent to the small village of Donglu, a few hours’ drive from Beijing, China, to close off access to the village and prevent any "illegal gathering."

The reason for this goes back to the year 1900, when the Virgin Mary appeared under the title of Our Lady of China, during a revolt against colonialism and Christianity. A church, later a cathedral—the National Shrine of Our Lady of China—was built there and in the 1930s was consecrated and recognized as a place of pilgrimage by Pope Pius XI.

Mary appeared again in 1995, during the annual Marian May Day celebrations, before 30,000 witnesses. Obviously, this event posed a threat to the Chinese Communist Party because the next day the police evacuated the premises. Since then the army blocks all access to the village on the date of the May Marian celebrations. The church where the clandestine Catholics met was destroyed in 1996.

However despite 20 years of persecution, Donglu's clandestine Catholics have not faltered in their faith. The village is made up of about 90% Catholics. An elderly Catholic said that Mass has been celebrated in the open air for the past 20 years, rain, snow or shine!

Winter is particularly harsh in northern China. The day our reporters arrived, it was 14°F. Most of the people gathered outside were shivering from the cold after spending an hour standing or kneeling. In 1937, following the Pope's recognition of the village as a place of national pilgrimage, it became one of the most famous centers of Marian devotion on mainland China and attracts tens of thousands of faithful each year.

Although, since the ratification of the Vatican-China agreement of 2018, any priest of an ecclesial assembly refusing to join the official Chinese State-controlled Church would probably incur arrest and imprisonment, these outdoor Marian celebrations continue.

According to a report by Shen Xinran