A special day of prayer
Gary Walker
The Marian shrine to Our Lady Help of Christians at Sheshan is on the only hill in a plain on the outskirts of Shanghai, China. It’s the premier place of pilgrimage in China for Catholic people.
Last year Pope Benedict XVI gave the shrine a tremendous boost when he wrote an historic letter to the mainland Catholics of China and nominated May 24 as a special day of world prayer for the Church in China. This letter was released on June 30th 2007. In his letter he included a long prayer "Prayer to Our Lady of Sheshan" to be recited on the feast day.
The Beijing Olympic Games are not far off and Chinese authorities want no disturbances in the country.
Therefore, pilgrimage numbers were down at the shrine this year as authorities used roadblocks and police pressure to dissuade the faithful from making the journey to Sheshan. But 2,500 people packed the Basilica for Mass on the feast day. Authorities feared 200,000 people might converge on Sheshan responding to Pope Benedict’s call; they wanted to avoid large gatherings.
Fr Raphael Gao pointed out during his homily at the Mass that by desig-nating May 24 as a world day of prayer for the Church in China "we are no longer an orphan but a family member in the universal church." As he concluded his homily with part of the Pope Benedict’s prayer, the congregation continued to recite the prayer to the end. This was completely unplanned and surprised Church authorities. Bishop Joseph Xing Wenzhi the auxiliary bishop of Shaghai presided at the Mass and said that many people were committing this rather long prayer to memory. It was recited again before the final blessing.
In Italy, Chinese Catholics converged on Rome by bus, train and plane from Naples, Florence, Milan and other places to celebrate this historic occasion. Most were young people, many young priests and sisters studying in Italy but also lay people with their children and friends of the Church in China. Thousands of miles away from Shanghai they celebrated this great recognition from Pope Benedict XVI. Church sources estimate there are 1,000 Chinese Catholics in Italy.
The Catholic Church in Australia has a strong connection with the Church in China through this feast. Our Lady Help of Christians is the patroness of the Australian Catholic Church.
When Fr John Therry, an Irish priest came to Australia in 1821 he promoted the feast of Our Lady Help of Christians to assist him in the anti-Catholic environment in which he found himself in the young colony.
Our Lady Help of Christians, as Patroness of Australia was approved by Rome in 1852 with the feast being celebrated on May 24. By coincidence or divine grace, Fr Therry died on May 24, 1864.
Background to the Feast
The feast of Our Lady Help of Christians was instituted by Pope Pius VII in 1815, in thanksgiving for the deliverance of the Holy See and the Papal States from the tyranny of Napoleon. What was really being celebrated was the emergence of the Church from the ‘darkness’ of the 18th Century and the troubled years of the 19th Century in the Church’s history.
In this restoration Pope Pius VII did much to promote Marian piety among all. Mary, our Mother, has been venerated in the Litany under the title Help of Christians since at least the 16th Century.
However, she was hailed as ‘advocate’ and ‘intercessor’ for many years before.
By 1844, there were only three Bishops in Australia. At their first Synod that year, they requested the Pope to declare, as Australia’s special patron, the Mother of God under the title of Mary Help of Christians with her feast to be celebrated on May 24.
The feast was celebrated from 1844, even though it was not officially approved by Rome until 1852. The infant Church in Australia had a special reason for turning to Mary. In those early and mostly priestless days, it was largely the Rosary that kept the faith alive.
Catholic Australia remained faithful to Mary and was the first nation to choose her under the title of Help of Christians, as principal Patroness.
Source: www.sosj.org.au/prayer/documents/PrayerforMaryHelpofChristians.pdf
