Our Lady of La Vang
Our Lady of Lavang
https://www.roman-catholic-saints.com/our-lady-of-lavang.html
November 22: Our Lady of Lavang, Viet Nam (1798)
The fact that the Blessed Virgin visited a small group of Catholics in the
little jungle village of Lavang, in Viet Nam, in 1798, is not surprising to
anyone who knows the ways of the Mother of God. She has always been faithful to
her children by grace.
It was as a result of one period of
persecution that a number of Vietnamese
Catholics found refuge about 1785 in a jungle that hardy foresters would
hesitate to penetrate. Here they stayed hidden, suffering privations,
dangers, and illnesses, in order to practice their religion. One of the
few comforts
they had was reciting the rosary every day at dusk.
On one such evening, they were first frightened and then enchanted to behold
a Woman and Child standing nearby in a mysterious glow of light. Simple as
these people were, some among them recognized the Virgin Mother and Her Child.
All listened entranced while Mary told them softly that she was fully aware of
their hardships and of their chronic sickness due to contaminated water. She
told them to gather certain leaves that grew near and make a strong tea of
them; this would keep them healthy. Solemnly she added, “From this day on,
prayers said on this spot will be heard – and answered.” The year was 1798.
Our Lady of Lavang
Not long after the Virgin’s visit, the people heard that the persecution
they escaped had ended. Most went back to their original homes; they could talk
about little but the apparition they had seen, and word of this miracle spread.
By 1820 even the Buddhists believed in Our Lady’s promise and built the
first little shrine, a pagoda, on the spot where Mary had been seen. Within a
short time these Buddhists become Christians; and their small shrine became the
first Church of Our Lady of Lavang. The faithful found solace and courage in
this devotion in times of oppression and general misery that have come again
and again to the Vietnamese.
In 1885 during a period of rabid anti-Christianity, the Lavang chapel was
burned; a priest, Father Philip Minh, now Blessed Philip, was beheaded. There
was another lull between attacks and work was begun on a building to replace
the burnt chapel.
There were great difficulties in transporting supplies plus a lack of adequate
funds, but the great church of Our Lady of Lavang somehow evolved to completion and was
dedicated in 1901 in the name of the Protecting Mother of the faithful. A
congress of all dioceses of Viet Nam was called and Lavang became a place of
pilgrimage for countless devout people of Southeast Asia.
During the Marian Congress of 1961, a new basilica of Our Lady of Lavang was
dedicated by Archbishop Peter Ngo-Dinh Thue of Hue. At that time he told
Catholics of South Viet Nam that he received messages still from Catholics in
North Communist Viet Nam who say they never fail to believe that the Holy
Virgin of Lavang will one day deliver their country from Communist oppressors.
Viet Nam is a land of many martyrs. Across the centuries, devoted religious,
scholars, leaders and the poor have paid homage to Mary.
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Our Lady of La Vang
Vietnamese Virgin Mary, Made in Californiahttps://boomcalifornia.com/2018/04/06/our-lady-of-la-vang
Thien-Huong T. Ninh
Every 2 years, more than 200,000 pilgrims make their way to La Vang, a poor farming village in central Vietnam. They come from the around the world to pay homage to the Virgin Mary, whose apparition visited the village in 1798 & gave comfort to persecuted Catholics. From Vietnamese American Catholics to Thai Buddhists, they come seeking her blessings, solace, & comfort.
“She is not just the mother of Catholics in Vietnam but also anyone who comes & prays to her,” an Indonesian Protestant once told me during a visit to La Vang. His comment echoed the feelings of many who made the long, arduous journey to the Minor Basilica of Our Lady of La Vang. Although the Vatican hasn't recognized the historical apparition, Our Lady of La Vang has become a global religious & spiritual symbol.
Over the course of a few days, pilgrims pray to a large statue of Our Lady of La Vang holding a figure of the baby Jesus. She stands under 3 large banyan trees, adjacent to an old church building, wearing traditional Vietnamese attire composed of an áo dài & a crescent-shaped headpiece. With her black hair, dark eyes, & porcelain skin, she reflects an ideal image of beauty in Vietnamese society.
This Vietnamese representation of Our Lady of La Vang can now be
found wherever Vietnamese people have emigrated, including: Japan,
Taiwan, Canada, France, Australia, & the United States. This
Vietnamization of the Virgin is a recent development. Until 1998,
statues of Our Lady of La Vang were modeled on French representations of
another Virgin Mary figure, Our Lady of Victories. But the new Our Lady of La Vang didn't come from Vietnam. She came from Orange County, California.
Vietnamese Americans represent the largest Asian American Catholic group in Orange County. In 2010, there were nearly 70,000 Vietnamese Catholics in the region, according to the secretary of the Bishop of Orange. They constitute the largest Asian Catholic group in Orange County.
The community has been growing since the fall of Saigon in 1975, when the first large wave of 125,000 Vietnamese refugees arrived in the United States.[1] Many Vietnamese chose to resettle in Orange County due to its warmer climate, employment opportunities, & close proximity to Camp Pendleton, where many Vietnamese refugees first arrived.
As Vietnamese Catholics struggled to rebuild their lives in the United States, many sought comfort from the Virgin Mary. In 1978, more than 1,500 Vietnamese Catholics across the country attended the largest Feast of Assumption celebration in Carthage, Missouri, during a blazing hot August.[2]
The multiday pilgrimage became known as “Marian Day,” attracting mostly Vietnamese of different religious backgrounds from throughout the world. In Carthage, pilgrims worshipped a statue of Our Lady of Fatima & one of Our Lady of Peace (Đức Mẹ Nữ Vương Hòa Bình). For many Vietnamese Catholics, the statues symbolize miracles but also have strong anticommunist connotations.
Like the original Our Lady of La Vang, the statues of Our Lady of Fatima & Our Lady of Peace depicted the Virgin Mary with European features. European images of the Virgin Mary had long been the norm in Vietnamese Catholicism.
Then in the 1990s, when multiculturalism was being promoted by the Catholic Church in the United States, the bishop of Orange County permitted Vietnamese Americans to create a Vietnamese statue of the Virgin Mary.
In 1994, this image, known as Our Lady of Vietnam, was completed & placed at the entrance to the Vietnamese Catholic Center in Santa Ana. Our Lady of Vietnam joined a growing collection of ethnic representations of the Virgin Mary in Orange County, including Our Lady of Guadalupe, a Korean Virgin Mary, & Our Lady of Czestochowa from Poland.
Created by sculptor Van Nhan, the white statue represents the Virgin Mary dressed in the Vietnamese national costume. She holds the baby Jesus in front of her with both hands, “as if she wants to hand her most beloved child to Vietnamese people in order to save them & their race,” according to the Vietnamese Catholic Center. She represents the “peace & tranquility” that Vietnamese American faithful seek as they adapt to life in a new country.
Our Lady of Vietnam also reflects Vietnamese American Catholics’ connections to coreligionists in Vietnam during a time in which the country was isolated from the United States after the Vietnam War. She stands on a grotto in the shape of an S that depicts Vietnam & its mountainous ridges.
The Vietnamese Catholic Center explains that this representation of the Virgin Mary “guides the spirit of Vietnamese people to return to their homeland roots” & to pray for their coreligionists who are suffering under communism. This is another reason she is referred to as Our Lady of Peace.
In 1995—three years before the 200th anniversary of the apparition of Our Lady of La Vang—the United States reestablished diplomatic ties with Vietnam. This timing helped to revive interests among Vietnamese American Catholics to reconnect to their homeland.
In an article published in 1996, Vietnamese Americans were urged to visit the Our Lady of La Vang in Vietnam: “Now is the time for overseas Vietnamese Catholics to be spiritually united & connected with the Catholic Church in the homeland. This is our affirmation that, despite being far away from the homeland, we will never forget our spirituality as a Vietnamese faithful & a citizen of a country & a peoplehood.”[3]
Our Lady of La Vang became Vietnamized through collaborations & agreements that reached across the Pacific. Clergy from Vietnam had seen the Our Lady of Vietnam statue during a visit to Orange County following the US-Vietnam normalization.
They were impressed by Vietnamese Americans’ commitment to the well-being of Catholics in Vietnam, & their commitment to the preservation of Vietnamese Catholic culture & history despite decades of separation from their homeland. As a result of the trip, the visiting Vietnamese clergy commissioned Nhan Van, creator of Our Lady of Vietnam, to create another Our Lady of La Vang for the anniversary of her apparition.
Pope John Paul II blessed this Vietnamese Our Lady of La Vang statue in Rome on 1 July 1998. He also proclaimed Our Lady of La Vang the patroness of the Catholic Church of Vietnam. Although this religious honor didn't officially recognize the apparition of Our Lady of La Vang, it was a source of inspiration for Vietnamese Catholics throughout the world.
For the first time in history, a Vietnamese icon of the Catholic faith was officially introduced to the global Catholic community. On 13 August 1998, two hundred years after the apparition, more than 200,000 attendees gathered in La Vang to worship Our Lady of La Vang as represented by a Vietnamese woman.
Since her transformation, there have been several visual reinterpretations of Our Lady of La Vang to represent the unique faith & experiences of Vietnamese Catholics. In La Vang, in 2002, the Vietnamese Our Lady of La Vang was replaced with a new version wearing a headdress decorated with 12 stars.
Although some believe that the stars are an allusion to the 12 apostles of Jesus, Vietnamese Catholics abroad have interpreted them as the stars that Vietnamese refugees used to guide themselves to their new homes. In the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Vang in Washington, D.C., completed in 2005, stars are used as a decorative motif throughout the sanctuary as reminders of the Vietnamese diaspora.
Today, statues of the Vietnamese Our Lady of La Vang are popular diplomatic gifts often exchanged between Vietnamese Catholic communities in different countries. In 2002, Pope John Paul II blessed 6 statues of Our Lady of La Vang in Rome & gave them to Catholics in Orange County, who were responsible for distributing them to representatives of 6 different continents.
Through the Vietnamese representation of Our Lady of La Vang, Vietnamese Catholics throughout the world have become reconnected to each other & have transformed the face of the Catholic Church in their image.
In 2010, a stone engraved with the phrase Cộng Đồng Hải Ngoại (Overseas Diocese) was placed at the Our Lady of La Vang Pilgrimage Center during the start of the Holy Year. It recognizes the Vietnamese Catholic diaspora as the 27th diocese of the Catholic Church in Vietnam.
The growing global popularity of Our Lady of La Vang has spurred the construction of a number of parishes named after her outside of Vietnam, including 2 in California. These transnational ties aren't simply nostalgia for the homeland but an effort among Vietnamese Catholics to heal the wounds of war & displacement. The Vietnamese Our Lady of La Vang represents re-connection among Vietnamese Catholics in the diaspora & the homeland after decades of separation.
Notes
eorge Sings Los Angeles
Every 2 years, more than 200,000 pilgrims make their way to La Vang, a poor farming village in central Vietnam. They come from the around the world to pay homage to the Virgin Mary, whose apparition visited the village in 1798 & gave comfort to persecuted Catholics. From Vietnamese American Catholics to Thai Buddhists, they come seeking her blessings, solace, & comfort.
“She is not just the mother of Catholics in Vietnam but also anyone who comes & prays to her,” an Indonesian Protestant once told me during a visit to La Vang. His comment echoed the feelings of many who made the long, arduous journey to the Minor Basilica of Our Lady of La Vang. Although the Vatican hasn't recognized the historical apparition, Our Lady of La Vang has become a global religious & spiritual symbol.
Over the course of a few days, pilgrims pray to a large statue of Our Lady of La Vang holding a figure of the baby Jesus. She stands under 3 large banyan trees, adjacent to an old church building, wearing traditional Vietnamese attire composed of an áo dài & a crescent-shaped headpiece. With her black hair, dark eyes, & porcelain skin, she reflects an ideal image of beauty in Vietnamese society.
Vietnamese Americans represent the largest Asian American Catholic group in Orange County. In 2010, there were nearly 70,000 Vietnamese Catholics in the region, according to the secretary of the Bishop of Orange. They constitute the largest Asian Catholic group in Orange County.
The community has been growing since the fall of Saigon in 1975, when the first large wave of 125,000 Vietnamese refugees arrived in the United States.[1] Many Vietnamese chose to resettle in Orange County due to its warmer climate, employment opportunities, & close proximity to Camp Pendleton, where many Vietnamese refugees first arrived.
As Vietnamese Catholics struggled to rebuild their lives in the United States, many sought comfort from the Virgin Mary. In 1978, more than 1,500 Vietnamese Catholics across the country attended the largest Feast of Assumption celebration in Carthage, Missouri, during a blazing hot August.[2]
The multiday pilgrimage became known as “Marian Day,” attracting mostly Vietnamese of different religious backgrounds from throughout the world. In Carthage, pilgrims worshipped a statue of Our Lady of Fatima & one of Our Lady of Peace (Đức Mẹ Nữ Vương Hòa Bình). For many Vietnamese Catholics, the statues symbolize miracles but also have strong anticommunist connotations.
Like the original Our Lady of La Vang, the statues of Our Lady of Fatima & Our Lady of Peace depicted the Virgin Mary with European features. European images of the Virgin Mary had long been the norm in Vietnamese Catholicism.
Then in the 1990s, when multiculturalism was being promoted by the Catholic Church in the United States, the bishop of Orange County permitted Vietnamese Americans to create a Vietnamese statue of the Virgin Mary.
In 1994, this image, known as Our Lady of Vietnam, was completed & placed at the entrance to the Vietnamese Catholic Center in Santa Ana. Our Lady of Vietnam joined a growing collection of ethnic representations of the Virgin Mary in Orange County, including Our Lady of Guadalupe, a Korean Virgin Mary, & Our Lady of Czestochowa from Poland.
Created by sculptor Van Nhan, the white statue represents the Virgin Mary dressed in the Vietnamese national costume. She holds the baby Jesus in front of her with both hands, “as if she wants to hand her most beloved child to Vietnamese people in order to save them & their race,” according to the Vietnamese Catholic Center. She represents the “peace & tranquility” that Vietnamese American faithful seek as they adapt to life in a new country.
Our Lady of Vietnam also reflects Vietnamese American Catholics’ connections to coreligionists in Vietnam during a time in which the country was isolated from the United States after the Vietnam War. She stands on a grotto in the shape of an S that depicts Vietnam & its mountainous ridges.
The Vietnamese Catholic Center explains that this representation of the Virgin Mary “guides the spirit of Vietnamese people to return to their homeland roots” & to pray for their coreligionists who are suffering under communism. This is another reason she is referred to as Our Lady of Peace.
In 1995—three years before the 200th anniversary of the apparition of Our Lady of La Vang—the United States reestablished diplomatic ties with Vietnam. This timing helped to revive interests among Vietnamese American Catholics to reconnect to their homeland.
In an article published in 1996, Vietnamese Americans were urged to visit the Our Lady of La Vang in Vietnam: “Now is the time for overseas Vietnamese Catholics to be spiritually united & connected with the Catholic Church in the homeland. This is our affirmation that, despite being far away from the homeland, we will never forget our spirituality as a Vietnamese faithful & a citizen of a country & a peoplehood.”[3]
Our Lady of La Vang became Vietnamized through collaborations & agreements that reached across the Pacific. Clergy from Vietnam had seen the Our Lady of Vietnam statue during a visit to Orange County following the US-Vietnam normalization.
They were impressed by Vietnamese Americans’ commitment to the well-being of Catholics in Vietnam, & their commitment to the preservation of Vietnamese Catholic culture & history despite decades of separation from their homeland. As a result of the trip, the visiting Vietnamese clergy commissioned Nhan Van, creator of Our Lady of Vietnam, to create another Our Lady of La Vang for the anniversary of her apparition.
Pope John Paul II blessed this Vietnamese Our Lady of La Vang statue in Rome on 1 July 1998. He also proclaimed Our Lady of La Vang the patroness of the Catholic Church of Vietnam. Although this religious honor didn't officially recognize the apparition of Our Lady of La Vang, it was a source of inspiration for Vietnamese Catholics throughout the world.
For the first time in history, a Vietnamese icon of the Catholic faith was officially introduced to the global Catholic community. On 13 August 1998, two hundred years after the apparition, more than 200,000 attendees gathered in La Vang to worship Our Lady of La Vang as represented by a Vietnamese woman.
Since her transformation, there have been several visual reinterpretations of Our Lady of La Vang to represent the unique faith & experiences of Vietnamese Catholics. In La Vang, in 2002, the Vietnamese Our Lady of La Vang was replaced with a new version wearing a headdress decorated with 12 stars.
Although some believe that the stars are an allusion to the 12 apostles of Jesus, Vietnamese Catholics abroad have interpreted them as the stars that Vietnamese refugees used to guide themselves to their new homes. In the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Vang in Washington, D.C., completed in 2005, stars are used as a decorative motif throughout the sanctuary as reminders of the Vietnamese diaspora.
Today, statues of the Vietnamese Our Lady of La Vang are popular diplomatic gifts often exchanged between Vietnamese Catholic communities in different countries. In 2002, Pope John Paul II blessed 6 statues of Our Lady of La Vang in Rome & gave them to Catholics in Orange County, who were responsible for distributing them to representatives of 6 different continents.
Through the Vietnamese representation of Our Lady of La Vang, Vietnamese Catholics throughout the world have become reconnected to each other & have transformed the face of the Catholic Church in their image.
In 2010, a stone engraved with the phrase Cộng Đồng Hải Ngoại (Overseas Diocese) was placed at the Our Lady of La Vang Pilgrimage Center during the start of the Holy Year. It recognizes the Vietnamese Catholic diaspora as the 27th diocese of the Catholic Church in Vietnam.
The growing global popularity of Our Lady of La Vang has spurred the construction of a number of parishes named after her outside of Vietnam, including 2 in California. These transnational ties aren't simply nostalgia for the homeland but an effort among Vietnamese Catholics to heal the wounds of war & displacement. The Vietnamese Our Lady of La Vang represents re-connection among Vietnamese Catholics in the diaspora & the homeland after decades of separation.
[1] Min Zhou & Carl I. Bankston, Growing Up American (New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1998), 29.
[2] Peter Phan, “Mary in Vietnamese Piety & Theology: A Contemporary Perspective,” Ephemerides Mariologicae 51 (2005): 457–472.
[3] Van G. Bui, “Huong Ve La Vang” [Toward La Vang], Ky Niem 12 Nam Thanh Lap Cong Doan La Vang [12 Year Anniversary of the Establishment of the La Vang Community] (Orange County, CA), 13.
Thien-Huong T. Ninh is an assistant sociology professor at Consumnes River College & a scholar with research interests in race, gender, religion, & in immigration, particularly forced displacement as in the case of refugees. She is the author of Race, Gender, & Religion in the Diaspora: Ethnic Vietnamese in the U.S. & Cambodia (Palgrave Macmilllan).
Copyright: © 2018 Thien-Huong T. Ninh. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, & reproduction in any medium, provided the original author & source are credited. See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Thien-Huong T. Ninh is an assistant sociology professor at Consumnes River College & a scholar with research interests in race, gender, religion, & in immigration, particularly forced displacement as in the case of refugees. She is the author of Race, Gender, & Religion in the Diaspora: Ethnic Vietnamese in the U.S. & Cambodia (Palgrave Macmilllan).
Copyright: © 2018 Thien-Huong T. Ninh. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, & reproduction in any medium, provided the original author & source are credited. See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
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