 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Our Lady of La Vang" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(October 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| Our Lady of La Vang | |
|---|---|
 Statue of Our Lady of La Vang atLa Vang Basilica | |
| Location | La Vang,Vietnam |
| Date | 17 August 1798 |
| Type | Marian apparition |
| Approval | Not officially recognized by theHoly See |
| Shrine | Basilica of Our Lady of La Vang,Vietnam |
| Patronage | Vietnamese Catholics,Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Huế |
| Feast day | 15 August 27 August (Archdiocese of Huế)[1] |
_September%2c_1967.jpg)
| External image | |
|---|---|
 http://www.stripes.com/blogs/archive-photo-of-the-day/archive-photo-of-the-day-1.9717/damaged-cathedral-in-vietnam-1972-1.146467 War damage to Our Lady of La Vang church, July 7, 1972. Source:Stars and Stripes. |
Our Lady of La Vang (Vietnamese:Đức Mẹ La Vang) is aRoman Catholic title of theBlessed Virgin Mary associated with a purportedMarian apparition during the persecution of Christians inVietnam. The namesake shrine is located today inHải Lăng District ofQuảng Trị Province in Central Vietnam.
Pope John XXIII raised her shrine to the status ofMinor Basilica via the decreeMagno Nos Solacio on 22 August 1961. The decree was signed and notarized by CardinalAngelo Dell'Acqua.
Fearing the spread ofCatholic religion, theEmperorCảnh Thịnh restricted the practice of Catholicism in the country in 1798. Soon thereafter, the emperor issued an anti-Catholic edict and persecution ensued.
Many people sought refuge in the rainforest ofLa Vang in Quảng Trị Province, Vietnam, and many became very ill. While hiding in the jungle, the community gathered every night at the foot of a tree to pray the rosary. One night, an apparition surprised them. In the branches of the tree a lady appeared, wearing the traditional Vietnameseáo dài dress and holding a child in her arms, with two angels beside her. The people present interpreted the vision as the Virgin Mary and the infantJesus Christ. They said thatOur Lady comforted them and told them to boil leaves from the trees for medicine to cure the illness. Legend states that the term "La Vang" was a derivative of the Vietnamese word meaning "crying out". Another hypothesis is that La Vang is distorted from the toponymLá Vằng,lá meaning leaf andvằng meaningJasminum nervosum, a tree species whose leaves are used to made atisane; according to an ancient practice, a location was sometimes named after a prominent local species of plant or animal.[2]
In 1802 the Catholics returned to their villages, passing on the story of the apparition in La Vang and its message. As the story of the apparition spread, many came to pray at this site and to offer incense. In 1820, a chapel was built.
From 1830 to 1885 another wave of persecutions decimated the Catholic population, during the height of which the chapel in honour of Our Lady of La Vang was destroyed. In 1886, construction on a new chapel began. Following its completion, Bishop Gaspar (Loc) consecrated the chapel in honour of Our Lady Help of Christians in 1901.
On December 8, 1954, the statue of Our Lady of La Vang was brought from Tri Bun back to the holy shrine. The Vietnamese Bishops Conference chose the church of Our Lady of La Vang as the National Shrine in honour of the Immaculate Conception. La Vang became the National Marian Center of Vietnam on April 13, 1961.Pope John XXIII elevated the Church of Our Lady of La Vang to the rank of a minor basilica on August 22, 1961. It was destroyed again during theVietnam War in 1972.
Though there is no official Vatican recognition of this event as a Marian apparition, on June 19, 1998,Pope John Paul II publicly recognized the importance of Our Lady of La Vang and expressed his desire to rebuild the La Vang Basilica in commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the first vision.[3] In 2012, the new basilica officially began construction with the endorsement from the Vietnamese government. A ceremony and Mass took place with the laying of the first cornerstone of the Basilica. The cornerstone was blessed the year prior by CardinalIvan Dias, Prefect of theCongregation for the Evangelization of Peoples and special envoy ofPope Benedict XVI during the Closing Mass of theCatholic Church in Vietnam's Jubilee Year that celebrated 50 years of the establishment of the episcopal hierarchy in Viet Nam.[4]
In May 2022, ArchbishopJoseph Nguyễn Chí Linh announced the dedication and consecration of the new basilica to take place during the La Vang congress in 2023, which happens from 14 to 15 August.[5] As of June 2025, the new Basilica is still not completed due to many reasons. Subsequently, Archbishop Linh was appointed to oversee the construction of the Pilgrimage Center and Basilica.[6]
In the Philippines, the Our Lady of La Vang Church at Viet Ville, Barangay Santa Lourdes inPuerto Princesa City inPalawan. Our Lady of La Vang has become a patroness of Puerto Princesa and patroness of Palawan. She was known asInang Lala (Mother Lala).[citation needed]
Alabama
Media related toOur Lady of La Vang at Wikimedia Commons
Apparitions approved by theCatholic Church | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Papal inscription of an associated feast on the General Roman Calendar |
|  | ||||
| Approval of the apparition and its veneration |
| |||||
| Approval of veneration only |
| |||||
| ||||||