Lady of Lavang

The name Lavang is derived from a type of fern which used to grow in great quantities in the region of Central Vietnam. 

The root of Marian devotion took root primarily from the Portugese missionaries who first brought Christianity to Vietnam.  When Father Alexandre de Rhodes introduced the modern Vietnamese Calligraphy and the arrival of the first religious order, Société des Missions-Étrangères de Paris, Marian devotion was further encouraged.  Father Rhodes was not merely satisfied with Marian devotion;  he actively pursued the betterment of society through Vietnamese doing Christian deeds.  This order of religious people laborously remained in Vietnam, set up special centers for leperosies and indigenous people from 1800s until the last day of South Vietnam in 1975.  Throughout history of South Vietnam, religious communities such as the Mendicant Orders, Dominicans, Redemptorists, Canones of Saint Augustin, Franciscan Missionaries of Mary, and Vietnamese Lovers of the Cross further promoted Marian devotion, though under different titles such as Lady of Perpetual Help, Lady of Mercy, Lady of Seven Sorrows ...etc...

Lady of La Vang first appeared to the Vietnamese people in 1798 during a most grievous persecution of Vietnamese Catholics and missionaries that began and lasted until 1886. 

After the persecution in 1802, the Christians left their jungle hiding place and returned to their villages. However, the story of the apparition and its message was passed on.
 
In 1820 a chapel was built at the apparition site.  The chapel grew larger to accommodate the ever growing attendees, who drew from the faithful or curious non-believers.  In 1885 the chapel in honor of Our Lady of La Vang was destroyed. After the persecution had officially ended, Bishop Gaspar ordered a church to be built in honor of the Lady of La Vang. Due to its precarious location and limited funding, it took 15 years for the completion of the church of La Vang. It was inaugurated by Bishop Gaspar in a solemn ceremony that was participated by over 12,000 people and lasted from August 6th to 8th of 1901. The Bishop proclaimed Our Lady of La Vang as the Protectorate of the Catholics. In 1886, when the persecutions had finally ended, the construction of a larger church was began. When it was finished in 1901, Our Lady of LaVang was proclaimed as the patron saint of Vietnamese Catholics by the Vatican Apostlelic representative in Saigon.
 
Soon it was no longer able to hold the many pilgrims to La Vang, and in 1923 a new and bigger church was erected. It was consecrated in 1928 (August 22) in the presence of 20,000 pilgrims. Every three years a national pilgrimage was organized for the whole country which was to have a special meaning even after the separation of South and North. In 1959 La Vang was officially declared a national shrine, marking the 300 years of the Christianity in Vietnam (AAS 51 (1959) 84-86).
 
The Church of La Vang was made a basilica minor in 1961.  This church was destroyed in the summer of 1972 during the Vietnam war.  The history of Our Lady of La Vang continues to gain greater significance as more claims from people whose answered prayers were validated. In April of 1961, the Council of Vietnamese Bishops selected the holy church of La Vang as the National Sacred Marian Center. In August of 1962, Pope John XXIII elevated the church of La Vang to the Basilica of Lavang.

On June 19, 1988, Pope John Paul II in the canonizing ceremony of the 117 Vietnamese martyrs, publicly and repeatedly recognized the importance and significance of Our Lady of La Vang and expressed a desire for the rebuilding of the La Vang Basilica to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the first apparition of Our Lady of La Vang in August of 1998.

Pope John Paul II called the basilica to be rebuilt and stressed the importance of our Lady of LaVang in the devotion of Vietnamese Catholics who have suffered much from war and post -war persecution. Several communities in the United States took Our Lady of LaVang as their patron saint as well. 

The most ambitious project for Vietnamese abroad was the construction of a chapel in Basilica of Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC.

In recent years, topics concerning Lady of Lavang surfaced in Wikipedia with critism that this blessed event to the Vietnamese people had never been recognized by the Vatican and its oral history was coerced through the years. Wikipedia article further insinuated that the Vatican "negated" the event for the Lady of Lavang, thus creating a false conception of unaminity based on the recent normalized relations between the Vatican and Vietnam[1].

 

Reference:

1. Vatican and Vietnam continue to strengthen ties, seek full relations. Catholic News Agency.