LA VANG CHURCH – THE MOST FAMOUS CATHOLICS’ HOLY LAND IN VIETNAM
La Vang church is well-known with the names as La Vang holy land or our lady of La Vang. It is one of the top must-see place of the tourists when visit Vietnam’s old battlefields.
La Vang church
location and history of La Vang church
La Vang holy land belongs to Hai Lang commune, Quang Tri province. It is about 55 km to the north of Hue City.
According to the Archives of the Archdiocese of Hue, King Canh Thinh ascended in 1792. He issued a ban, which forbade Catholicism. Some believers must seek refuge at La Vang Mountain, sacred forests of poisoned water, the plight of the poor, the lack of food, the sickness, the fear of the soldiers, the fear of beasts. They gather together under the banyan trees, praying and helping each other.
One day, Blessed Virgin Mary appeared and helped them to overcome the diseases of the sacred forests. Thus, the La Vang church was built under the three banyan trees in 1798 along with the absolute trust in the holy land.
The name of La Vang Church
Modern scholars believe the name came from a plant in the area. La means “leaf” and Vang is the name of an “herbal seed” which cured the disease for the believers at that time. Others believe that the name came from a Vietnamese word that means “crying out” to denote the cries for help of people being persecuted.
What to visit at La Vang Church
The pilgrimage to La Vang, the tourists has the chance to visit the Our Lady of La Vang statue. In reality, this is a “monumental” construction with the height of 3.9 m. Especially, the face of the Virgin Mary, though gentle and gentle of a young Vietnamese woman, still exudes the noble spirit of a model of the world. Furthermore, the visitors can see the bell tower of the Basilica of Our Lady of La Vang. Regrettably, the Basilica was destroyed by the war in the summer of 1972.
In addition, the travelers can see a series of 14 sculptures, which depict the course of Jesus’ passion. Especially, there is a well in the La Vang Holy Land. In fact, every believer come here, they always drink a sip of water to express their homage to Our Lady. Moreover, a lot of believers believe well water can cure diseases.