Wanjin Catholic Church Introduction
The Wan Jin Sacred Mother Church was established in 1861 when Father Gregorio de la Iglesia, a Spanish Dominican missionary, arrived in Taiwan. In 1863, he began constructing the first earthen chapel. During this period, the chapel frequently faced fires and was damaged by earthquakes, leading to its collapse. By 1869, Father Lianggong Ji acquired a piece of woodland with the support of local believers and built the Wan Jin Sacred Mother Church in the architectural style of a Spanish fortress. The materials used for the construction included lime, gravel, kapok, fire bricks, brown sugar, and honey, with no steel structures; nevertheless, the main body of the church is incredibly sturdy. The façade features a twin-tower design resembling Spanish fortresses, with a gable wall in between that bears a traditional horseback image, topped with a cross. The gable is adorned with a crown and the Dominican emblem. The church's interior, including the ceiling murals, side carvings, loft, pulpit, and the altar carried by a platform, is made from wood, combining Eastern Chinese and Western Gothic styles. In 1874, Shen Baozhen, a minister of the Qing court, visited the Wan Jin Sacred Mother Church during a tour of southern Taiwan. After witnessing the harmony and unity among local residents and believers, he believed that religion had the power to promote morality and eliminate ethnic discrimination. He then petitioned the Tongzhi Emperor for permission to grant the church the title of "Divine Command" and secured a sacred stone to be installed above the church entrance, leading to military personnel offering special salutations when passing by. The exterior of the Wan Jin Sacred Mother Church has undergone several renovations to achieve its current style, such as changing the original horseback design to a mountain peak, reconstructing the bell tower centered on the gable, modifying the parapet from a cross-lattice to a railing style, and replacing the wooden framework inside with reinforced concrete. The central ceiling has been adorned with traditional Chinese decorative paintings, and the columns were painted a prominent red. Understanding the renovation process of Wan Jin Church is akin to witnessing the history of the transmission of religion to the East, as the church faced numerous acts of anti-religious hostility throughout the missionary process, undergoing cycles of destruction and reconstruction. In 1984, Pope John Paul II designated the Wan Jin Sacred Mother Church as a "Pontifical Basilica," and the Ministry of the Interior recognized it as a Level 3 Historical Site of Cultural Heritage in Pingtung County in the same year, allowing Wan Jin Church to continue carrying out its mission of preserving history.
