Nuns hospitalized after fasting to save building

Seven nuns in Tianjin have been hospitalized with dehydration after a five-day fast aimed at getting the government to return a Church property.

About 20 members of the Sisters of Charity took part in the “fasting prayer” at Charity Mansion, the property in dispute, near the Wanghailou Church.

Charity Mansion is one of the oldest church buildings in Tianjin diocese

The Nankai district government sold Charity Mansion, with a long history of Church use, to a property developer four years ago. Since then the nuns have petitioned the government in a bid to prevent new construction work.

In September one nun was injured in a scuffle with construction workers who arrived at the building with bulldozers.

Church sources told UCA News on Nov. 24 that the hospitalized nuns had started to eat soup and local Catholics had urged the remaining nuns to abandon their fast.

“I felt like crying to see them down on their knees, continuing their prayer fast in freezing weather,” one Church insider said.

Sister Yang, the congregation´s superior, met with government officials to negotiate on Nov. 24, the day the nuns were taken to hospital, UCA News was told.

The authorities have proposed a 400-square-meter plot of land and a 200-square-meter new church building in exchange for Charity Mansion, but the nuns have rejected that, sources said. They pointed out that the disputed property occupies about 6,000 square meters.

Some mainland Catholic websites that carried messages calling for prayers for the nuns have been blocked.

Charity Mansion, where the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul ran an orphanage in the church compound in the 18th century, is one of the oldest Church buildings in Tianjin.

The original building was burned down in 1870 by an angry mob in what is known as the Tianjin Church Incident. Angered by rumors that the nuns were abusing children in their care, the mob stormed the premises, killing 10 nuns, other foreigners and dozens of orphans.

The replacement building was destroyed in 1900 during the Boxer uprising, which also targeted foreigners.

The existing building dates from 1903 and was used by the Church until the 1950s, when the Communist government expelled all foreign missioners from the country.

It faded from memory, until a local newspaper mentioned it in 2003. The Sisters of Charity nuns moved into the building in 2005, the same year that the government sold it. The authorities cut off the water and electricity in 2006, but the nuns remained, carrying drinking water from a nearby church and using flashlights at night.