Catholic Church of Yerkalo

The Catholic Church of Yerkalo[1] also Yanjing Catholic Church (Chinese: 盐井天主教堂) is a Christian temple located in Yerkalo (Tibetan: Tsakalo, Wylie: tsha kha lho, meaning "salt pit"), a village between 2650 and 3109 meters above sea level at the southern end of Markham County (Chamdo, Tibet Autonomous Region) in present-day China.

Catholic Church of Yerkalo
盐井天主教堂
LocationYerkalo, Chamdo, Tibet
Country China
DenominationRoman Catholic Church

History

It was founded in 1865 by Félix Biet and Auguste Desgodins, French missionaries of the Foreign Missions of Paris. The mission was based in Xinjiang but some of its missionaries opted to proselytize in Tibet. Within a few years, Tibetan marauders supported by Buddhist lamas killed 10 priests and destroyed all but one Catholic mission which was based in Yanjing.[2] Bringing with them thirty-five of their faithful,[3] having been expelled from the main mission of Bonga in Yerkalo, conquered by the Chinese empire, were legally established in some plots of land with the complicity of the population and silence of local leaders . Historically, China and Tibet disputed the possession of the Yerkalo saline wells, which passed from one side or the other of the Sino-Tibetan border. Finally, in 1932, the village was placed under the administration of the Lhasa government.

According to the Xinhua news agency, the establishment of a small Catholic parish in Tibet was not an easy task. Frequent clashes took place between Catholics and nearby groups, culminating in the death of one of Father Biet's successors, Father Maurice Tornay in 1949.

Architecture

The exterior of the church features traditional Tibetan design while the interior has European Gothic designs. The church holds weekly services in the Tibetan language. As of 2014, the church had one priest, two sisters and services a estimated 559 worshippers around the area.[4]

See also

References
  1. "A Catholic church in Tibet - China.org.cn". www.china.org.cn. Retrieved 2017-01-21.
  2. Pomfret, John (4 December 2000). "Faith In Shangri-La". Washington Post. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
  3. Mission-Thibet. "Yerkalo". mission-thibet.org (in French). Retrieved 2017-01-21.
  4. "The only catholic church in use in Tibet". China Daily. 11 March 2014. Retrieved 2020-08-23.

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