Our Lady of Sheshan

Devotions

The Shanghai hilltop basilica of Our Lady Help of Christians, and the day of prayer Pope Benedict XVI designated for the Church in China.

Our Lady of Sheshan is a Marian devotion centered on the Basilica of Our Lady Help of Christians, built on a hill outside Shanghai by Jesuit missionaries in the nineteenth century. In his May 2007 letter to Chinese Catholics, Pope Benedict XVI designated May 24, the shrine’s own feast of Mary Help of Christians, as a World Day of Prayer for the Church in China, composing a dedicated prayer to Our Lady of Sheshan the following year that Catholics worldwide continue to pray on that date.

Quick Facts

Category: Marian Apparitions and Shrines — Major International Devotions
Origin: A hilltop shrine built by Jesuit missionaries near Shanghai, China, beginning in 1863, honoring Mary under the title Help of Christians
Feast: May 24, kept at Sheshan as the feast of Our Lady Help of Christians and, since 2007, as the World Day of Prayer for the Church in China
Church status: An ecclesially recognized shrine and devotion; Pope Benedict XVI designated its feast a worldwide day of prayer in 2007 and composed a dedicated prayer to Our Lady of Sheshan in 2008
Private revelation: Not necessary to the devotion as a matter of faith; the devotion rests on a Marian title and shrine history rather than a reported apparition

What Is This Devotion?

Devotion to Our Lady of Sheshan centers on a hilltop basilica outside Shanghai, China, where a large statue depicts Mary standing with arms outstretched, holding the Christ Child above her head, beneath her feet a dragon representing evil overcome. Beyond its local history as one of China’s most important Catholic pilgrimage sites, Sheshan has become internationally significant as the namesake of a day of prayer the whole Church now keeps each year for the Catholic community in China, one of the relatively few Marian titles to carry that specific, worldwide liturgical purpose.

Origin and History

Jesuit missionaries purchased property on Sheshan, a hill southwest of Shanghai, in 1863 and built a retreat house with a small chapel there; the Bishop of Shanghai, Adrien Languillat, S.J., consecrated the chapel on March 1, 1868, blessing an image of Mary copied from a venerated statue of Our Lady of Victories in Paris. During the unrest of the Taiping Rebellion, a local priest vowed to build a larger basilica on the hilltop if the Shanghai diocese was spared serious harm, and Bishop Languillat consecrated the resulting basilica in 1873; Pope Pius IX granted indulgences to pilgrims visiting the shrine the following year. The devotion continued through decades of political upheaval in China, and the original statue was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution, with only its dragon-motif base surviving; a new statue, blessed in 2000 by Bishop Aloysius Jin Luxian, now stands in its place, and the basilica, returned to the administration of the Shanghai diocese in 1981, remains an active and prominent pilgrimage site.

Sheshan’s wider international significance dates to Pope Benedict XVI’s letter to the bishops, priests, consecrated persons and lay faithful of the Catholic Church in China, issued on the feast of Pentecost, May 27, 2007. In it, the pope proposed that May 24 — already kept at Sheshan as the feast of Mary, Help of Christians — become an occasion each year for Catholics throughout the world to unite in prayer with the Church in China. The following year, on May 15, 2008, Benedict XVI composed a dedicated Prayer to Our Lady of Sheshan, published ahead of the first World Day of Prayer for the Church in China on May 24, 2008, and the day continues to be marked by Catholic communities worldwide, with the shrine itself remaining a living center of pilgrimage and prayer for Chinese Catholics.

Catholic Theology

The image of Mary lifting the Christ Child above a defeated dragon expresses, in vivid visual form, the Church’s confidence that no earthly power can ultimately overcome the faith Christ entrusted to his Church — a message with particular resonance for a community that has known real hardship in living out that faith publicly. Benedict XVI’s own prayer to Our Lady of Sheshan asks Mary to protect and guide Chinese Catholics in fidelity and communion, reflecting the ordinary Catholic conviction that Marian intercession supports the Church precisely in circumstances where believers face pressure or difficulty in professing their faith openly.

How to Practice It

Join the World Day of Prayer for the Church in China on May 24 each year, praying Pope Benedict XVI’s own Prayer to Our Lady of Sheshan.
Pray for the Catholic community in China, its bishops, priests and lay faithful, especially for unity and fidelity amid real pastoral challenges.
Learn the shrine’s history, from its 1863 Jesuit founding through the Cultural Revolution to its restoration since 1981.
Meditate on the Sheshan statue’s imagery — Mary holding Christ aloft above a defeated dragon — as an image of hope for the Church in difficulty.

Associated Prayers

When It’s Observed

May 24 is kept at Sheshan as the feast of Mary, Help of Christians, and since 2007 has served as the World Day of Prayer for the Church in China, observed by Catholic communities around the world; it is not a separate universal feast on the General Roman Calendar, but the date carries real, Church-wide significance through Benedict XVI’s own designation.

Church Status

Our Lady of Sheshan holds strong, directly documented papal support: consecration and indulgences granted by Pope Pius IX in the nineteenth century, and, more recently, Pope Benedict XVI’s own 2007 letter and 2008 prayer, which gave the shrine’s feast day a specific, worldwide liturgical purpose it did not carry before. The Church’s recognition here concerns both the legitimacy of the shrine and devotion itself and the pastoral significance the Holy See has deliberately attached to its feast day as an occasion of prayer for the whole Church.

Common Misconceptions

“Pope John Paul II wrote the well-known Prayer to Our Lady of Sheshan.”

He did not. The prayer widely associated with Sheshan and prayed each May 24 was composed by Pope Benedict XVI, dated May 15, 2008, following his 2007 letter to Chinese Catholics that first proposed the day of prayer. John Paul II had died in 2005, three years before this prayer was written, so the attribution to him is a common but mistaken conflation.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does the statue at Sheshan depict?

A large image of Mary standing with arms outstretched, holding the Christ Child above her head, with a dragon representing evil beneath her feet — a striking departure from more conventional Marian statuary, emphasizing Christ’s triumph even amid hardship.

Why was May 24 chosen as the World Day of Prayer for the Church in China?

May 24 was already kept at the Sheshan shrine as the feast of Mary, Help of Christians. Pope Benedict XVI proposed in his 2007 letter to Chinese Catholics that this existing local feast become the occasion for Catholics worldwide to unite in prayer for the Church in China.

What happened to the original Sheshan statue?

It was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution, with only its dragon-motif base surviving. A new statue, blessed in 2000 by Bishop Aloysius Jin Luxian, now stands at the shrine, and the basilica has remained an active pilgrimage site since being returned to diocesan administration in 1981.