St John's Cathedral,; Sichuanese romanization: ''Shen Io Han Tso Tʽang''. today known as Gospel Church,; Sichuanese romanization: ''Fu In Tʽang''. is a

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

church situated on Yangtianjing Street in the

county-level city A county-level city () is a County-level divisions of China, county-level administrative division of the China, People's Republic of China. County-level cities have judiciary, judicial but no legislature, legislative rights over their own local or ...

Langzhong Langzhong (formerly known as Paoning) is a county-level city in northeastern Sichuan province, China, located on the middle reaches of the Jialing River. It is administered as part of the prefecture-level city of Nanchong. Langzhong has a total ...

Nanchong Nanchong ( zh, c=南充 , p=Nánchōng , w=Nan-ch'ung; Sichuanese: lan2cong1) is a prefecture-level city in the northeast of Sichuan province, China, with an area of . At the 2020 census it was home to 5,607,565 people, of whom 1,936,534 liv ...

Sichuan Province Sichuan is a Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capita ...

. Founded in 1908, the church had been the

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

cathedral, originally designated as a

pro-cathedral A pro-cathedral or procathedral is a parish Church (building), church that temporarily serves as the cathedral or co-cathedral of a diocese, or a church that has the same function in a Catholic missionary jurisdiction (such as an apostolic prefect ...

, of the Szechwan Diocese (and later of East Szechwan) of the Church in China, and the largest Anglican church in

Southwest China Southwestern China () is a region in the People's Republic of China. It consists of five provincial administrative regions, namely Chongqing, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, and Xizang. Geography Southwestern China is a rugged and mountainous region, ...

. It has been subjected to the control of the state-sanctioned Three-Self Patriotic Church since 1954.

History

The first Anglican church in Langzhong (then known as Langchung, Paoning or Paoning Foo aoning / Baoning Fu, the Trinity Church, built in 1893, had become too small as the number of converts had increased. After a series of problems, St John's was eventually built on Yangtianjing Street, under the supervision of

William Cassels William Wharton Cassels (11 March 1858 – 7 November 1925) was an Anglican missionary bishop. Early life and education Cassels was born in Oporto, Portugal, the sixth son of John Cassels, a merchant, and Ethelinda Cox, a distant relation of Wa ...

, one of the

Cambridge Seven The Cambridge Seven were six students from Cambridge University and one from the Royal Military Academy, who in 1885, decided to become missionaries to China through the China Inland Mission. The seven were: * Charles Thomas Studd * Montagu ...

, and the then

missionary bishop A missionary bishop is one assigned in the Anglican Communion to an area that is not already organized under a bishop of a church. The term was also used in the Methodist churches at one time, but this was discontinued in 1964. Anglican churches I ...

in the Diocese of Western China. Construction began in 1913 and finished in 1914. The cathedral was designed by the Australian architect George A. Rogers, and built in the fusion of

neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

and traditional Sichuanese architectural styles. It occupies an area of nearly 4000 square metres, with a cemetery, a library, a well, a flower garden and a vegetable garden. Cassels died in 1925 and buried in the garden of St John's.

Montagu Proctor-Beauchamp Sir Montagu Harry Proctor-Beauchamp, 7th Baronet (19 April 1860 – 26 October 1939) was a British Anglican Christian missionary. Biography Proctor-Beauchamp was the fourth son of Sir Thomas William Brograve Proctor-Beauchamp, 4th Baronet, a ...

, also one of the Cambridge Seven, was buried in the cemetery of the cathedral in 1939. After the communist takeover of China in 1949, Christian Churches in China were forced to sever their ties with respective overseas Churches, which has thus led to the merging of St John's into the communist-established Three-Self Patriotic Church.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint John's Cathedral, Langzhong

20th-century Anglican church buildings in China

Churches completed in 1914 Religious organizations established in 1908 Buildings and structures in Nanchong

History

See also

Notes

References