Mission to the Land of the Three Rivers (1933-1952)
In 1035, St. Bernard of Menthon built a hospice on the Mont Joux, the most ancient pass through the Alps.
Part of our China History Archive
Related: Lamas performing Cham Dance in Tibet
The hospice was run by a congregation of canons, with the aim of assisting mountain travelers and providing shelter. In the 16th century the hospice, together with the pass, was named Great St. Bernard. The hospice’s fame was also due to the dogs used in mountain rescues, named after this patron saint of mountaineers and climbers.
From Reconnaissance to Mission: 1930-1933
Before the four missions proper began, the canons of the Great St. Bernard sent a reconnaissance expedition to the region in 1930-1931, led by canons Pierre-Marie Melly and Paul Coquoz. On the strength of their report, the chapter of the Great St. Bernard dispatched the first formal mission in 1933, again with Melly and Coquoz, accompanied this time by Brother Louis Duc and the layman Robert Chappelet. On arrival, the group was welcomed by Father Victor Bonnemin of the Missions Étrangères de Paris (M.E.P.), whose mission stations the canons were taking over. The mission’s operational center was established at Weixi (known locally as Weisi), where Pierre-Marie Melly served as first superior; when ill health forced his return to Switzerland, he was succeeded by canon Cyrille Lattion. Further reinforcements followed over the following years, including canons Gore, Bourgeois, Lovey, Nanchen and Detry, who joined the mission in the late 1930s.
Between the Three Rivers
Their area extends from north to south, confined between the natural barriers of the Yangtze River (长江), the Salween River, known in China as the Nu River (怒江), and the Mekong River, known as the Lancang River (澜沧江), from Yanjing (known in Tibetan as Yerkalo) to Weixi. The views offered by the three rivers, separated by mountains reaching heights of more than 4,500 meters, are breathtaking and unique, a landscape today recognized as part of the Three Parallel Rivers region.
Schools, a Hospice, and the Martyrdom of Maurice Tornay
During the mission’s twenty years in Yunnan, the canons took over the French M.E.P.’s mission stations. They built a shelter, began the construction of a hospice on the peak of Latsa, and opened many schools, in particular Hualuoba school. Most notably, the canons were able to enter an almost impenetrable universe of diverse ethnicities, religions, customs, and traditions.
Among the canons who served the mission was Maurice Tornay, born in Orsières, Switzerland, in 1910, who arrived at the Yunnan mission in 1936 and was named parish priest of Yerkalo in June 1945, the only Catholic post then established inside independent Tibet. Hostility from local lamas led to his expulsion in January 1946. In July 1949, hoping to plead the cause of religious freedom for Christians directly with the Dalai Lama, Tornay set out for Lhasa with a caravan but was turned back partway; on 11 August 1949 he and his Tibetan servant were ambushed and shot at the Choula Pass on the Sino-Tibetan border. He was buried in the mission garden at Yerkalo, and Pope John Paul II beatified him as a martyr of the faith in Rome on 16 May 1993. The mission itself came to an end in 1952, as the last canons were expelled from the region amid the political upheavals of the period.
Photographic Archives and the Exhibition
Father Jules Detry, one of the canons who reinforced the mission, was the author of numerous photographs documenting daily life, religious ceremonies and the peoples encountered along the way. At the Canons of the Great St. Bernard’s archives in Martigny, ample materials with extraordinary documentative and anthropological value were unearthed. This exhibition was the result of extensive research financed by CASCC (Center for Advanced Studies on Contemporary China).
Source: CinaOggi.it
Topics: Great St. Bernard mission Yunnan, Maurice Tornay Tibet mission
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