St. Joseph's convent and Chapel

St. Joseph's convent and church have a history of nearly 200 years. The front of the convent is a false marble altar, and there is an old and artistic confession Pavilion inside. On the tower on the right side of the church are two bronze bells, one big and one small, which were built by the famous Italian foundry, petalihua.

St. Joseph's convent and Chapel

St. Joseph's convent and church were founded in 1727. They are located in the front of Macao's hilltop. St. Joseph's convent and church, located in front of the Gangding in Macao, won the UNESCO Asia Pacific Heritage Protection Award in 2001. In 2005, it became part of Macao's historical city and was listed on the world cultural heritage list.

Structural layout

The convent of Saint Joseph was founded by Jesuits in 1728, and the chapel adjacent to the convent was completed in 1758. St. Joseph's church and the collapsed St. Paul's church are rare Baroque buildings in China. The main altar is dedicated to the statue of St. Joseph, while the left and right altars are dedicated to Jesus and the Virgin Mary. A dome with a diameter of 12.5 meters and a top height of 19 meters, the main hall of the sanctuary is vaulted by four sail arches, with two rings and 16 windows in each, providing ventilation and lighting functions. The forearm bone of St. Francis shabello, the first Jesuit to preach in the Far East, is available for worshippers.

Creation process

（1） Construction and maintenance

The convent of Saint Joseph of Macao is located in the southeast of Macao on a hill formerly known as mofeno, which is now sanbazai cross street. The side door is in front of the hilltop. St. Joseph's convent was founded by Jesuits in 1727 (the fifth year of Yongzheng reign of the Qing Dynasty). The main part of the convent was completed on February 22, 1728. The convent and the holy Hall (also known as the three sages' holy Hall) were originally dedicated to the "three wise men", namely the three kings who worshiped Jesus Meizhiai, badasa and jaspa were founded by Italian Catholic missionaries in 1746 (the 11th year of Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty) and completed in 1758. They were restored in 1865, and two columns were moved to support the new chanting tower. In 1903, the interior of the church was rebuilt again. In 1953, Lord Luo ruowang planned to repair it again, which formed the scale of today. St. Joseph's convent is a special training center for missionaries in China, while St. Paul's church is a training center for missionaries in Japan. Since St. Joseph's convent was founded later than St. Paul's church, the Chinese call St. Paul's Church "Da San Ba" and St. Joseph's Convent "San Ba Zai".

（2） The historical development of Saint Joseph's Convent

1. The Jesuits were expelled from Macao many times

As an organization that established the convent, the rise and fall of the Jesuits also led the fate of the convent in the past 200 years. In the late 18th century, the missionary work of the Jesuit Church in the world was extremely not smooth. First, it was influenced by the dispute over "Chinese etiquette", and then it was rejected by European countries. In 1758, the Jesuits were wanted because they were accused of assassinating the Portuguese royal family. In 1762, the friars of Saint Joseph's convent and other Jesuits were taken to Lisbon to be imprisoned. Under the influence of these circumstances, the convent was paralyzed. In 1834, the Portuguese king ordered the dissolution of all the convents, so the clergy of Macao parish were regarded as laymen and expelled from the convent of Saint Joseph. At that time, the missionaries in charge of the convent were no exception, so the academic affairs were again affected. In 1870, the Portuguese government issued a new law forbidding foreigners to hold religious posts in Portuguese lands, and many Jesuits were forced to leave. In 1910, Portugal overthrew the monarchy and expelled Italian Jesuit priests again. The church was managed by the Catholic Church.

2. Revitalizing the monastery

There have been many great events and twists and turns since the establishment of St. Joseph's convent, but it still stands: Jesuits were first left Australia for 20 years in 1762, and the convent was reduced to an orphanage in this period. In 1783, the bishop invited several priests to Australia to reopen the convent. In 1862, there was only one student and several students left in the convent. However, because the Portuguese government approved bishop Marten's request, Jesuits could return to the convent to teach. In 1870, there were 377 students. In 1871, because the government sent teachers to the convent to teach, it almost became a public middle school. The town hall later consulted with Lisbon. In 1893, the Jesuits were allowed to return to Australia to preside over the convent. They reorganized the scale of the convent and educated a large number of Portuguese and Chinese priests. In 1930, bishop St. Joseph once again invited Jesuits back to Australia to manage the convent.

From 1940 to the middle of 1960, the cultivation of the clergy was at its peak. As a result of the war, the students from Hong Kong and other regions had been studying in the convent for a long time. The influx of a large number of talents created a strong academic atmosphere.

3. The establishment of the Chinese and Portuguese Academy

In the 1940s, most of the lower classes in society had no access to education. A small number of them, in order to strive for learning opportunities, asked the teachers of Saint Joseph's convent to teach them some simple knowledge, so they formed a small classroom in a small house near the convent, and gradually developed, with more and more participants. In 1931, father maanser, the abbot of the convent, joined two priests, Bai Anmin and Yan yanruo. Using the convent property at No.1 sanbazi street as the school building, Saint Joseph Chinese Portuguese school was officially established to provide a new learning place for the children at that time. The next year it was renamed St. Joseph's middle school. The headmaster is father Yan yanruo. It was not until 1938 that the Holy See banned the convent from taking in foreign students. So he ordered the closure of St. Joseph's Portuguese academy, and St. Joseph's middle school was separated from the convent, and then gradually developed into a large-scale St. Joseph parish middle school.

（3） The historical development of St. Joseph's Cathedral

1. To the heart of Jesus

In 1900, because the Pope realized that there was no church in the world that belonged to the sacred heart of Jesus, he ordered to send out a church to offer it to the holy heart of Jesus. Finally, he chose St. Joseph's Church in Macao, so St. Joseph's church was established by the pope as the main church dedicated to the sacred heart of Jesus. The place dedicated to the heart of Jesus is in the great arch behind the present statue of St. Joseph. In ordinary times, the image of Jesus' heart will be placed in the present position of the image of St. Joseph, but in important mass, the image of Jesus' heart will be placed in the arch. The archway was not as high as it is now, but people always think that the higher and bigger the statue, the more powerful it will be, so they built several classes under the archway. As a result, the church in the name of St. Joseph actually took the sacred heart of Jesus as its main protector. However, when father Li Shunzong, the current abbot of the convent, took office, he felt that this arrangement was not proper, because the main protector of the church was St. Joseph. How could he do this? It was not in accordance with the ceremony, so he ordered people to remove the sacred heart of Jesus and put the statue of St. Joseph back in the center.

2. Become a cultural heritage

The convent of Saint Joseph has been with Macao for more than two centuries. All the time, we have cultivated a lot of friars and clergy for the church, and also cultivated a lot of talents for our society. For hundreds of years, the monastery has been standing still, and has experienced many ups and downs with Macao, witnessing the rise and fall of Macao over the centuries. Architecture plays a more important role in connecting the past and the future, and also has a great inspiration for the design of many buildings in the future. But it is not only in architecture, but also in culture, religion, Academy and people's life. Such as promoting the spread of Catholicism in Macao, the introduction of western theories and so on. Because it plays an important role in history, architectural style, culture and art. The Cathedral of Saint Joseph's Convent has now been rated as one of the buildings of artistic value by the Cultural Bureau. The convent of Saint Joseph is temporarily suspended. But we will keep in mind the contributions they have made to us in the past.

architectural style

St. Joseph's Abbey

Next to Hedong library is the entrance of Saint Joseph's convent. Beside the entrance, there is a statue of the virgin, which beautifies the simplicity of the side door and makes it more solemn and sacred. In 1728, after the founding of the monastery, all parts of the monastery were built by land. The long wooden corridor, wide stone steps and quiet inner courtyard in the monastery can reflect the style of palaces and religious buildings that appeared everywhere in Europe at that time. The monastery is divided into three floors, namely the ground floor, the second floor and the third floor. In addition, there are four gardens (the front garden, the second floor and the third floor) After many repairs and changes, the convent has lost its original style.

Saint Joseph's Cathedral

St. Joseph's Cathedral belongs to the Baroque architectural style. The S-shaped column is the symbol of Baroque style. There are many columns of this type in the cathedral. In addition to the S-shaped column, the Baroque architecture also uses rich carving and the matching of gold and yellow to make the building have a sense of splendor. The temple can give people such a feeling, which shows that it has a strong baroque style. This can be felt from its classical and gorgeous layout. At the same time, all the columns in the hall are designed in the ancient Greek era, showing the classical taste. The length of the sanctuary is 22 meters, while its width is 13 meters. The layout of the hall adopts the Greek cross. In the center is the main altar and on both sides is the vice altar. It is also the only church with a dome in Australia. The dome is 19 meters above the ground. In the middle of the dome is the mark of the Jesuit Church. There are glass caissons around it

Chinese PinYin : Sheng Ruo Se Xiu Yuan Ji Sheng Tang