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Reflections on a Wandering Life.....
Monday, February 18, 2008
Click for larger image.
Got an interesting letter the other day from Georges Hauptmann, a professor in Strasbourg, France. He had been doing some research on his family, and came upon this blog. In 1891, a monastery was built in the countryside near Taiyuan in Shanxi Province. A Franciscan father by the name of Barnabas Meistermann was in charge of the construction of this monastery. Meisterman was the cousin to Prof. Hauptmann's great grandmother. In trying to get information about this monastery, Prof. Hauptmann found my entry of October 5, 2004. I was, at the time, staying at the present day monastery guest house because Jean and Claire and I were visiting an orphanage.
On the top of the hill is a church affiliated with the monastery. It's not the main church people go to, because you have to climb the hill to get there. But it is quite well known, because of it's unique traditional Chinese architecture. Jean and Claire and I had climbed the hill in the early morning to look at it. As we were coming down the hill, I saw, over to one side, a scene so astonishing that at first I could not comprehend it. It was an old medieval monastery right out of the Middle Ages. Perhaps if you live in Europe, this would not be so unusual. But I had never seen anything like it, except in history books, and seeing it now in the remote countryside of China was really quite a surprise. I just had to go down and have a look. The others continued on their way, and I went down to explore it by myself. When I got down there I thought, "I can't believe I'm seeing this." It had obviously been abandoned (perhaps not voluntarily), and I was told that it was occupied by local squatters, although I understand that it has been officially returned to the local diocese.
The picture above is from the biography of Barnabas Meistermann, which was published in 1936. Not sure exactly when the picture was taken, but I suppose it doesn't matter. I am quite sure this is the same one I saw. I was not able to get a picture of it myself, because of my battery problem (see October 2, 2004). If anyone has information about this monastery, I would be interested in hearing from you. It's quite evident that the local people don't appreciate its value, and perhaps that's a good thing. I would sure hate to see it become commercialized the way the Buddhist monasteries have.
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Got an interesting letter the other day from Georges Hauptmann, a professor in Strasbourg, France. He had been doing some research on his family, and came upon this blog. In 1891, a monastery was built in the countryside near Taiyuan in Shanxi Province. A Franciscan father by the name of Barnabas Meistermann was in charge of the construction of this monastery. Meisterman was the cousin to Prof. Hauptmann's great grandmother. In trying to get information about this monastery, Prof. Hauptmann found my entry of October 5, 2004. I was, at the time, staying at the present day monastery guest house because Jean and Claire and I were visiting an orphanage.
On the top of the hill is a church affiliated with the monastery. It's not the main church people go to, because you have to climb the hill to get there. But it is quite well known, because of it's unique traditional Chinese architecture. Jean and Claire and I had climbed the hill in the early morning to look at it. As we were coming down the hill, I saw, over to one side, a scene so astonishing that at first I could not comprehend it. It was an old medieval monastery right out of the Middle Ages. Perhaps if you live in Europe, this would not be so unusual. But I had never seen anything like it, except in history books, and seeing it now in the remote countryside of China was really quite a surprise. I just had to go down and have a look. The others continued on their way, and I went down to explore it by myself. When I got down there I thought, "I can't believe I'm seeing this." It had obviously been abandoned (perhaps not voluntarily), and I was told that it was occupied by local squatters, although I understand that it has been officially returned to the local diocese.
The picture above is from the biography of Barnabas Meistermann, which was published in 1936. Not sure exactly when the picture was taken, but I suppose it doesn't matter. I am quite sure this is the same one I saw. I was not able to get a picture of it myself, because of my battery problem (see October 2, 2004). If anyone has information about this monastery, I would be interested in hearing from you. It's quite evident that the local people don't appreciate its value, and perhaps that's a good thing. I would sure hate to see it become commercialized the way the Buddhist monasteries have.
