St. Theresa’s Church: A Shanghai Story
The story of St. Theresa’s Church is the story of Shanghai. From the 1927 White Terror to French Jesuit missionaries, a 19th century saint, 20th century radios, and a 21st century reimagining.
St Theresa’s was completed in 1931, and from the beginning was truly a church of this cosmopolitan city: located in the International Settlement, built for the Chinese community, funded by the French Jesuit mission and wealthy Chinese Catholics.
St. Theresa’s was the answer to a prayer. During the 1927 White Terror, two priests were killed and Mission property was at risk. The fearful missionaries prayed that that if they were spared, they would build a church. They were, and they did.
It was named for St Therese of Lisieux, the Little Flower. Canonized in 1925, her autobiography, Story of a Soul, was translated into Chinese and its message found a ready audience: by performing little acts of virtue, she said, ordinary people could achieve extraordinary spirituality.
Theresa’s message resonated deeply with the ordinary people of Siwen Li, the lane neighborhood surrounding the church. By 1936, there were 1,000 converts, a girls’ high school with nearly 900 pupils, a dispensary for the poor, and a resident Chinese priest.
During the Cultural Revolution, the church became the Qunyi Radio Factory, turning out radios and tape recorders, with an added floor under the vaulted ceiling for extra space. The building deteriorated, but even as Siwen Li began emptying out, the church was restored. Angels were added to the niches; nuns were taught how to make stained glass, and the windows were restored. The church reopened for services.
The neighborhood has changed, there’s no doubt about it. The Siwen Li lanes are empty, its façades painted over with glossy nostalgia, and a mall now stands opposite the church. The church schools and the Benevolence dispensary for the poor is long gone, replaced by Party history.
But the church that was the answer to a prayer still stands, its stories intact, just as it’s done for nearly a century.
