Chapter 52 Section 5 Nanjing Shigu Road Catholic Church

Today, on Shigu Road, Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province, there is a large-scale Catholic church called Nanjing Shigu Road Catholic Church.According to legend, it was first built in the Ming Dynasty and was rebuilt in the Qing Dynasty. It is more typical among the existing Catholic churches in Jiangsu. In addition to the chapel, bell tower, wing rooms and other buildings, the church also retains four valuable inscriptions from the Qing Dynasty. One is the "Tianjin Treaty Stele", which is in the shape of a cross. The upper part is engraved with patterns such as cloud patterns, the lower part is engraved with Tang grass and chrysanthemum lotus, and the middle part is engraved with the eighth and sixth paragraphs of the "Sino-French Treaty of Tianjin". The Treaty of Tianjin was an unequal treaty.At that time, missionaries such as Guo Shili, Wei Sanwei, and Ding Weiliang participated in the drafting and signing of the treaty.The treaty included clauses that foreign missionaries could preach and open churches in China at will.

The second is the "Cabinet Entrusted Stele", which is also in the shape of a cross, on the sixth day of March in the first year of Tongzhi in the Qing Dynasty (1862 A.D.).The upper section is engraved with a cloud and crane, the lower section is engraved with a peony pattern, and the middle section is engraved with the text "Zuu asks local officials to quickly and strictly handle the matter of negotiating with the people". The third is the announcement stele of the governor of Liangjiang and the governor of Anhui.On the top is engraved the text "Ji [Kai Kai] Qie Xiaoyue Shizhao is contained in the thirteenth paragraph of the French treaty".

The fourth is the monument painted in the main hall of Jiangning Mansion in the fifth year of Tongzhi (AD 1866).There are words such as "The Priest Hereditary Duke Lei Wenkai, who is in charge of the affairs of the Catholic Church in Jiang'an and other places, for the purpose of promulgating the oracle".The inscription was smeared at one point and has now been restored. These steles are of certain value for us to understand the spread of Christianity in China and the modern history of China. Recently, the church has been renovated and opened to the public for religious activities.