Missionary-Builders: Scheut Fathers as Church Designers and Constructors in Northern China

Many missionaries were confronted once in their life with the challenge of building a parish hall, a school, or even a church. Some were just enthusiasts and thought to be able designing and conducting construction works on their own. Other felt not concerned by material tasks and delegated their responsibilities to local people. In both cases, lack of experience and professionalism could lead to bad construction or banal architecture. This was not good for the public image of the mission. Therefore most missionary institutes tried to have specialised missionaries-builders, who were experienced brothers and fathers, or, in the best cases, graduated architects. What do we know about Scheut Fathers who built churches in China from the 1860s to the 1940s? Except the renowned Father Alphonse De Moerloose CICM who designed dozens of gothic churches and four cathedrals in Northern China from 1899 to 1929, it is difficult to identify other important missionary builders. Fathers Leo De Smedt CICM, Leo Vendelmans CICM, Jozef Michiels CICM, etc. are known for having designed one individual building ––respectively the cathedral of Xiwanzi, the cathedral of Hohhot, and the church of Wuhao––, but they were not professionals. Contrary to Belgian Congo, Scheut did not sent brothers to China. This paper makes a clear distinction between design and construction. On the one hand, many missionaries had more or less clear ideas about the style of the church they wanted to build and some were able to draw sketches. On the other hand, some missionaries had acquired experience about building materials and construction techniques. They were able to execute plans designed by a Western architect, follow technical instructions from handbooks, manage teams of local workers, and supervise construction and maintenance works. In all cases, building a church was an encounter of Western forms and techniques with Chinese building practices. Style was a crucial aspect of both the design and the construction of a church. An evolution in three main steps can be defined: 1. Chinese traditional constructions hybridised with Western-Christian elements (before 1900)2. Western style buildings, especially in Gothic and Romanesque styles, with little or no Chinese elements (from 1900 to the late 1920s)3. Chinese-Cristian style, as promoted by the indigenisation policy of the Holy See from the second half of the 1920sBetween the late 1940s and the late 1980s no churches were built in mainland China. The international debate about sacred architecture and modernity in the 1950s and 1960s took place in Hong Kong and in Taiwan, but never in mainland China. It is, therefore, a crucial issue for church construction in China today, where recent “postmodern churches” still contain explicit references to Western styles. The paper will conclude with the unsuccessful attempt of Brother architect Paul Dequeker CICM, the great church builder in Congo, to improve church design in China in the late 1990s.

ISBN:9-789492-768032

Jaar van publicatie:2018