Hello everyone, today I would like to introduce you to a place full of history and faith - Notre Dame Cathedral of Xujiahui. It is located at No. 201 Caoxi North Road, Xuhui District, Shanghai, and is the general name of the monastery and its affiliated institutions run by the Society for the Salvation of the Dead and the Congregation of the Church near the Jesuit General Compound in Xujiahui.
It was built in 1855 and was originally located in Hengtang, Songjiang. In 1860, in view of the increasing approach of the Taiping army, the Salvation Society moved to Zhangjialou in Pudong and Dongjiadu in Nanshi. In 1864, it was moved to the Wangjiatang area near Xujiahui. In 1867, Bishop Lang Huairen invited the sisters of the Society for the Death to come to Shanghai to assist in the mission. In 1868 he built a new building on the east side of the Jesuit General Compound in Xujiahui, which was completed the following year. In 1869, the Congregation was officially established and moved to a new building, where the first Salvation Sisters also settled to take on the task of ordaining virgins. On September 8 of that year, the opening ceremony of the Junior College was held and 32 virgins were enrolled. The Xujiahui Notre-Dame Cathedral was thus finally formed.
In the 80 years from 1869 to 1949, more than 600 nuns were trained. In addition, as early as the establishment of the Dedication Church in Hengtang, there was a Nursery Hall, which was moved to Notre Dame Cathedral with the Dedication Church in 1869, and was undertaken by the Salvation Society. Initially, the nursery handed over the adopted babies to nurses to raise, and from 1871 onwards, the nursery gradually set up institutions such as small hair head rooms, small classes, and large classes (orphanage homes) to raise orphans of different ages. Among them, the male orphans were sent to the Tushanwan Orphanage when they grew up. Orphan girls enter orphanage homes, where they generally marry orphans in Tushanwan Orphanage and stay in Notre Dame to do manual labor. In the more than 70 years of existence, the nursery has taken in more than 10,000 infants.
Between 1869 and 1949, Notre Dame also established the Qiming Girls' School (now Shanghai No. 4 Middle School), a kindergarten, a school for the deaf and mute, as well as embroidery rooms, tailors' rooms, laundry and other institutions.
In 1953, the president of the Life Saving Society was expelled from the country. In 1955, the dedication church ceased its activities. In 1958, some of the nuns of Notre-Dame were dismissed, while the rest merged with other convents to become the Diocese Convent of Shanghai. At the end of the 20th century, the nuns moved to the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes in Tang Tomb Bridge, and the site was rented. It is now rented for Shanghai Old Station Restaurant.
The building in the former site of the existing building Xujiahui Notre Dame Cathedral was built in 1926 and is a five-story steel-concrete structure in European architectural style. In 1994 and 2007 respectively, the building was listed as the second batch of outstanding historical buildings in Shanghai and the cultural relics protection unit of Xuhui District.