The Siege of Beitang (Our Lady of Deliverance, Empress of China) скачать в хорошем качестве

The Siege of Beitang (Our Lady of Deliverance, Empress of China)

This is probably the most epic battle I have read. The Boxer Uprising (1899-1900) was an anti-foreign and anti-Christian uprising in North China between 1899 and 1900, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by the Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists. As part of their coordinated attack against foreigners and Christians, they besieged the Cathedral of the Saviour or the Beitang Cathedral, from June to August 1900. The Cathedral was under the control of Bishop Pierre-Marie-Alphonse Favier, C.M., Apostolic Vicar of the Archdiocese of Beijing. Due to the growing threat, days before the siege, the Cathedral was flooded by around 3000 Chinese Catholic refugees. In addition to the Chinese refugees, there were around 100 European refugees and 800 orphans. Bishop Favier asked for help from the French command, and the French was only managed to send only 30 marines under the command of 24-year-old Lieutenant Paul-Charles-Joseph Henry. The young lieutenant told the Bishop, “I shall be happy to die in so worthy a cause. I hope that God will open Paradise to me. If I am to die, I shall not die until you no longer need me.” Looking at the small number of defenders, the Bishop pleaded to various European commands for more troops, but his plea was ignored, except by the Italians, who sent 11 marines under the command of Lt Angelo Olivieri. Not long after Olivieri arrived, the siege began. The first wave of assault consisted of 300 Boxers, and it was repelled. For the next few days, the Boxers kept attacking but were always defeated with heavy casualties. On 24 June, they received support from the Imperial Chinese army. Under the cover of the imperial canons, the Boxers managed to push back the defenders by capturing a nearby wall. However, the French and Italian soldiers managed to retake the wall, push back 700 Boxers, and silence the canons. The Boxers returned, again being supported by canons and rocket artillery. The latter caused fire in some of the mission facilities. Casualties started to fall. To make matters worse, the defenders started to run out of supplies. The refugees were under a strict ration, and this led to starvation. Many children died of smallpox. Among the admirable figures in the siege was Sister Helen de Jaurias, the Superior of the Sisters of Charity in Beitang, of whom it is said that she possessed the virtue and character of their foundress, Saint Louise de Marillac. Her siege diary provides proof of this: despite having to lodge and feed 1,800 women and children, she overcame the burden of old age and fatigue, and she recorded the daily events of the siege until her death on August 20. She went, as she expressed it, “to observe from Heaven the triumph of Holy Church and the conversion of China." The daily assault and bombardment continued. On July 11, a mine exploded under the courtyard. Although it did not cause significant damage, it shook the morale of the defenders. By this time, the Marines only have around 100 cartridges left. Civilians barely have enough rice to survive, and all newborns have died because their mothers were not able to produce milk due to the lack of food. On July 30th, the command of the French Marines was transferred to Olivieri since Lt Henry received his crown of martyrdom. On August 4th, the number of the Boxers had swelled to 10,000 men. The violence escalated. On August 10th, another mine exploded, injuring Olivieri and killing 4 out of 5 Italian Marines that were with him. Several days later, the Boxer infantry attacks stopped, but the bombardment continued. On the 16th of August, a column of Japanese soldiers managed to break the siege, followed by the Western troops. The siege claimed the lives of 5 French Marines, 6 Italians, and around 300-450 Chinese Catholics. During the siege, Bishop Favier and Lt Henri noticed that the Boxers kept shooting at the roof of the Cathedral every night. After the liberation, some of the Boxer prisoners claimed that they saw a white Lady walking along the roof, and the balustrade was lined with white soldiers with wings. This was the reason why they fired at the roof. Their miraculous survival was attributed to the appearance of a woman in white, Our Lady of Deliverance. Bishop Favier had a chapel erected in thanksgiving in the church of Beitang in her honour. She is represented as the Empress of China holding in her arms the Child Jesus, who is depicted as an imperial prince. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lyrics: Milites Ecclesiae