Litany in Chinese verse

Sydney
14 April 2002

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Litany in Chinese verse

By Marilyn Kerjean

Members of the Chinese Catholic community composed a litany in honour of St Thérèse – in the sparse and elegant form of Chinese classical poetry – to coincide with the visit of her reliquary to St Mary’s Cathedral.

The couplets were composed by John Li, Joseph Chow and Mary Liu, parishioners at St Peter Julian’s Church, Haymarket.

They honoured the saint in a litany arranged in 14 Chinese couplets – short poems written in classical Chinese.

The litany was read in Mandarin, Cantonese and English, in an hour-long devotion before the reliquary at St Mary’s Cathedral last Sunday night.

The theme of the devotion was also a call to prayer and a reminder of the proper place of saints’ relics: Memory recalled at the sight of the relics. Be reverent. Be reverent.

Each short but evocative prayer covers an aspect of the saint’s life or spirituality, or a petition for the community, the diocese or the Church in China.

Prayers written in the unique style of classical Chinese poetry are a common feature of worship in the Chinese Catholic community, says Joseph Chow.

And devotion to St Thérèse is popular among many Chinese Catholics as well, he says. Many have her as their patron saint, for example.

Fr Greg Homeming, regional vicar of the Discalced Carmelites, St Thérèse’s order, who is of Chinese descent, was invited to the special veneration.

The prayer litany read in three languages was a timely reminder of St Thérèse’s wish to make God loved by people all over the world.

Some couplets referred to the saint’s personality or influence still evident today:

An open mind shining bright like sun and moon.

Your lively innocence is childlike, pure.

You have imitated the holy infant saviour, enduring hardships until death, as it was only one day.

While reading the history of your spiritual life, we are aware that you, although a girl, can be a model forever.