Thousands celebrate addition of Our Lady of La Vang shrine to Christ Cathedral

Thousands gathered at the Christ Cathedral on Saturday, eagerly waiting for the unveiling of a shrine to Our Lady of La Vang.

As the blue drapery was lowered revealing the 12-foot-tall statue, applause erupted from the largely Vietnamese audience.

Portrayed as she is said to have appeared in 1798 in a forest in central Vietnam, the statue of the Virgin Mary wears a traditional áo dài dress and holds the baby Jesus. The Marian apparition is said to have comforted persecuted Catholics who took refuge in the rain forest of La Vang and has remained a source of strength and hope for Vietnamese-Americans as they fled war and journeyed to the United States, many finding homes in Orange County.

“This will be a great spiritual benefit for those who love the Blessed Mother and rely on her loving care and protection,” said Le Tin Huong of Huntington Beach, one of the many donors who made the shrine possible. “Our Vietnamese Catholic traditions have very special devotions to the Blessed Mother and especially Our Lady of La Vang.”

The statue and shrine will be the centerpiece of the Diocese of Orange’s future Marian Court – a garden planned on the large campus for honoring the Virgin Mary.

The 12,000-pound statue took a year and a half to sculpt from white Carrara marble. More than 5,000 donors funded the $12.6 million project – some contributed up to $500,000, but many more gave smaller amounts, officials said.

The shrine includes an overhead structure with a glass roof to shelter the statue that is held up by decorative posts to represent the forest she appeared in. The ribbon of metal forming the overhead structure is in the alpha shape and unwraps into a wall inscribed with the names of 117 martyrs who were killed in Vietnam from the 18th century to 19th century, said Dr. Huan Le, who represented the committee formed by the diocese to shepherd the shrine project. He said its design was meant flow with the “renown architecture of our Christ Cathedral.”

But the shrine is yet to be complete. A fountain below the martyr wall is still to be installed and rosary gardens for praying.

“I feel like she is closer, she’s here with us,” Tina Nguyen of Irvine said, as a Mass begin after the blessing of the statue. “Our whole community worked very hard for this. We are very proud she is here with us.”

The unveiling marked the second anniversary of the dedication of the Christ Cathedral – once the Crystal Cathedral before it was acquired and renovated as the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange County. The large shrine is in a prominent place on the campus near the large mirrored cathedral.

“This is also a sacred day of gratitude and joy for all of us,” Bishop Kevin Vann said during the ceremony.

The afternoon event opened with musical and dance performances, including the Thiên Ân drummers group and 19 choirs from around the diocese joining together as one. Also, 223 teens and younger children performed a liturgical dance, the number representing the number of years since the Our Lady of La Vang apparition.

“People from all around the world shared a vision,” Dr. Le said of the effort to build the shrine. “Giving Catholics from all parts of the world a place to celebrate our faith and culture here in the great diocese of Orange. Today, through the intercession of Mary, we have all made the vision, our dream, come true.”