Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Taipei (Agenzia Fides) – Since March 10, the parish dedicated to Saint Joseph, in Lu Chou, Archdiocese of Taipei, has been praying a novena in preparation for the feast of its patron, Saint Joseph, recalling the 122 years since its foundation and its founder, Fr. Celedonio Arranz, OP. The Parish was built by the Dominican missionary and inaugurated on March 19, 1887, becoming the first Catholic Church in the northern part of the island of Taiwan. It suffered a flood, war, and various natural disasters. It was rebuilt in 1976. The religious of the first Chinese religious congregation, founded by Cardinal Celso Costantini while he served as Apostolic Delegate in China - “Disciples of the Lord” - took up pastoral leadership of the parish on December 19, 1942, the year of the erection of the Diocese of Taipei. Today under the guidance of Korean pastor Fr. Thomas Aquinas Park, the parish maintains a strong evangelizational activity through the Legion of Mary, the Missionary Association, Sunday School, the Youth Association, and others...
Fr. Celedonio Arranz, OP, Spanish missionary born May 3, 1853 and ordained a priest in 1876, was sent to the Far East with the mission of evangelizing and arrived in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, in 1879. He carried out various missions in Chia Yi, Chang Hua, and to the north of the island of Formosa. After 26 years of missionary work, he set off for the Diocese of Xia Men, on the mainland, in 1905, upon the invitation of the diocesan Bishop. He died in 1922, in Xia Men, after 43 years of service to the mission in China. He is considered the father of the evangelization effort in the north of Taiwan. (NZ) (Agenzia Fides 18/03/2009)
