Chinese VIncentian Pilgrmage to Rome – Canonization of Clet

Fr. Tom Sendlein’s account of the pilgrimage of a group of Chinese to Rome to attend the canonization of Francis Regis Clet.
The journey of Francis Regis Clet was long and exhausting ? six long months. In his day, there were no airplanes, just a boat. The way was roundabout. The exact destination was unsure. The terrain was difficult. The political situation was hostile. The language was a mystery. It was a journey from France to the so-called ?Middle Kingdom?, which seemed to the French the far side of the world and from which Francis Regis Clet realized that he would never return. Only his remains made the journey back to France.

Two hundred and nine years later, the journey or ?pilgrimage? was the same distance, but only took an exhausting day.

           The means of transport was not a ship, but a crowded uncomfortable airplane. The way was not as roundabout as before, just stops in Bangkok and in the Netherlands. The destinations were Paris and Rome. The political situation was again hostile. A fresh controversy, precisely because of the canonizations, was erupting between the Vatican and the People?s Republic of China. The languages of French and Italian seemed mysterious to the Chinese pilgrims from Taiwan. We were on a pilgrimage to Paris to pay respects to Clet where his remains are entombed at the Chapel of St. Vincent de Paul and a pilgrimage to Rome to share in the ceremony, which publicly elevated Francis Regis Clet to the ranks of the saints.

http://www.famvin.net/cm/apostolic/missions/china/pilgrimage.html>http://www.famvin.net/cm/apostolic/missions/china/pilgrimage.html