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During much of the 18th century, the nation of Vietnam was embattled in various struggles for power and domination. The northern regions of the kingdom fell under the authority of the lords of the Trinh family, while in the southern realm the Nguyen lords took power. As the eighteenth century drew toward its close, both of their rules were shaken and threatened by peasant uprisings and emerging rebel forces.
The strongest among the many uprisings was led by the three brothers from Tay Son. In short order, they overthrew the Nguyen lords and defeated the Trinh lords to restore national unity for the first time since the decline of the Le dynasty. A Tay Son brother was enthroned to be King Quang Trung. In 1792 he passed away and left the throne to his son who became King Canh Thinh.
Meanwhile, Nguyen Anh continued his insurgency in trying to reclaim his throne. Earlier in his run from the Tay Son rebels in 1777, he found refuge on Phu Quoc Island, where Monsignor Pierre Pigneau de Behaine of the Society of Foreign Missions directed a seminary for youths from neighboring countries. The bishop persuaded him to seek help from King Louis XVI of France.
King Canh Thinh knew that Nguyen Anh received support from the French missionary and worried that the Vietnamese Catholics would also endorse his reign. He began to restrict the practice of Catholicism in the country. On August 17, 1798, King Canh Thinh issued an anti-Catholic edict and an order to destroy all Catholic churches and seminaries. A most grievous persecution of Vietnamese Catholics and missionaries began and lasted until 1886. Even after Nguyen Anh succeeded in reclaiming his throne as Emperor Gia Long (1802-1820), his successors, Emperor Minh Mang (1820-1840), Emperor Thieu Tri (1841-1847) and Emperor Tu Duc (1847-1884), continued the vehement campaign against Catholics, ordering punishments that ranged from branding their faces to death by various cruel methods for Vietnamese Catholics and missionary priests.
The first apparition of the Lady of La Vang to the Vietnamese people was noted during the great persecution in 1798
The name to the location varied as local dialects took references. Some said the name Lavang is from the word for Yellow Leaves (Vietnamese: Lá Vàng), or Striped Leaves (Vietnamese: Lá Vằng), while some argued that it is from the words for Yelling Loud (Vietnamese: La Vang). The word was transformed through word-of-mouth and French influence into LaVang.
Nevertheless, it began as royal decrees were enforced by series of fierce persecution on Vietnamese Catholics. All Catholic Churches and seminaries were destroyed and Catholic lay people and priests were maimed or killed in gruesome ways. In the year 1798, Our Lady of LaVang first appeared.
Catholics from the town of Quang Tri had come to the forest of LaVang to hide. They suffered from cold, were in fear of wild animals and were sick with jungle ever and hunger. During the night they prayed the rosary under a banyan tree; and while praying one night they saw an apparition of a woman in a long cape, with a child in her arms, and with an angel at each side. They recognized the woman in the apparition of Mary, the mother of Christ. The Holy Mother comforted the people and told them how to make medicine for their sickness from the leaves of the surrounding trees. She also told them that whoever came to this place to pray would have their prayers answered. Through out the almost one hundred years of persecutions as many Vietnamese Catholics were burnt alive for the faith. Many unconfirmed apparitions continued for people who came to that spot in the forest to pray, even to this day. From the first apparition a small chapel had been built.
When the Nguyen Dynasty finally gave in to French ships bombardment, the Emperor issued decrees to end Christian persecutions. Unfortunately, over-zealous supporters continued the traditions of razing Christian villages and forcing Christian women to marry Buddhist men. These operations, called Văn Thân, after a obscured magistrate, continued to terrorize early Christianity.
From the time the Lady of Lavang first appeared, the people who took refuge there erected a small and desolate chapel in her honor. During the following years, Her name was spread among the people in the region to other places. Despite its isolated location in the high mountains, groups of people continued to find ways to penetrate the deep and dangerous jungle to worship the Lady of Lavang. Gradually, the pilgrims that came with axes, spears, canes, and drums to scare away wild animals were replaced by those holding flying flags, flowers and rosaries. The pilgrimages went on every year despite the continuous persecution campaigns.
In 1886, after the persecution had officially ended, Bishop Gaspar ordered a church to be built in honor of the Lady of Lavang. Because of its precarious location and limited funding, it took 15 years for the completion of the church of Lavang. It was inaugurated by Bishop Gaspar in a solemn ceremony that participated by over 12,000 people and lasted from August 6th to 8th, 1901. The bishop proclaimed the Lady of Lavang as the Protectorate of the Catholics. In 1928, a larger church was built to accommodate the increasing number of pilgrims. This church was destroyed in the summer of 1972 during the Vietnam war.
The history of the Lady of Lavang continues to gain greater significance as more claims from people whose prayers were answered were validated. In April of 1961, the Council of Vietnamese Bishops selected the holy church of Lavang as the National Sacred Marian Center . In August of 1962, Pope John XXIII elevated the church of Lavang to The Basilica of Lavang.
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