LATROBE, PA – Saint Vincent College will mark the centennial anniversary of Fu Jen Catholic University—founded in China by Benedictines from Saint Vincent Archabbey and later relocated to Taiwan—with an academic conference that will include several presentations and a performance of the Peking Opera.
“One Hundred Years of Faith, Education and Service: Commemorating Fu Jen University’s Benedictine Foundation (1925-1933)” will be held on April 4 at the Fred M. Rogers Center.
To register online for the conference, visit https://jotform.com/SVCEvents/FuJenConference. The deadline is March 17.
Conference attendance is not required to attend the performance by the Peking Opera. The performance at 7 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center in the Robert S. Carey Center is free and open to the public.
“One hundred years ago, Benedictine monks from Saint Vincent began a new chapter for monasticism, the Church and higher education by founding the first major Catholic university in China,” said Father Paul Taylor, O.S.B., C’87, S’91, president of Saint Vincent College. “The difficulties of the times did not impede their enthusiasm for this new mission. We are proud of these monks and those who followed and are delighted to celebrate Fu Jen’s century of success.”
The conference will begin at 9 a.m. with remarks by Rt. Rev. Martin de Porres Bartel, O.S.B., S’85, archabbot of Saint Vincent Archabbey and chancellor of Saint Vincent College; Father Paul.; Francis Lan, president of Fu Jen in Taiwan; and Dr. Sophia Geng, Endowed James and Margaret Tseng Loe Chair for China Studies and director of the Loe China Center at the College.
The conference will run until 5 p.m. and will include two coffee breaks and lunch. Presentations focusing on important figures in Fu Jen’s founding will be delivered by Dr. Fang-Chung Chen, professor of history at Fu Jen; Dr. Jerome Oetgen, C'69, S'73, historian; Dr. Lucas Briola, C’13, assistant professor of theology; Brother Nicholas Koss, O.S.B., P’61, C'66, S’70, professor at Fu Jen and distinguished professor at Saint Vincent College; Father James Flint, O.S.B., subprior, archivist, historian, treasurer and oblate director at St. Procopius Abbey in Lisle, Illinois; and Geng.
The first presentation will be about Ying Lianzhi, a Catholic scholar who sparked the Vatican’s interest in setting up Fu Jen, and Chen Yuan, a historian who became president of Fu Jen in 1929.
Other presentations will highlight former Saint Vincent Archabbot Aurelius Stehle, O.S.B., who was ordered to start a Catholic university in China; Father Barry O’Toole, O.S.B. who was appointed the first president of Fu Jen; Prior Ildephonse Brandstetter, O.S.B., the prior of Benedictines in Beijing; Father Francis Clougherty, O.S.B., a diocesan priest in China; and Father Gregory Schramm, O.S.B., a monk of Newark Abbey who taught at Fu Jen and who was the inspiration for the Loe China Center. About Fu Jen Catholic University
In 1922, Cardinal Willem Marinus van Rossum, C.Ss.R., prefect of the Propaganda Fide, asked the Benedictines in America to establish a Catholic university in China. Three years later, Archabbot Aurelius Stehle, O.S.B., of Saint Vincent Archabbey, sent two monks to Peking.
About one dozen Benedictines ran Fu Jen University until 1933, when financial difficulties caused by the Great Depression forced them to relinquish control of the institution. The Society of the Divine Word, a German missionary congregation, operated Fu Jen until 1952, when the Chinese Communist Party closed all missionary universities.
In the early 1960s, Fu Jen University was re-established in Xinzhuang, New Taipei City, Taiwan, at the request of Pope John XXIII. Saint Vincent Archabbey sent monks to help to work as teachers and established Wimmer Priory. Fu Jen has expanded rapidly over the past 30 years and consists of 12 colleges and a hospital and has more than 25,000 students.
About the Loe Center
The James and Margaret Tseng Loe Center for China Studies at Saint Vincent College promotes cross-cultural understanding between China and the United States through cultural exchange and education. The Center was funded by a generous donation from Dr. Barbara Loe, H’08.
Inspired by the Loe family’s integration of American ideals of freedom, equality and democracy and the Chinese cardinal moral principles of propriety, filial piety, integrity and self-respect, the Center aims to cultivate the idea that there is more that unites people than divides them.
Father Hugh Wilt, O.S.B. (second from left) worked at Fu Jen University in Beijing during its Benedictine years before returning to America to teach at Saint Vincent College. Father Hugh also assisted with the preparations for the reopening of Fu Jen in Taiwan. (Credit: Saint Vincent Archabbey and College archives)
