Southern Cathedral (Nantang)

Located at 181 Qianmen West Street in the Xuanwumen area, the Southern Cathedral, also named St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception Church was built in 1703. It was formerly erected on the site of the house where the missionary Matteo Ricco lived. The building standing today is the fourth Southern Cathedral; the other three were destroyed in the past. While in 1979, the Southern Cathedral was the only place to conduct masses, with the biggest attendance being no more than 80. Nowadays, the Eastern Cathedral, the Church of St. Joseph, is also open. The average attendance at the two cathedrals is 400 on weekdays, 2, 000 on Sundays and more than 15, 000 for Easter and Christmas services. The church is now fully functioning. It does baptisms, confessions, Holy Communions, confirmations, weddings, ordinations, and last rites. Every year the church baptizes 300 people, confirms 200, and marries 100 couples. Both people wanting to be married by the church must be Catholics. An English service mass is only available at 10 am, December 25.