Da Nang Cathedral

A soft pink church stands among the streets of central Da Nang, and its pointed bell tower climbs about 70 meters into the sky. This is Da Nang Cathedral. People in the city are used to calling it Nhà thờ Con Gà, the Rooster Church.

High on top of the bell tower sits a small statue of a rooster. Tiny as it looks from the street, that rooster gives the church the most down-to-earth name in Da Nang.

The rooster comes from a story in the Bible. On the night before Jesus was to suffer, he spoke to Saint Peter, one of his closest disciples. Before the rooster crowed, he said, Peter would deny him three times. Peter did not believe it. But that night, when soldiers arrested Jesus, Peter stood outside in the courtyard and three times denied that he knew Jesus. When the rooster crowed, Peter remembered the words of Jesus and wept bitterly.

For this reason, on most Catholic churches built in the French style, a rooster stands at the top of the bell tower. It is a reminder to wake up, to repent, and not to wait for the rooster's crow before feeling regret. Beyond that spiritual meaning, the rooster has a practical job too. It turns with the wind, acting as a weather vane.

The statue here is made of a light alloy and is hollow inside. It is coated with a special chemical so that it can withstand more than a hundred years of rain, sun and sea air on the central coast.

The church was built under the direct supervision of Father Louis Vallet, a French priest. Work began in February 1923. The front was finished that September. On March 10, 1924, the church was consecrated and opened, after only 13 months of building. It is the only Catholic church built by the French in Da Nang during the colonial period.

The architecture is Gothic, marked by soaring lines, pointed arches, a floor plan in the shape of a cross, and colored glass windows that tell Bible stories. The outer walls are painted soft pink, a color that has become the church's signature look.

This is the Rooster Church of Da Nang, not the one in Da Lat. Two cities, two entirely different churches.

In 1963, the Holy See in the Vatican decided to establish the Diocese of Da Nang, separated from the Qui Nhơn Diocese. Bishop Phêrô Maria Phạm Ngọc Chi was appointed its first bishop. This church was chosen as the cathedral of the diocese, the place where the most important ceremonies of the whole Da Nang Diocese are held.

Behind the church is a small grotto, copied from the grotto of Our Lady at Lourdes, a town in southern France. There, Our Lady is said to have appeared to a peasant girl named Bernadette in 1858. The grotto here was opened on February 11, 1940, on the very anniversary of that apparition.

In the churchyard early in the morning, the sun has just come up and its light falls on the pink walls. It is easy then to see why the people of Da Nang keep a special place in their hearts for this church. High on the tall tower, the small rooster turns with the wind, keeping watch over the city as it has for more than a hundred years.