” Enter my heart and stay with me wherever I may go. Grant that one day, through you, I may find rest and peace in my Father’s house.

The Vietnamese community have always had a special devotion to the Blessed Mother. They carry this love for her with them, wherever they go. They trust their mother to keep them in her loving care, just as she cared for those who were privileged to see her at the apparitions at Lavang.

Fearing the persecution against spread of the Catholicism, in 1798 ,many people sought refuge in the rain forest of La Vang in Quang Tri Province Vietnam, and many became very ill. While hiding in jungle, the community gathered every night at the foot of a tree to pray the rosary. One night, an apparition surprised them. In the branches of the tree a lady appeared, wearing the traditional Vietnamese  áo dài dress and holding a child in her arms, with two angels beside her. The people present interpreted the vision as the Virgin Mary and the infant Jesus Christ.   They said that Our Lady comforted them and told them to boil leaves from the trees for medicine to cure the ill.

Legend states that the term “La Vang” was a derivative of the Vietnamese word meaning “crying out”. Modern scholars believe it  as ‘La’ meaning “leaf” and ‘”Vang “herbal seeds”.

Given the strong devotions of the Vietnamese Catholics in Melbourne, decision to build an oratory with many helping hands and open hearts. On Saturday 29th October 2011,

The oratory was officially inaugurated and blessed by Most Rev Vincent Long Nguyen OFM Auxiliary Bishop of Melbourne assisted by Fr. Peter Kim-Huy Hoang SDB