FENGSIANG (FONGSIANG), DIOCESE OF. — It is located in northern China, in the civil province of Shensi. It was established as an apostolic prefecture on 16 November 1932, with territory detached from the mission of Sian, and entrusted to the Friars Minor of the regular province of China. On 9 June 1942 it was elevated to an apostolic vicariate and on 11 April 1946, with the establishment
(from J. Braun, Der Christliche Altar, I, Monaco 1924, rev. II)
FENESTELLA CONFESSIONIS – Altar with f. c. (6th century). The mensa is modern – Ravenna, Baptistery.
of the episcopal hierarchy in China, the suffragan diocese of Sian. The bishop’s residence is in the city of Paoki, which has developed in recent years and become one of the principal cities in the entire province.
It has an area of 12,000 sq km. On 30 June 1948 the total population was approximately 1,000,000 inhabitants, of whom 8,829 were Catholics and 2,439 catechumens, 1,400 Muslims and 2,300 Protestants; the remainder were pagans. The missionary personnel consisted, besides the bishop, of 40 priests, all Chinese, 28 of them Franciscan religious. There were also 4 Franciscan lay religious and 14 Franciscan sisters, all Chinese. The auxiliary missionary personnel comprised 11 catechists, 14 baptizers, 9 physicians and 6 nurses.
In the territory, divided into 18 districts, there were 3 primary and 103 secondary stations, 17 churches and 45 oratories or chapels. The institutions included 1 hospital with 29 beds, 4 outpatient clinics which during the 1947–48 year had provided 53,561 consultations, 1 orphanage with 50 residents, and 3 schools of prayer with 94 pupils.
Catholicism, first preached in this region under the emperor Wang-li of the Ming dynasty, between 1625 and 1630, was unable to establish itself permanently, because of the continual persecutions, until the beginning of the 20th century. On 28 October 1911, the first year of the Chinese Republic, the rebellion known as that of the “White Heads” took place here; the rebels massacred 208 faithful, burned more than 30 churches, destroyed and set fire to the homes of the Christians, who, numbering approximately 5,000, found assistance through the charity of an extremely wealthy pagan named Chang-erl. The subsequent recovery and the renewed missionary revival encountered, and continue to encounter, serious difficulties, first in the Sino-Japanese War and then in the civil war.