FUNING, DIOCESE of. — It belongs to the civil and ecclesiastical province of Fukien, in central-eastern China. It was erected, with the rank of apostolic vicariate, on 27 December 1923, with territory detached from the mission of Foochow, and was entrusted to the Preachers of the Province of the Most Holy Rosary in the Philippine Islands; on 11 April 1946, with the establishment of the episcopal hierarchy in China, it was raised to a suffragan diocese of Foochow; on 13 June of the same year, the Dominicans ceded its governance to the Chinese secular clergy. The residence of the Ordinary is in the city of Santuso, on the island of the same name.
It has an area of 14,000 sq km. On 30 June 1948, the total population was estimated at 1,300,000 inhabitants; of these, 27,326 were Catholics, 401 catechumens, and 2,500 Protestants; the remainder were pagans. The missionary personnel properly so called comprised 15 Chinese secular priests, 14 Spanish Dominicans, and 1 indigenous Dominican. There were 35 minor seminarians and 21 major seminarians (at the regional seminary in Foochow). At Kesen, in the apostolic school for Dominican religious vocations, 37 students had gathered. There were 2 Chinese and 2 foreign women’s religious institutes, with 50 indigenous sisters and 10 European ones; 48 catechists, 47 teachers, and 1 physician. The territory was divided into 5 districts, with 21 primary and 44 secondary stations. The 45 prayer schools had 1,507 pupils, and the elementary school had 200 students. War, banditry, poverty, and plague have caused a decline in some statistical figures and activities.
Within the territory of this diocese are the cities of Fuan and Muyang, which recall the martyrdom of Blessed Francesco de Capillas (1643) and the capture of Blessed Pietro Sans (1747) and his companions (1748). For the Christian origins V. FOOCHOW.