HANYANG, Diocese of. - In central China in the province of Hupeh, erected as an apostolic prefecture on 12 Dec. 1923 by division of the apostolic vicariate of Eastern Hupeh, today the archdiocese of Hankow (v.) and entrusted to the Irish Society of St. Columban for the Chinese missions; on 14 July 1927 it was elevated to an apostolic vicariate and on 11 Apr. 1946, with the establishment of the episcopal hierarchy in China, to a diocese suffragan of Hankow.
It has an area of 10,000 sq km. As of 30 June 1947, out of a total population of about 4,000,000 inhabitants, Catholics numbered 55,760; the missionary personnel, besides the bishop, counted 44 priests, of whom 4 were from the Chinese secular clergy, 3 Irish lay brothers, 18 Chinese sisters and 12 foreign sisters. The 2 medical dispensaries had given, in the year 1946-47, 29,656 consultations; the 10 primary schools educated 299 pupils. Earlier statistics gave the territory divided into 4 rural vicariates with 28 primary stations and 552 secondary ones; 32 churches and 99 chapels; among the works there figured 1 orphanage with 20 children and 1 women's workshop with 72 pupils.
The Christian origins of H. are common with those of Hupeh and especially with those of Hankow, from which the mission was detached.
Bibliography5 works
Adamo Pucci