HANYANG, DIOCESE OF
In central China, in the province of Hupeh, it was erected as an apostolic prefecture on 12 Dec. 1923 by division of the apostolic vicariate of Eastern Hupeh, now the archdiocese of Hankow (q.v.), and entrusted to the Irish Society of St. Columban for the Chinese missions. On 14 July 1927 it was raised to an apostolic vicariate and on 11 Apr. 1946, with the establishment of the episcopal hierarchy in China, to a suffragan diocese of Hankow.
It covers an area of 10,000 sq. km. As of 30 June 1947, with a total population of about 4,000,000, the Catholics numbered 55,760; the missionary personnel, besides the bishop, included 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 recorded 29,656 consultations in the year 1946–47; the 10 primary schools enrolled 299 pupils. Earlier statistics showed the territory divided into 4 deaneries with 28 main stations and 552 secondary ones; 32 churches and 99 chapels; among the works were an orphanage with 20 children and a women’s workroom with 72 pupils.
The Christian origins of H. are shared with those of Hupeh and especially with those of Hankow, from which the mission was detached.
Church of Dai-on.