HENGCHOW, diocese of. — In the civil province of Hunan, in central China, it was erected as an apostolic vicariate, with territory detached from the mission of Changsha, on 23 July 1930, and entrusted to the Order of Friars Minor, which sends Italian religious from various regular provinces there for missionary work; on 11 April 1946, with the establishment of the episcopal hierarchy in China, it was raised to a diocese, suffragan of Changsha.
It has an area of 17,000 sq. km. In June 1949, out of a total population of approximately 3,000,000 inhabitants, there were 11,912 Catholics and 485 catechumens; apart from approximately 2,000 Protestants, the rest were pagans. The missionary personnel, in addition to the bishop, consisted of 11 Chinese secular priests and 15 Franciscan religious priests, 4 of them Chinese. There were 30 students in the preparatory seminary and 14 in the minor seminary. The sisters numbered 25 Chinese and 3 Italian; there were 33 catechists, 85 teachers, and 51 baptizers. The territory was divided into 4 forane vicariates, with 15 primary and 66 secondary stations, 15 churches, and 54 chapels. The institutions included 1 hospital with 110 beds, 6 medical dispensaries, 1 orphanage with 85 girls, and 1 home for the elderly with 30 residents. The elementary schools had 663 pupils, the only middle school 496, and the 11 schools of prayer and elementary instruction 486.
The territory of the mission of H. contains more memories of Christian preaching in the civil province of Hunan than any other area: the Jesuits passed through it in the seventeenth century; in H., in 1816, Blessed Giovanni Lantrua da Triora was imprisoned and later strangled at Changsha; here Father Michele Navarro resided, first as provicar of the apostolic vicariate of Hukwang and then as the first apostolic vicar (1856–77) of the vicariate of Hunan, whose see was situated on Hwangshawang Hill, near H., also sanctified by the residence of the three martyrs of 1900: Fantosati, Cesidio, and Gambaro. When, in 1879, the Hermits of St. Augustine took charge of the apostolic vicariate of northern Hunan, today partly the diocese of Changheth (v.), they found a single missionary centre at Kiakai-tse, formed by 45 Christians originating from H.
cultivate the land, attract and instruct the pagans in religion and in agricultural work, while at the same time offering them the example of an orderly, hygienic, and profitable way of life. In 13 years he had already established six principal stations, connected by approximately 400 “farm-chapels.” Having relinquished the office of superior in 1901, he retired to the recently founded station of Wombali, where he devoted himself to his Negroes without any concern for himself until his death.
An abundant collection of letters by Father H., exceptionally rich in infor-