ICHANG, DIOCESE of. — Mission established on 11 September 1870 through the division of the apostolic vicariate of Hupeh, in central China (v. HANKOW). It was then called the apostolic vicariate of southwestern Hupeh, a name changed to that of the apostolic vicariate of I. on 3 December 1924. A first division of its territory, on 7 July 1936, gave rise Shasi (v.), and through a further division on 14 June 1938 the apostolic vicariate of Shihman (v.) was erected; with the establishment of the episcopal hierarchy in China, on 11 April 1946, the mission of I. was elevated to a diocese, suffragan of Hankow. From its foundation it has been entrusted to the Order of Friars Minor, which sends there the Fathers of the Belgian regular province of St. Joseph.
Within its present boundaries it has an area of approximately 30,000 sq km. On 30 June 1948, out of a total population of approximately 2 million, there were 15,551 Catholics and 1,046 catechumens. In addition to the bishop, there were 38 Belgian Franciscans and 1 Chinese Franciscan, and 10 Chinese secular priests. In the preparatory seminary 28 students were studying, in the minor seminary 11, while in the regional seminary of Hankow there were 10 clerics assigned to I., including philosophers and theologians. The auxiliary personnel consisted of 85 sisters, 71 of them Chinese; 113 catechists; 145 teachers; 117 baptizers; 7 physicians, 5 of them sisters; and 15 nurses. The territory, divided into 8 districts, had 24 primary stations and 186 secondary stations, 7 churches, and 29 chapels. Its institutions included 1 hospital with 7 beds, 6 medical dispensaries, 3 orphanages housing 212 residents, and 2 homes for the elderly with 7 residents. The 27 elementary schools had 2,833 children, the 2 middle schools 381 pupils, and the 29 schools of elementary instruction and prayer 965 attendees.
The first Christian community, founded in Kingchow by the Jesuit Giacomo Motel (1660–63), gave rise to several others, including those in the mountainous regions, where Christians took refuge in order to escape the persecutions of 1724. In 1870, the year of its establishment, the mission had approximately 3,000 Christians and had in Kingchow the residence of the Ordinary, the minor seminary (both of which were transferred to I. in 1883), and a girls’ orphanage. Considerable progress was made during the twenty-year period 1891–1911, despite the local persecutions of 1898 and 1904 and the general persecution of 1900. During the last civil war I. suffered extremely serious damage and loss of life among the missionary personnel, so that it came to be called “the mission of blood.”