JEHOL, DIOCESE OF. - A mission in eastern Mongolia, erected as an apostolic vicariate on 11 Dec. 1883; after various boundary changes, it received its present name of J. on 12 Dec. 1924. It was raised to the status of a diocese on 11 Apr. 1946, a suffragan of Moukden. It is entrusted to the care of the missionaries of the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Scheut).
Before 1830 no missionary had succeeded in setting foot in the territory of J., except perhaps for some Jesuits accompanying the Emperor. Later, however, evangelization made good progress there. The faith of the Christians was tested by two persecutions: the first in 1891, in which Fr Peter Lin and 60 neophytes died; the second in 1900, in which Fr Joseph Seghera and 200 faithful were killed. The diocese of J. has an area of 789,117 sq. km. and a population of 5,237,314. It borders on the dioceses of Chih-feng and Szepingkai; on the archdiocese of Moukden and the sea; on the diocese of Yungping and the archdiocese of Peking; and lastly on the diocese of Sivantse. The number of Catholics is about 32,000, with 1,151 catechumens. Foreign priests: 56; indigenous priests: 20; indigenous brothers: 45; novices: 10; indigenous sisters: 20; postulants: 12; major seminarians: 14; minor seminarians: 39; catechists: 79; missionary residences: 37; Christian communities: 109; churches and chapels: 83; dispensaries: 16; orphanages: 13 with 216 children; old people’s homes: 5; primary schools with a mixed population of 1,928 pupils. At present it is under communist rule.