KICHOW, DIOCESI of. — In the eastern part of the civil province of Hupeh, in central China. Erected as a sui iuris mission, under the name of Hwangchow, on 18 July 1929, by division Hankow (v.), it was elevated to an apostolic prefecture on 1 June 1932 and to an apostolic vicariate on 27 January 1936. On this occasion the mission took the name of K., from the city that had been the seat of the Ordinary from the beginning, and was enlarged by the district of Yingshan, detached from the neighboring mission of Anking. With the establishment of the episcopal hierarchy in China, on 11 April 1946, K. became a suffragan diocese of Hankow. From 1929 onward it was entrusted, like the mother mission, to the Friars Minor, who send there religious from the regular province of S. Vigilio (Trento), whose fathers had been present in the area since 1922.
It covers an area of 26,400 sq. km. As of 30 June 1948, out of a population of approximately 3,800,000 inhabitants, there were 15,750 Catholics and 516 catechumens. Besides the bishop, there were 25 Friars Minor, 1 of them Chinese. Seventeen students were studying in the preparatory seminary, none in the minor seminary, and 1 in the regional seminary of Hankow. The auxiliary personnel included 9 nuns, 4 Italian and 5 Chinese; 42 catechists, 49 teachers, 15 baptizers, 6 physicians, and 9 nurses. The territory, divided into 5 districts, had 6 churches and 55 oratories, 16 primary stations, and 49 secondary stations. The institutions comprised 1 hospital with 12 beds and 9 medical clinics; 1 orphanage with 24 girls; and 1 home for the elderly with 8 residents. The 10 elementary schools had 299 children, the 2 middle schools 423 students, the only vocational school 38 female students, and the 6 schools of prayer and elementary instruction 130 attendees. Since 1948, about ten Discalced Carmelite fathers from the Venetian province have been working in the northern part of the diocese of K. with the aim of preparing a mission for their Order.
Christianity was introduced into the region of K. in 1702 by two Jesuit fathers who settled in a small house at Hwangchow. The two Christian communities of Kwangsi and Husepè, begun in 1830 by Catholic merchants who had immigrated from Kwangsi, were assisted by missionaries from that province until, after the apostolic vicariate of Hukwang (Hupeh and Hunan) passed to the Franciscans in 1838, Christian evangelization was able to spread to the other localities of the region.