Canton [Guangzhou], Archdiocese of

CANTON [GUANGZHOU], ARCHDIOCESE OF. - It takes its name from the city of the same name, the residence of the archbishop and the capital of the civil province of Kwangtung (southeastern China). The Christian origins of C. go back to St. Francis Xavier.

The territory of the mission was part, until 1850, of the diocese of Macao; in that year the apostolic prefecture of Kwangtung and Kwangsi was erected and entrusted to the Society of the Foreign Missions of Paris; in 1875 the two civil provinces were divided into two distinct apostolic prefectures: that of Kwangtung and that of Kwangsi. That of Kwangtung on 6 April 1914 was elevated to an apostolic vicariate under the name of C., from which in the following years various territories were detached.

On 11 April 1946, with the establishment of the episcopal hierarchy in China, C. was elevated to a metropolitan archdiocese.

The territory has an area of 43,332 sq km; as of 30 June 1947 the total population was about 4,600,000 inhabitants, of whom only 17,145 were Catholics. The missionary personnel consisted of 28 foreign priests and 41 Chinese. There were 117 nuns, of whom 62 were native. On the aforementioned date the mission also had 3 orphanages with 220 orphans, 1 hospital with 512 beds and 1 hospice with 109 inmates. The schools, both primary and secondary, numbered 35 with a total of 3,307 pupils.

Adamo Pucci