Lanchow [Lanzhou], Archdiocese of

LANCHOW [LANZHOU], ARCHDIOCESE OF. - In northwestern China. Erected under the name of apostolic vicariate of Kansu on June 21, 1878, by division of the apostolic vicariate of Shensi, and entrusted to the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Scheut), whose missionaries, given the impossibility of more precisely defining the boundaries, were to respect the jurisdiction of the missions already given to other institutes; on Apr. 28, 1905 it took the name of apostolic vicariate of northern Kansu and ceded the eastern part in order to give life to the said apostolic prefecture, geographically inaccurately termed, of southern Kansu, likewise entrusted to the Congregation of Scheut. On March 8, 1922, these two missions of Kansu and the neighboring one of Ili (or Chinese Turkestan) having been suppressed, all their territory was divided into two distinct ecclesiastical circumscriptions: 1) the apostolic vicariate of western Kansu, which comprised this part of Kansu properly so called, the territory of the suppressed mission of Ili and the territory of Alashan, then belonging to southwestern Mongolia and now to the civil province of Ningsia: the whole entrusted to the Society of the Divine Word; 2) the apostolic vicariate of eastern Kansu, comprising the territory of the suppressed apostolic prefecture of southern Kansu and entrusted to the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin. On Dec. 3, 1924 the former took the name of apostolic vicariate of L., from the city of residence of the Ordinary, the latter the name of apostolic vicariate of Tsinchow (v.). On Feb. 14, 1930 the new civil province of Sinkiang was detached from L. and erected as a mission sui iuris (v. SINKIANG); on March 4, 1937 the civil province of Chinghai was detached and erected as the apostolic prefecture of Sining (v.). On Apr. 11, 1946, with the establishment of the episcopal hierarchy in China, L. was elevated to a metropolitan archdiocese of the ecclesiastical province of Kansu with the diocese of Tsinchow as suffragan, to which on June 24, 1950 the diocese of Pingliang (v.) was added.

It has an area of 250,000 sq km. As of June 30, 1949, out of a population of 4,000,000 inhabitants, Catholics numbered 17,117 and catechumens 682; Protestants 8,000 and Muslims 1,000,000, the rest pagans. Besides the archbishop, there were 38 Verbit Fathers, of whom 1 was Chinese, and 11 secular priests, of whom 10 were Chinese and 1 German. The minor seminary had 21 students and the regional one 28, with its seat at L. The auxiliary personnel counted 14 lay religious, 86 sisters, of whom 58 were Chinese, 40 catechists, 44 teachers, 26 baptizers, 34 nurses. The territory, divided into 4 forane vicariates with 30 primary and 82 secondary stations, had 16 churches and 86 oratories. Among the works were 1 hospital with 70 beds, 18 dispensaries, 3 orphanages with 125 inmates, 2 homes for the aged with 10 residents and 1 dormitory for the poor with 60 beds. The 21 elementary schools had 1,750 children and the 31 of prayer and first elements 348 listeners.

The first missionaries penetrated into this region in the second half of the 17th century. The Jesuit Father Le Fèvre reached L. and Liangchow, but did not stay there long. The Franciscans of Shensi and Shansi sometimes visited the Christians who had taken refuge in Kansu in time of persecution. During the incursions of the Boxers the apostolic vicar Msgr. Hamer was killed in southwestern Mongolia.

Adamo Pucci