LOYANG [LUOYANG], Diocese of. - In the northwestern part of the civil province of Honan, in northern China. Erected as an apostolic prefecture on May 25, 1929, with 16 civil sub-prefectures detached from the apostolic vicariate of Chengchow (v.), on Jan. 28, 1935 it was elevated to an apostolic vicariate and on Apr. 11, 1946, with the establishment of the episcopal hierarchy in China, to a diocese suffragan of Kaifeng. It is entrusted to the Pious Society of St. Francis Xavier for Foreign Missions of Parma.

It has an area of 25,000 sq. km., with 3,000,000 inhabitants, of whom 10,122 are Catholics. It has 24 churches, of which 11 are parishes, served by 8 diocesan priests and 25 regulars, assisted by a women's religious community. It also has an orphanage (Ann. Pont., 1951, p. 254).

In 1909 the first Catholic missionary settled in the present territory of L., and only in 1912 did methodical preaching begin in the civil sub-prefectures, until in 1929 the Gospel was being proclaimed throughout the whole region. Evangelization suffered a halt during the Second World War because the missionaries were shut up in concentration camps; this halt continues even at present because of the political conditions that have arisen in China.

Bibliography5 works

BIBL.: AAS, 21 (1929), pp. 657-58; 27 (1935), pp. 427-28; G. B. Tragella, Italia missionaria, Rome-Milan 1939, pp. 223-227; Annuaire de l'Église catholique en Chine 1948, Shanghai 1948, passim; MC, 1950, p. 349.

Adamo Pucci

@incollection{ec7_loyang_diocesi_di, author = {Pucci, Adamo}, title = {Loyang, diocesi di}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VII}, pages = {1588}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1951}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/loyang-diocesi-di} }

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Loyang [Luoyang], Diocese of

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