NANCHINO, ARCHDIOCESE OF. - The first ecclesiastical organization of N. (= capital of the south) came into being in 1658 with the establishment of the Apostolic Vicariate of the same name, which extended over the territory of several civil provinces previously dependent on the single Diocese of Macao.
On 10 April 1690, at the request of the King of Portugal, the Dioceses of Peking and N. were erected, both suffragan to Goa, like Macao. The Diocese of N. was assigned, in addition to the present civil provinces of Kiangsi and Anhwei, those of Chekiang, Fukien, Kwangsi, Hupeh, Hunan, Kweichow, and Yunnan. In 1690 many of these provinces were constituted as independent Apostolic Vicariates, and the Diocese of N. was left with only Kiangsi, Anhwei, and Honan. This latter was also detached from N. and erected as an Apostolic Vicariate on 2 March 1844 (v. NANYANG).
On 21 January 1856 the Diocese of N. was suppressed and the Apostolic Vicariate of the same name was reconstituted. On 8 August 1921 it was divided into those of Anhwei (v. WUHU) and Kiangsi. On 1 May 1922 the latter was renamed the Apostolic Vicariate of N., a designation confirmed on 3 December 1924. It was repeatedly subdivided to give rise to new ecclesiastical circumscriptions, namely: AMIENS (v.) in 1926, the Apostolic Prefecture of SūCHIOS (v.) in 1931, Shanghai (v.) in 1933. With the establishment of the episcopal hierarchy in China in 1946, N. was elevated to a metropolitan archdiocese of the ecclesiastical province of Kiangsi, with the suffragan Dioceses of Haimen, Shanghai, and Sūchow, to which was added in 1949 the new Diocese of Soochow.
The Jesuits administered the Diocese of N. from 1696 to 1718, then again from 1752 to 1787, and thereafter from 1856 to 1933, when the administration of the Apostolic Vicariate of N. passed to the Chinese secular clergy, the city having recently become the capital of the Republic.
It has an area of about 30,000 sq. km. As of 30 June 1948 it counted about 6,000,000 inhabitants, of whom 32,390 were Catholics and 987 catechumens. It was served by 37 Chinese secular priests and 12 foreign priests, including some Italian fathers of the Pia Società di S. Paolo of Alba and some Belgian fathers of the Société des Auxiliaires des Missions. There were 14 major seminarians; 5 lay brothers, all foreign; 34 Chinese sisters and 9 foreign sisters. Among its works were 1 orphanage, 12 dispensaries, 5 institutes for the education of youth, and 44 schools of various levels. Previous statistics indicated that the territory was divided into 2 districts with 18 churches and 87 chapels, 13 primary stations and 100 secondary ones.
The mission owes its origin to the celebrated Jesuit Fr. Matteo Ricci (v.), who in 1599 established his residence there, came into contact with the literati, and baptized a military mandarin with his entire family.
In 1609 Fr. Vagnoni arrived and, after the conversion of a high mandarin, obtained permission to erect a church, the first in N., dedicated on 3 May 1611 to “Our Lord of Heaven.” According to the testimony of Fr. Lombardi, Ricci’s successor as superior of the Jesuit mission, the Christian community was flourishing and conversions numerous, even among the literati. From 1626 the era of persecutions began: missionaries were dragged before tribunals and subjected to grave insults and violence. After the Apostolic Vicariate of N. was established in 1658,
on 30 September 1660 Msgr. Ignazio Cotolendi, titular Bishop of Metellopoli, was placed at its head; he was also entrusted with the apostolic administration of the provinces of Peking, Shansi, Shantung, Honan, Korea, and Tartary. Several years after his death, he was succeeded by the Chinese Dominican Gregorio Lò (Lopez) from 1690 to 1692. For the next two and a half centuries bishops of various religious orders succeeded one another until, after the Apostolic Vicariate was reconstituted (1856), it was entrusted to the Jesuits. In 1927, when Nationalist troops occupied N., they killed Frs. Vanara and Dugout, looted and devastated the residence, and turned the church into a stable. Some Jesuits from California, destined to open a school in N., were driven out by Chinese students. The Christian community of Wusih, between N. and Shanghai, which dates from 1701, also saw its church burned down.
Adamo Pucci
ANCY, DIOCESE OF - View of the city with the basilica of St-Nicolas-de-Port (14th cent.).
ANCY, DIOCESE OF - View of the city with the basilica of St-Nicolas-de-Port (14th cent.).
ANCY, DIOCESE OF - View of the city of St-Nicolas-de-Port (15th cent.).
ANCY, DIOCESE OF - View of the city of St-Nicolas-de-Port (15th cent.).
ANCY, DIOCESE OF - View of the city of St-Nicolas-de-Port (15th cent.).