NANYANG, Diocese of. - The apostolic vicariate of Honan, erected on March 2, 1844, when the civil province of the same name, in central China, was detached from the diocese of Nanking, had its center in the city of Kinkiakang, near N.
On Sept. 1, 1882 it was divided into two apostolic vicariates, that of northern Honan (v. WEIHWEI) and that of southern Honan; the latter was again divided on Sept. 21, 1916, giving rise to that of eastern Honan (Kaifeng), then divided again on Dec. 15, 1927 for the erection of Sinyang (v.), and finally on March 2, 1933 it ceded four civil subprefectures, which, together with 3 others of the mission of Sinyang, formed the apostolic prefecture of Chumatien (v.). On Dec. 3, 1924 it received its present name from the city of N. On Apr. 11, 1946, with the establishment of the episcopal hierarchy in China, N. was elevated to a diocese, suffragan of Kaifeng. The Lazarists had charge of the apostolic vicariate of Honan from its foundation (1844) until 1869, the year in which the same mission passed to the Seminary of St. Calocerus, today the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions of Milan, which continues to have the mother mission of N.
It has an area of 12,000 sq km. As of June 30, 1949 it counted about 4,000,000 inhabitants, of whom 22,807 were Catholics and 4,000 catechumens. Priests: 8 Chinese and 19 Italians; the minor seminary and the preparatory seminary were temporarily closed. Auxiliary personnel: 40 sisters, all Chinese; 18 catechists; 1 doctor and 14 nurses. The territory, divided into 5 districts, had 2 parishes, 14 primary and 100 secondary stations, with 23 churches and 60 chapels; 1 hospital, 7 medical clinics, 2 orphanages, 2 homes for the aged and 1 printing house. The mission's schools had all been suppressed by the new regime.
From the religious point of view the province of Honan, in 1587, was included, like the rest of China, in the single diocese of Macao; in 1690 it passed to the diocese of Peking and in 1696 to that of Nanking, from which it was detached in 1844. In it the first preachers of the Gospel were the Jesuits, probably around 1620. After the suppression of the Jesuits, the Lazarists had charge of this province, where, among others, the Bl. Clet and Perboyre labored; the Lazarists were succeeded, in 1869, by the Missionaries of Milan, who were the true founders of the mission under the wise guidance of Msgr. Simeone Volonteri, who directed it from 1869 to 1904. The rise of the numerous missions mentioned above from the mother mission of N. is an index of the comforting development of Christianity in Honan during this first half of the 20th century; a development barbarously halted and cut short in these days.