NINGSIA [YINCHUAN], Diocese of. - It is located in the southwestern part of Inner Mongolia (China) and comprises the three civil sub-prefectures situated west of the province of Suiyuan, the entire province of N., part of the five sub-prefectures of North Shansi, beyond the Great Wall, and four Mongol principalities. The seat of the Ordinary is Sanshengkiang.
This territory, erected as an apostolic vicariate on 14 March 1922 by division from that of southwestern Mongolia, was elevated to a diocese suffragan of Suiyuan on 11 Apr. 1946. On 8 Jan. 1948 the portion of territory belonging to the civil sub-prefecture of Paotow was detached from it and incorporated into the neighboring archdiocese of Suiyuan. Over an area of 200,000 sq km the population is 1 million inhabitants. Catholics number 31,827 with 3622 catechumens.
In 1864 the Holy See assigned as a field of apostolate to the missionaries of the Congregation of the Heart of Mary the region situated north of the Great Wall of China, geographically called Inner Mongolia, which today comprises the provinces of Jehol, Chager, Suiyuan and N. The first missionaries of Scheut, led by their founder, Fr. Verbist, arrived in Mongolia on 6 Dec. 1875. The Christians of Mongolia at that time numbered a few thousand; but already by 1883 they had grown to 14,000. In 1900, the Boxer movement caused the almost complete ruin of all the schools and charitable works, which had been organized with difficulty. During the Second World War only the territory of N. did not experience the Japanese occupation in Mongolia. There are 33 native priests and 17 foreign missionaries; 11 major and 25 minor seminarians; 78 native sisters, a school population of 3444.
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Edoardo Pecoraio