PAOKING [SHAOYANG], APOSTOLIC PREFECTURE OF. - In the southwestern part of the civil province of Hunan, in central China.

It was erected as an apostolic prefecture on 9 February 1938 from 9 civil sub-prefectures detached from the mission of Yungchow and entrusted to the Friars Minor, who sent there Hungarian fathers of the regular province of St. John of Capistrano.

It has an area of 60,000 sq km. As of 30 June 1948, out of a total population of about 4,000,000 inhabitants, Catholics numbered 1581 and catechumens 676. Six Hungarian Franciscan fathers and 3 lay brothers worked there. The auxiliary staff counted 3 Hungarian sisters, 7 catechists, 1 teacher, 2 doctors and 15 nurses. The primary mission stations were 3, the secondary 21. The works consisted of 3 hospitals, 3 dispensaries and 2 orphanages. The schools were only 2 of elementary grade.

The beginnings of evangelization are recent: from 1928 some Franciscan fathers of the province of the Holy Name, in the United States of America, worked there, and in 1930 they handed the territory over to their Hungarian confreres. On the arrival of the latter, only two Christian communities existed: one at P. with over 200 faithful and the other at Sinwha with a little more than 100.

Bibliography3 works

BIBL.: AAS, 30 (1938), pp. 325-326; MC, 1950, p. 369; Archivio S. Congr. de Prop. Fide, Relazione P., 1948.

@incollection{ec9_paoking_prefettura_apostolica, author = {Pucci, Adamo}, title = {Paoking, prefettura apostolica di}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {IX}, pages = {697}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1952}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/paoking-prefettura-apostolica-di} }

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Paoking [Shaoyang], Apostolic Prefecture of

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