SHANGHAI, Diocese of. - In central-eastern China, on the coast of the civil province of Kiangsu: it takes its name from the famous city that lies at the mouth of the Blue River and is one of the most important commercial emporia in the world.
(phot. Fides)
It was erected as an apostolic vicariate on 13 Dec. 1933 with territory detached from the apostolic vicariate of Nanking (v.) and which turned out to be divided into two parts, one to the south and the other to the north of the mission of Haimen (v.); on 9 June 1949 the northern part gave rise to the two apostolic prefectures of Haichow (v.) and Yangchow (v.), the southern part to the diocese of Soochow (v.); on the same date the mother mission, until then entrusted to the Society of Jesus, passed to the Chinese secular clergy. From 11 Apr. 1946, with the establishment of the episcopal hierarchy in China, S. had been elevated to a diocese suffragan of Nanking.
Thus reduced to an area of about 5,500 sq km and to a total population of about 7,000,000 inhabitants, on 30 June 1949 the mission of S. counted 108,935 Catholics and 1,594 catechumens. The bishop and the 80 Chinese priests were assisted by numerous religious men and women, the latter numbering more than 600, of whom more than half were Chinese. Thus the Jesuits directed in S. the Catholic University "Aurora" and several parishes, and at Zikawei, near S., where the residence of the Ordinary also is, they had the probandate house and their residence, the well-known meteorological observatory, the scholasticate with the theological faculty, the College of St. Ignatius, the minor seminary and the regional one for Kiangsu, the orphanage; the Salesians, besides a parish, had an orphanage and an industrial school, a primary and a secondary school, workshops and an agricultural station; the Little Brothers of Mary directed the colleges of St. Francis Xavier and St. Joan of Arc and the French-Chinese municipal school; the Brothers of Charity a male hospital for the insane; the 18 female Congregations had manifold works answering to the purposes of their own Congregation; likewise the Lazarists, the Society of Foreign Missions of Paris, the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Scheut), the Hermits of St. Augustine, the Recollects, the Society of the Divine Word, the Friars Minor and the Society of St. Columban had their respective procuration with at least three religious for each. The city of S. had 14 parishes, while the remaining territory was divided into 39 districts, provided with numerous churches or chapels.
The preaching of the Gospel in the region of S. goes back to the times of Fr. Matteo Ricci, who was in China from 1583 to 1610, and the history of that Christian community is confused with that of Nanking, of which it formed part until recent times. On 12 July 1842 there arrived at S. Frs. Gotteland and Estève, the first Jesuits requested of Gregory XVI by the faithful who survived the great persecutions of the 18th century; during the Taiping persecution (1850-64) the Christian community of S. alone was able to live in the European concessions. At S. was held, in 1924, the first Chinese Council. - See pl. XXVIII.
Bibliography4 works
Adamo Pucci