SHASI, APOSTOLIC PREFECTURE of. — In the southern part of Hupeh province, in central China.
It was established on 7 July 1936 with territory separated from the apostolic vicariate of Ichang and entrusted to the Order of Friars Minor, which sends religious there for missionary work from the regular province of the Most Holy Name of Jesus in the United States of America. It covers an area of 9,560 sq km. On 30 June 1948, out of a total population of approximately 2,000,000 inhabitants, there were 8,119 Catholics and 793 catechumens, with 4 Chinese secular priests and 21 American religious priests. The auxiliary personnel included 1 American lay brother, 9 Franciscan Missionary Sisters of Mary, 6 of them Chinese, and 16 Chinese Franciscan tertiary sisters, 34 catechists, and 84 teachers. In the territory, divided into 3 forane vicariates, there were 13 primary and 106 secondary stations, with 2 churches and 32 oratories. The institutions consisted of 1 hospital, 7 dispensaries, 1 orphanage, and 1 home for the elderly. The elementary schools had 1,027 pupils, the 2 middle schools 357, the 2 secondary schools 86, and the 16 schools of prayer and elementary instruction 437.
The beginnings of missionary apostolate in the territory of S. date back to the end of the seventeenth century, through the work of the Jesuit Fr. Motel; in 1727, Msgr. Müllener, C. M., a former student of the Collegio Urbano of Propaganda Fide and apostolic vicar of Szechwan (1716–42), established an oratory at S., where, it is said, Msgr. Maggi, Müllener’s coadjutor, had his residence for several years. In 1732 the Chinese priest Andrea Ly had settled at Hengtishih, which even today is a flourishing Christian community. After the suppression of the Society of Jesus (1773), the Christians in this territory were assisted by Chinese secular priests, former students of the Chinese College of the Holy Family in Naples. After 1900 Christianity made notable progress: in 1935 the faithful numbered approximately 7,000.