SIENHSIEN [XIAN COUNTY], Diocese of. - In the central part of the province of Hopeh, in northern China.
It was erected, under the name of apostolic vicariate of South-Eastern Peking (and later also designated by that of South-Eastern Celi), on 30 May 1856, by division of the diocese of Peking, suppressed on the same date, and was entrusted to the Society of Jesus, which for the missionary work sends there the religious of the regular province of Champagne. On 3 June 1921 it ceded territory to the apostolic vicariate of Southern Shantung (v. YENCHOW), on 3 Dec. 1924 it took its name from the city of S., on 24 May 1933 it ceded 10 civil subprefectures for the erection of Yung-nien (v.); on 11 Apr. 1935 it ceded another 7 for the erection of Taming (v.) and on 24 Apr. 1939 with a final division it gave life to the apostolic prefecture of Kinghsiens (v.). On 11 Apr. 1946, with the erection of the episcopal hierarchy in China, it was raised to a diocese suffragan of Peking.
It has an area of 8,400 sq km. As of 30 June 1947, out of a total population of about 2,000,000 inhabitants, Catholics numbered 61,600; 44 were Chinese priests and 8 foreign; 35 were major seminarians and 52 minor; 12 Chinese lay brothers and 3 foreign; 110 native sisters and 12 foreign. Political events had already destroyed or caused the closing, by the aforementioned date, of the welfare works and the schools.
At the time of its erection, in 1856, S. comprised 41 civil subprefectures with 9,505 faithful, distributed among 132 Christian communities; three Jesuits and two Chinese secular priests worked there. Despite obstacles of every sort, the development was immediately notable and became even more pronounced after the Boxer persecution (1900), in which 5 missionaries and 4,500 faithful were massacred: in 1870 Catholics numbered 19,612, rising to 50,475 in 1900, to 102,390 in 1920 and to 130,910 in 1929.
Bibliography3 works
Adamo Pucci