It was erected as an apostolic prefecture on 15 December 1927, comprising 14 civil sub-prefectures of the Nanyang mission (v.) and 3 Kaifeng (v.); on 23 April 1933 it was raised to an apostolic vicariate and then to a suffragan diocese of Kaifeng on 1 April 1946, with the establishment of the episcopal hierarchy in China. It has been entrusted since the beginning to the Society of the Divine Word, whose religious arrived on the scene in 1925.
It covers an area of 30,000 sq. km. As of 30 June 1947, out of a total population of approximately 6,000,000, there were 13,093 Catholics and 3,550 catechumens; 31 priests, of whom 3 were Chinese; 2 major seminarians; 11 lay brothers, of whom 2 were Chinese; 36 Chinese nuns and 22 foreign nuns. Among its works were 1 hospital, 4 dispensaries, 3 orphanages and 15 schools with 1,497 pupils.
The first preacher of the Gospel in the territory of S. seems to have been Fr. Domenga, S.J., at the beginning of the 18th century. The Vincentians and the priests of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions of Milan then followed, but the greatest development of missionary activity was brought about by the Divine Word Missionaries.