SUCHOW, DIOCESI di. – In the northeastern part of Kiangsu Province, in central China.
It was established as an apostolic prefecture on 1 July 1931, with 8 civil subprefectures from the apostolic vicariate of Nanchino; on 18 June 1935 it was raised to an apostolic vicariate and on 11 April 1946, with the establishment of the episcopal hierarchy in China, to a suffragan diocese of Nanchino. From the beginning, it has been entrusted to the Society of Jesus, which, for missionary work, sends there religious from the regular province of Lower Canada.
It has an area of 20,000 sq km. As of 30 June 1947, out of a population of 4,500,000 inhabitants, there were 88,329 Catholics and 15,691 catechumens; 49 foreign priests and 27 Chinese priests; 5 major seminarians and likewise 5 minor seminarians; 15 lay brothers, of whom 5 were Chinese; 20 sisters, of whom 5 were indigenous. The institutions included 1 hospital, 15 dispensaries providing medicines, and 122 schools with 8,382 pupils.
The missionaries, who established themselves permanently in the territory of S. in 1890, found only 98 Christians, all of recent date: in 1900 their number had risen to 5,171, and in 1929 to 52,349. The population, living in extremely poor conditions, found in the Church, besides faith, material assistance for its needs and protection against local banditry.