Suiyuan, Archdiocese of

SUIYUAN, ARCHDIOCESE OF. - Located in the central part of Inner Mongolia, it comprises nine subprefectures of the civil province of S. and certain other Mongol territories, whose total area is about 150,000 sq km and whose population is about 951,169 inhabitants.

On 11 Dec. 1883, by detachment from the apostolic vicariate of Mongolia, the vicariate of South-Western Mongolia was constituted, which, in turn, on 14 March 1922 was divided into the two vicariates of Ningsia and S., annexing to the latter part of the territory of the apostolic vicariate of Central Mongolia (today the diocese of Siwantze). On 11 Apr. 1946, with the establishment of the ecclesiastical hierarchy in China, the vicariate of S. was elevated to a metropolitan archdiocese, which gathers under itself four suffragan dioceses, namely Ningsia, Siwantze, Tsinging, Chihfeng. On 8 Jan. 1948 the entire territory of the civil subprefecture of Paotow was detached from the neighboring diocese of Ningsia and incorporated into the archdiocese of S.

In 1840 the French Lazarist fathers began their work of evangelization in the region situated north of the Great Wall of China, geographically called Inner Mongolia, which today comprises the provinces of Jehol, Chagar, S. and Ningsia. They were succeeded by the missionaries of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Scheut), who arrived in Mongolia on 6 Dec. 1875. The few thousand Christians in 1883 had risen to 14,000, and six Chinese priests were the first collaborators of the Scheut Fathers. In 1900 the Boxer movement caused the death of the apostolic vicar Msgr. Ferdinand Hamer, of eight missionaries, of the native priest Giacomo Lou and of several thousand Christians, and the almost complete ruin of all the schools and charitable works. During the last war, the entire territory of the mission was occupied by the Japanese, who, on 21 March 1943, interned the foreign missionaries in the province of Shantung. On 19 Aug. 1951 the archdiocese passed to the Chinese secular clergy, while, shortly afterward, the communist authorities decreed the expulsion of the European missionaries.

According to the statistical data for 1948-49, the spiritual state was as follows: 40,880 Catholics with 1773 catechumens; 10,000 Protestants; 20,000 Muslims; the others are Buddhists or followers of various superstitions; 36 native priests and 45 foreign; 44 nuns, of whom 26 are Chinese; 12 major and 32 minor seminarians; 125 catechists; 86 male teachers and 107 female teachers; 2 doctors and 40 nurses; 1 hospital; 19 pharmacies; 36 orphanages; 3 homes for the aged; 58 elementary schools; 3 middle schools; 105 sacred buildings; 6 forane vicariates; 37 primary and 53 secondary stations. The seat of the Ordinary is Kwei-hwa-ting.

Edoardo Pecoraio