Szepingkai [Siping], Diocese of

SZEPINGKAI [SIPING], DIOCESE OF. - Located in the western part of Manchuria, it has an area of 126,921 sq km and a population of 3,000,000 inhabitants.

This mission was constituted as an apostolic prefecture on 2 Aug. 1929, with territory detached partly from the present archdiocese of Moukden, partly from the present diocese of Jehol. On 26 March 1932 six other civil prefectures were detached from the mission of Jehol and annexed to the apostolic prefecture of S. On 1 June 1932 the same was elevated to an apostolic vicariate and on 11 Apr. 1946 to a diocese suffragan of Moukden. The missionary history of S., before the arrival of the Fathers of the Canadian Society of Pont-Viau, merges with that of Moukden and of Jehol. Before 1890 the Catholics of this region were mostly colonists who had immigrated from the neighboring provinces. The Fathers of Pont-Viau, who arrived in Manchuria on 17 Oct. 1925, developed and organized the work of evangelization and in a short time achieved consoling progress. Now the mission is under a communist regime, which has severely tried the bishop and the missionaries, detained or expelled from the diocese.

Before the present state of affairs there were 14,000 Catholics; 5 native priests and 33 foreign ones; 25 Chinese sisters and 48 foreign ones; 1 minor seminary; 5 elementary schools; 1 middle school; 19 dispensaries; 2 orphanages; 11 homes for the aged; 2 churches and 50 chapels; 14 primary stations and 35 secondary ones.

Edoardo Pecoraso