Tsinan [Jinan], Archdiocese of

TSINAN [JINAN], Archdiocese of. - The apostolic vicariate of Shantung, erected on 3 September 1839, comprised the whole civil province of the same name, in north-eastern China, which until then had belonged to the diocese of Peking.

The seat of the Ordinary, after having been at Shierhlichwang, near Wucheng, in the territory of the present apostolic prefecture of Lintsing, was, for greater safety, transferred and fixed at T. (1863) by the then apostolic vicar, the Franciscan Luigi Moccagatta. On 8 January 1885 it took the name of apostolic vicariate of Northern Shantung, ceding the whole southern part for the erection of the apostolic vicariate of Southern Shantung (v. YENCHOW). On 27 January 1894 it ceded the eastern part, with which the apostolic vicariate of Eastern Shantung was erected (v. CHEFOO); on 3 December 1924 it took the name of apostolic vicariate of T.; on 16 April 1929 it ceded 14 civil sub-prefectures for the erection of the sui iuris mission of Changtien (v. CHOWTSUN); it ceded another 13 for the erection of Lintsing (v.), which took place on 5 April 1931. On 11 April 1946, T. was elevated to metropolitan see of the ecclesiastical province of Shantung, with the suffragan dioceses of Chefoo, Chowtsun, Ichow, Tsaochow, Tsingtao, Yangku and Yencow. It has been entrusted, from the beginning, to the Friars Minor of the regular provinces of Alsace and Cologne.

Over an area of 25,000 sq. km., it counted as of 30 June 1950, 5,000,000 inhabitants, of whom 44,016 were Catholics; 317 churches, served by 19 native priests and 65 regulars; by 2 male religious congregations and 4 female ones; it has 1 major and minor seminary, 28 educational institutes and 5 charitable ones. At Hungkialu, near T., was located the regional Seminary for the major seminarians of the missions of T., Chefoo, Chowtsun, Iduhsien, Lintsing and Weihaiwei.

At the time of its erection as an apostolic vicariate (1839) Shantung counted nearly 5000 Catholics, the fruit of the preaching of the Jesuits, the Franciscans and the Dominicans. In 1841 a seminary was founded there. Despite various scourges, such as the devastations of the Taiping in 1854, the flooding of the Yellow River in 1855, the famine in the years 1877-79, the mission made continual progress, of which the numerous divisions referred to above are proof.

Adamo Pucci