100 YEARS SINCE THE ORDINATIONS OF THE FIRST SIX CHINESE BISHOPS – Bishop Philip Zhao Huaiyi and the Diocese of Xuanhua

One hundred years after the ordination of the first six Chinese bishops consecrated in modern times, , Fides News Agency is dedicating a series of documentary profiles to these Successors of the Apostles and the dioceses entrusted to them, which were at the heart of that crucial event in the history of the Catholic Church in China.

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by Professor Liu Zhiqing

Zhangjiakou – The Diocese of Xuanhua was the fourth ecclesiastical circumscription in China to be entrusted to a member of the Chinese clergy. It was established on May 10, 1926 as the Apostolic Vicariate of Xuanhua. Its first bishop, Philip Zhao Huaiyi, was among the six Chinese bishops consecrated by Pope Pius XI in the Vatican Basilica on October 28, 1926, one hundred years ago.
Philip Zhao had been appointed Apostolic Vicar of Xuanhua by Pope Pius XI on May 13, 1926.

1. History of the Diocese

On May 10, 1926, the Apostolic Vicariate of Xuanhua was separated from the Apostolic Vicariate of Beijing.

At the time, the Apostolic Vicariate of Beijing was entrusted to the Congregation of the Mission, , a congregation of French origin. The Bishop of Beijing was then the French Lazarist Stanislas-François Jarlin .

According to the memoirs of Cardinal Celso Costantini, whom Pope Pius XI had appointed the first Apostolic Delegate to China in 1922, the Diocese of Beijing then had nearly 300,000 baptized Catholics. There were only 23 French priests, while the number of Chinese priests exceeded one hundred.
Xuanhua was regarded as the “garden” of the Diocese of Beijing, yet only three French priests were serving there. Nevertheless, when the prospect arose of establishing an ecclesiastical circumscription and to entrust it to a Chinese bishop, several French missionaries expressed reservations and reluctance.
According to Church statistics, in 1925 the Apostolic Vicariate of Beijing had 285,300 baptized Catholics and 170 priests, of whom 114 were Chinese and 56 foreigners. The Chinese clergy thus accounted for 67.06% of the total.

According to the 1925 Yearbook of the Catholic Church in China, the Apostolic Vicariate of Beijing was divided into five major ecclesiastical districts, : Beijing, Jingnan, Suqiao, Jingdong and Xuanhuafu .

The Deanery of Xuanhua comprised 13 parishes: Xuanhuafu, Nihewan, Xiheying, Shuangshuzi, Nantun, Zhifanggou, Dongcheng, Lingluo, Yongningcheng, Xixiaozhuang, Shangzhuangzi, Zhangjiakou and Shangyingzhuangzi. It had 31,063 Catholics and 16 priests, 11 of whom were Chinese and five foreigners.

The Apostolic Vicariate of Xuanhua was established on May 10, 1926. At the time of its establishment, the new Vicariate had 18 members of the Chinese clergy, including the Apostolic Vicar, as well as 20 Chinese women religious.

According to statistics from 1927, the new Apostolic Vicariate of Xuanhuafu was already organized into four deaneries, with 13 parishes served by resident priests.

In 1927, the Apostolic Delegate to China, Celso Costantini, founded the first religious Congregation in Xuanhua composed entirely of priests from the Chinese clergy, the Congregation of the Disciples of the Lord . The congregation’s headquarters were established in the village of Penyao, outside the northern gate of Xuanhua.

On April 11, 1946, the Apostolic Vicariate of Xuanhua was elevated to the rank of the Diocese of Xuanhuafu.

According to statistics cited by Zhao Qingyuan in his “Chronology of the division of Catholic Dioceses in China and the succession of their Bishops”, in 1940 the diocese had 258 churches and chapels, 43 Chinese priests and 36,027 Catholics.

2. The Bishops of the Diocese

The first Bishop of Xuanhua was Philip Zhao Huaiyi , also known as Bingyi. He was born on October 4, 1880 in the village of Zhengfusi, in Changxindian, on the western outskirts of Beijing. Two of his brothers were also priests.
On November 7, 1893, he entered the minor seminary at Beitang, in Beijing.
He was ordained a priest on February 27, 1904. He then taught for four years at the preparatory seminary in Beijing, carried out missionary work in Xuanhua for two and a half years, served as parish priest in Xin’an, in the Jingzhao area, for ten years, and as headmaster of Yuying Middle School in Beijing for four years.

On January 8, 1923, he became Chinese-language secretary to Archbishop Celso Costantini, the first Apostolic Delegate to China.
Shortly after the establishment of the Apostolic Vicariate of Xuanhua on May 10, 1926, Zhao Huaiyi was appointed by Pope Pius XI as its first Apostolic Vicar on May 13, with the title of Bishop of Vaga. On October 28, 1926, he was consecrated a bishop by Pope Pius XI in St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. He was one of the first six Chinese clerics to travel to Rome to be consecrated as bishops, receiving apostolic succession from the Bishop of Rome, the Successor of the Apostle Peter.
Philip Zhao died in Xuanhua less than a year later, on October 14, 1927, at the age of 47.
Following Philip Zhao’s premature death, the priest Peter Cheng Youyou was appointed Apostolic Vicar of Xuanhua on March 28, 1928. He died on August 25, 1935.

On 7 July 1936, the priest Joseph Zhang Runbo became Apostolic Vicar of Xuanhua. He resigned on 20 November 1947 for health reasons.

On January 8, 1948, the priest Peter Wang Muduo was appointed bishop of the Diocese of Xuanhua. He was arrested and sent to labour camps.

3. The development of the Diocese

The Diocese of Xuanhua originated from the Deanery of Xuanhua within the Apostolic Vicariate of Beijing. After 24 years of development, from 1926 to 1950, the number of faithful had reached approximately 36,000. By the end of this period, the Chinese clergy numbered 53, including one bishop; there were also 43 Chinese women religious.

The following table presents the year-by-year statistics documenting the diocese’s growth over this period.

Table of the Pastoral Statistics of the Diocese of Xuanhua, 1926–1950

Source: Les missions de Chine et du Japon, Les missions de Chine, Annuaire des Missions Catholiques de Chine.

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