Andrew Han Jingtao (; born 26 July 1921 – 30 December 2020) was a

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

Catholic clandestine Bishop of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Sipingjie The Roman Catholic Diocese of Sipingjie/Siping/Szepíngkai ( la, Sepimchiaeven(sis), ) is a Latin suffragan diocese in the Ecclesiastical province of the Metropolitan of Shenyang. Its episcopal seat is at Sacred Heart Cathedral located in the ...

since 1982 until his death in 2020.

Biography

Han was born in Jilin on July 26, 1921. Some documents record his birth year as 1919 or 1923. After studying, he was ordained a priest on December 14, 1947. During the rule of

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ...

, he was arrested by the Communist government and sent to labor in labor camps. It was not until 1980, after

Deng Xiaoping Deng Xiaoping (22 August 1904 – 19 February 1997) was a Chinese revolutionary leader, military commander and statesman who served as the paramount leader of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from December 1978 to November 1989. After CC ...

took power and became more open to religion, and he was released. He became a professor of

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

and

Greek culture The culture of Greece has evolved over thousands of years, beginning in Minoan and later in Mycenaean Greece, continuing most notably into Classical Greece, while influencing the Roman Empire and its successor the Byzantine Empire. Other cult ...

Northeastern University Northeastern University (NU) is a private university, private research university with its main campus in Boston. Established in 1898, the university offers undergraduate and graduate programs on its main campus as well as satellite campuses in ...

Changchun Changchun (, ; ), also romanized as Ch'angch'un, is the capital and largest city of Jilin Province, People's Republic of China. Lying in the center of the Songliao Plain, Changchun is administered as a , comprising 7 districts, 1 county and 3 c ...

until he retired in 1987. In 1982, he was secretly appointed as the Bishop of the

. Four years later, his ordination was also silently held on May 6, 1986. He was a supporter of the Legions of Mary and founder of the Women's Congregation of Mount Calvary. He was an underground bishop, but he repeatedly expressed his support for spiritual reconciliation between "

underground church The term underground church () is used to refer to Chinese Catholic churches in the People's Republic of China which have chosen not to associate with the state-sanctioned Catholic Patriotic Association, they are also called ''loyal church'' (). U ...

" and "open church" Catholics.

References

1921 births 2020 deaths 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in China People from Jilin Chinese prisoners and detainees Academic staff of the Northeastern University (China) 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in China {{China-RC-bishop-stub