The Roman Catholic Diocese of Tianjin/Tíentsín (Latin: la, Tienzinen(sis), ) is a suffragan

diocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associa ...

in the

Ecclesiastical province An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction in Christian Churches with traditional hierarchical structure, including Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity. In general, an ecclesiastical province consists of seve ...

of the Metropolitan Archbishop of Beijing in PR China. Its

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominatio ...

episcopal see is Cathedral of St. Joseph (Laoxikai Church), in the city of

Tianjin Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popu ...

, which also has the former cathedral: Our Lady of Victory Church (Wanghailou Church) (). Data from 1950 indicated there are 50,000 registered Roman Catholics in Tianjin, occupying 1.4% of the total 3,600,000 population. Recent data from 2008 reflected a recovery of presumably 100,000 Catholics after years of persecution of which 40,000 are officially registered and 60,000 is the estimated number of underground faithful. Even that considered, it is still only a very tiny proportion of the current 15,000,000 population (0.7%).

History

* June 19, 1870: the

Tianjin Massacre The Tientsin Massacre (), was an attack on Christian missionaries and converts in the late 19th century during the late Qing dynasty. 60 people died in attacks on French Catholic priests and nuns. There was intense belligerence from French diploma ...

, an anti-Catholic riot, occurred in the city of Tianjin * April 27, 1912: The Apostolic Vicariate of Coastal Chi-Li () was established on territory split off from the

Apostolic Vicariate of Northern Chi-Li The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Beijing ( la, Archidioecesis Pechimensis) is a Metropolitan Latin archdiocese in the People's Republic of China. Special churches Its cathedral is the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception (South Church) l ...

() * December 3, 1924: Renamed after its see as Apostolic Vicariate of Tianjin () * April 11, 1946: Promoted as Diocese of Tianjin ()

Ordinaries

(all Roman Rite) ; ''Apostolic Vicars of Coastal Chi-Li ()'' * Paul-Marie Dumond,

Lazarists , logo = , image = Vincentians.png , abbreviation = CM , nickname = Vincentians, Paules, Lazarites, Lazarists, Lazarians , established = , founder = Vincent de Paul , fou ...

(C.M.) (April 27, 1912 – July 21, 1920),

Titular Bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox ...

of Curubis (1912.05.02 – 1944.02.19), later

Apostolic Administrator An Apostolic administration in the Catholic Church is administrated by a prelate appointed by the pope to serve as the ordinary for a specific area. Either the area is not yet a diocese (a stable 'pre-diocesan', usually missionary apostolic adm ...

of Ganzhou 贛州 (China) (1920.07.21 – 1925.05.12) becoming Apostolic Vicar of

Ganzhou Ganzhou (), alternately romanized as Kanchow, is a prefecture-level city in the south of Jiangxi province, China, bordering Fujian to the east, Guangdong to the south, and Hunan to the west. Its administrative seat is at Zhanggong District. Hist ...

(1925.05.12 – 1931.07.03), Apostolic Vicar of

Nanchang Nanchang (, ; ) is the capital of Jiangxi Province, People's Republic of China. Located in the north-central part of the province and in the hinterland of Poyang Lake Plain, it is bounded on the west by the Jiuling Mountains, and on the east ...

南昌 (China) (1931.07.03 – death 1944.02.19) ; ''Apostolic Vicar of Tianjin ()'' * Jean de Vienne de Hautefeuille, C.M. () (July 12, 1923 – April 11, 1946), Titular Bishop of

Abrittum Dobrich ( bg, Добрич ; ro, Bazargic, tr, Hacıoğlu Pazarcık) is the 9th most populated city in Bulgaria, the administrative centre of Dobrich Province and the capital of the region of Southern Dobrudzha. It is located in the northeas ...

(1915.08.10 – 1946.04.11 ''see below''); previously Coadjutor Apostolic Vicar of Southwestern Chi-Li 直隸西南 (China) (1915.08.10 – 1917.04.02), succeeding as Vicar Apostolic of Southwestern Chi-Li (1917.04.02 – 1919.04.02), Coadjutor Vicar Apostolic of Northern Chi-Li 直隸北境 (China) (1919.04.02 – 1923.07.12) ; ''Suffragan Bishops of Tianjin ()'' * Jean de Vienne de Hautefeuille, C.M. () (''see above'' April 11, 1946 – 1951), later Titular Bishop of

Abora Abora is the name of an ancestral solar deity of La Palma ( Canary Islands) and a traditional god of the Guanches. Supreme being Abora (Ibru) is the name of the supreme being of the religion of the Guanches on the island of La Palma. In G ...

(1951.06.14 – 1957.09.21) *

John Zhang Bi-de () (1951 – February 13, 1953), while Bishop of

Zhaoxian Zhaoxian or Zhao Xian may refer to: * Zhao County (), Hebei, China * Zhaoxian (Taoism) (), "illuminated immortals", who achieve transcendence through constant periods of thought and recollection People with the name Zhaoxian or Zhao Xian include: * ...

趙縣 (China) (1946.04.11 – 1953.02.13) *

Fr.

Alphonsus Zhao Alphonsus may refer to: As a given name *Any of a number of rulers named Alfonso * Alphonsus J. Donlon (1867–1923), American Jesuit * Alphonsus Liguori (1696–1787), Roman Catholic Saint * Alphonsus Liguori Penney (born 1924), Canadian Roman Cat ...

, C.M. () (February 13, 1953 – 1981) * Uncanonical Li De-pei (李德培) (1958 – 1991.07.13), without papal mandate * Stefano Li Side (1982 clandestine consecration – 2019.06.08), under house arrest at Ji County for refusing to join the Patriotic Catholic AssociationUCAN directory: Bishop Li
* Melchior Shi Hongzhen (since 2019.06.08), under house arrest

Sources and external links

GCatholic.org, with incumbent biography links

Diocese website (Chinese)
Roman Catholic dioceses in China Christian organizations established in 1912 Religion in Tianjin Roman Catholic dioceses and prelatures established in the 20th century 1912 establishments in China {{Asia-RC-diocese-stub