The

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

Metropolitan Metropolitan may refer to: * Metropolitan area, a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories * Metropolitan borough, a form of local government district in England * Metropolitan county, a typ ...

Archdiocese 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 associate ...

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...

( la, Archidioecesis Nanchinensis) (

Jiangsu Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, Postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an Eastern China, eastern coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is o ...

) is an ecclesiastical territory or

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, 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 Roman province, pro ...

of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

History

It was erected as the Apostolic Vicariate of Nanjing in 1659 by

Pope Alexander VII Pope Alexander VII ( it, Alessandro VII; 13 February 159922 May 1667), born Fabio Chigi, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 7 April 1655 to his death in May 1667. He began his career as a vice- papal legate, an ...

, and promoted to a diocese by

Pope Alexander VIII Pope Alexander VIII ( it, Alessandro VIII; 22 April 1610 – 1 February 1691), born Pietro Vito Ottoboni, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 6 October 1689 to his death in February 1691. He is to date the las ...

on April 10, 1690. On 15 October 1696, its territory was reduced by Pope Innocent XII to two provinces:

Jiangnan Jiangnan or Jiang Nan (; formerly romanized Kiang-nan, literally "South of the River" meaning "South of the Yangtze") is a geographic area in China referring to lands immediately to the south of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, incl ...

(the present day provinces of

Anhui Anhui , (; formerly romanized as Anhwei) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the East China region. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze River ...

, and

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

) and Ho-nan ( Henan province). The diocese was demoted to the Apostolic Vicariate of Kiangnan on January 21, 1856 by

Pope Pius IX Pope Pius IX ( it, Pio IX, ''Pio Nono''; born Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878, the longest verified papal reign. He was notable for convoking the First Vatican ...

, and its name was later changed to the Apostolic Vicariate of Kiangsu on August 8, 1921 and to the Vicariate Apostolic of Nanjing on May 1, 1922.

Pope Pius XII Pope Pius XII ( it, Pio XII), born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli (; 2 March 18769 October 1958), was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death in October 1958. Before his e ...

elevated it on April 11, 1946 to the rank of a metropolitan archdiocese, with the

suffragan sees A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Anglican Communion, a suffragan bishop is a bishop who is subordinate to a metropolitan bishop or diocesan bishop (bishop ordinary) and so is not normally jurisdiction ...

Haimen Haimen (, Qihai dialect: , Shanghai: ) is a district of Nantong, Jiangsu province, with a population of approximately 1 million. It is located at the opposite side of the Yangtze River to Shanghai and is directly north of Chongming Island except f ...

Suzhou Suzhou (; ; Suzhounese: ''sou¹ tseu¹'' , Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Soochow, is a major city in southern Jiangsu province, East China. Suzhou is the largest city in Jiangsu, and a major economic center and focal point of trade ...

, and

Xuzhou Xuzhou (徐州), also known as Pengcheng (彭城) in ancient times, is a major city in northwestern Jiangsu province, China. The city, with a recorded population of 9,083,790 at the 2020 census (3,135,660 of which lived in the built-up area ma ...

. The archdiocese's motherchurch and thus seat of its archbishop is the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception also known as the Shigu Road church. There were a number of years without a bishop after the death of Paul Cardinal Yü Pin on August 16, 1978, because of the irregular relations between the Communist government and the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of Rome ...

. On January 6, 2000,

Francis Savio Lu Xinping Francis Savio Lu Xinping (; born 1963) is a Chinese Catholic priest and Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Nanjing since 2000. Biography Lu was born in Haimen Country, Jiangsu, in 1963. He was educated at the Sheshan Seminar at Sha ...

was ordained the new bishop of Nanjing along with four others in an illicit ceremony in Beijing's South Cathedral. Since then he has been reconciled to the Holy See.

List of Ordinaries of Nanjing

Dioceses and Apostolic Vicariates in China 1696

Vicar Apostolic of Nanjing

* Ignace Cotolendi (1660–1662) ::''sede vacante'' * Gregory Luo Wen-zao, O.P. (1674–1690)

Bishop of Nanjing

* Gregory Luo Wen-zao, O.P. (1690–1691), also known as Gregory Lopez in the Philippines **Father

Giovanni Francesco Nicolai Giovanni Francesco Nicolai, O.F.M. (died 1737) was a Roman Catholic prelate who served as Vicar Apostolic of Houkouang (1696–1737), Titular Archbishop of ''Myra'' (1712–1737), and Titular Bishop of ''Berytus'' (1696–1712). ''(in Latin)''< ...

, O.F.M. (Administrator, 1691–1694), nominated by Wen-zao as his successor on May 29, 1688 under authority granted by the Holy See, served as administrator upon Wen-zao's death, not consecrated until 1700 as

Vicar Apostolic of Houkouang The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hankou ( la, Hancheuvensis, ) is a Latin Rite Metropolitan archdiocese, based in Hankou, Wuhan, Hubei, China. Its archiepiscopal see is the Cathedral of St. Joseph, in Hankou, Wuhan. It is since 1961, due to the ...

**Father Francisco Spinola, S.J. (Coadjutator, 1690–1694), appointed 1690 but did not take effect as he died in 1694 before reaching China, never consecrated * Alessandro Ciceri, S.J. (1694–1703) *

Antonio de Silva Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular male ...

, S.J. (1707–1726) * António Paes Godinho, S.J. (1718–1721) *

Emmanuel de Jesus-Maria-Joseph Immanuel ( he, עִמָּנוּאֵל, 'Īmmānū'ēl, meaning, "God is with us"; also romanized: , ; and or in Koine Greek of the New Testament) is a Hebrew name that appears in the Book of Isaiah (7:14) as a sign that God will protect the ...

, O.F.M. (1721–1739) * Francesco de Santa Rosa de Viterbo, O.F.M. Ref. (1742–1750) * Gottfried Xaver von Laimbeckhoven, S.J. (1752–1787) * Alexandre de Gouvea (Gouveia), T.O.R. (1787–1804) * Cayetano Pires Pireira, C.M. (1804–1838)

Vicar Apostolic of Kiangnan

* André-Pierre Borgniet, S.J. (1859–1862) * Adrien-Hippolyte Languillat, SJ (1864–1878) *

Valentin Garnier Valentin is a male given name meaning "strong, healthy, power, rule, terco". It comes from the Latin name ''Valentinus'', as in Saint Valentin. Commonly found in Spain, Romania, Bulgaria, France, Italy, Russia, Ukraine, Scandinavia, Latin America ...

, S.J. (1879–1898) *

Jean-Baptiste Simon Jean-Baptiste is a male French name, originating with Saint John the Baptist, and sometimes shortened to Baptiste. The name may refer to any of the following: Persons * Charles XIV John of Sweden, born Jean-Baptiste Jules Bernadotte, was King o ...

, S.J. (1899) *

Próspero París Jules Prosper París, SJ (; 1 September 1846 – 13 May 1931) was a French prelate of the Roman Catholic Church, who served as Apostolic Vicar of Nanking from 1900 until his death. Born in Nantes, he was ordained as a Jesuit priest on 18 Septem ...

, S.J. (1900–1931)

Vicar Apostolic of Kiangsu

*Próspero París, S.J. (1900–1931)

Vicar Apostolic of Nanjing

*Próspero París, S.J. (1900–1931) * Auguste Haouisée, S.J. (1931–1933) * Paul Yü Pin (1936–1978)

Archdiocese of Nanjing

*Paul Yü Pin (1936–1978) * Francis Xavier Lu Xinping (2000–present)

References

External links

Catholic-Hierarchy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roman Catholic Archdiocese Of Nanjing Nanjing History of Jiangsu 1659 establishments in China Religious organizations established in the 1650s

Roman Catholic dioceses and prelatures established in the 17th century Religion in Jiangsu

History

List of Ordinaries of Nanjing

Vicar Apostolic of Nanjing

Bishop of Nanjing

Vicar Apostolic of Kiangnan

Vicar Apostolic of Kiangsu

Vicar Apostolic of Nanjing

Archdiocese of Nanjing

See also

Further reading

References

External links