Joseph Xu Zhixuan ( zh, c=徐之玄; 7 July 1916 - 8 December 2008) was a Sichuanese Roman Catholic

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

of the Archdiocese of Chongqing, China.

Biography

Xu was born Xu Huafu ( zh, s=徐华富, t=徐華富, links=no) in Dachuan District of

Dazhou Dazhou () is a prefecture-level city in the northeast corner of Sichuan province, China, bordering Shaanxi to the north and Chongqing to the east and south. As of 2020 census, Dazhou was home to 5,385,422 inhabitants whom 1,850,869 lived in the ...

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

, on July 7, 1916. From 1928 to 1934 he studied in small Catholic churches in both Ba County and Zhong County. From 1934 to 1939 he studied at Zhenye Middle School ( zh, s=震野中学, t=震野中學, links=no). After graduating the Wan County Institute of Philosophy in 1943, he taught at a Catholic church in Zhong County. He was ordained a priest in 1946. In 1947 he was accepted to the

Fu Jen Catholic University Fu Jen Catholic University (FJU, FJCU or Fu Jen; or ) is a private Catholic university in Xinzhuang, New Taipei City, Taiwan. The university was founded in 1925 in Beijing at the request of Pope Pius XI and re-established in Taiwan in 1961 at ...

. After university, he went back to the Wan County Institute of Philosophy as a teacher there. In 1950 he entered the Beijing National Normal University. After graduating in 1953, he became a maths teacher at the Beijing No. 4 High School. In 1959 he was transferred to a state farm in

northeast China Northeast China or Northeastern China () is a geographical region of China, which is often referred to as "Manchuria" or "Inner Manchuria" by surrounding countries and the West. It usually corresponds specifically to the three provinces east of t ...

Heilongjiang Heilongjiang () formerly romanized as Heilungkiang, is a province in northeast China. The standard one-character abbreviation for the province is (). It was formerly romanized as "Heilungkiang". It is the northernmost and easternmost province ...

province to reform through labour. In 1971, the Chinese government allowed him to return home. He was rehabilitated in 1978, after the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goal ...

. In 1982 he became a priest at a Catholic church in Da County, and served until 1998. He was ordained assistant bishop of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Wanxian The Roman Catholic Diocese of Wanxian (formerly spelled Wanhsien; la, Dioecesis Uanscienensis; zh, t=天主教萬縣教區), also known as Diocese of Wanzhou, is a Latin Catholic diocese located in Wanzhou District (formerly Wanxian), Chongqing ...

on July 31, 1989. He was promoted to become bishop on January 16, 2001. He died on December 8, 2008, aged 93.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Xu, Joseph, Zhixuan 1916 births 2008 deaths Sichuanese Roman Catholics Roman Catholic bishops in Sichuan Roman Catholic Diocese of Wanxian People from Dazhou Catholic University of Peking alumni 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in China