Joseph Zhu Baoyu (; July 2, 1921 – May 7, 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 ...

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

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 ...

. He was Bishop Emeritus of

Nanyang Nanyang is the romanization of two common Chinese place names. It may refer to: Written as 南洋 (Southern Ocean) * Nanyang (region), a Chinese term denoting the Southeast Asian lands surrounding the South China Sea ;China * Nanyang Fleet, Qing ...

. The Chinese government considered him to be Titular Bishop of the Diocese.

Biography

Zhu Baoyu was born on July 2, 1921, in Pushan, Henan. He was entrusted to an orphanage in Jingang at the age of 6, after his father's death. He was

baptized Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost ...

into the Roman Catholic Church at 8. He studied

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

and

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

Kaifeng Kaifeng () is a prefecture-level city in east-central Henan province, China. It is one of the Eight Ancient Capitals of China, having been the capital eight times in history, and is best known for having been the Chinese capital during the Nort ...

Major Seminary, and was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform va ...

to the priesthood in 1957. In December 1981, Zhu Baoyu was arrested and subsequently sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment for "anti-revolutionary crime", reportedly for organizing a pilgrimage to the

Sheshan Basilica The Sheshan Basilica, officially the National Shrine and Minor Basilica of Our Lady of Sheshan () and also known as Basilica of Mary, Help of Christians is a prominent Roman Catholic church in Shanghai. Its common name comes from its location on t ...

. He was released on parole in 1988. In 1993 he was stated to be restricted to the village of Jingang. A member of the

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 ...

, Zhu Baoyu was appointed Coadjutor Bishop of Nanyang and

consecrated Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service. The word ''consecration'' literally means "association with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different grou ...

with Vatican approval on March 19, 1995. He succeeded Joseph Jin Dechen as Bishop of Nanyang in 2002, and retired in 2010. A year later, on June 30, 2011, he was installed as a state-sanctioned Bishop of Nanyang. Then aged 90, Zhu Baoyu explained he had accepted the offer in hopes of influencing the Chinese government to return Church properties expropriated during 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 ...

. Zhu Baoyu fell ill on February 3, 2020, and was diagnosed with

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. He was reported to no longer be infected on February 14. At the age of 98, he was one of the oldest patients to recover from the virus. Zhu died on May 7, 2020, in Nanyang at 98.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zhu, Joseph, Baoyu 1921 births 2020 deaths 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in China 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in China Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in China