Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Tai Yuan (Agenzia Fides) – Hundreds of priests, religious, sisters, seminarians, catechists, and laity of the Archdiocese of Tai Yuan and the Diocese of Jin Zhong (Yu Ci) participated in a fruitful exchange of faith and evangelization experiences in the Cathedral of Yu Ci in recent days, to promote the mission for the new year.
During the encounter, several testimonies given by new members of the faithful, which were moving for all who heard them. Fr. Pan Li Zhong, organizer of the encounter, said that “the new faithful that today have shared their faith experience are living testimonies. They have shown how the faith is the source of strength; knowing the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. They have moved us all...Evangelization is a priority for all of us in this new year. We are all called to “set out into the deep” immediately!”
Many of the new faithful have lived out their faith in extraordinary manners, in simplicity. One was attracted to the Church by the music and the sacred hymns. Another, was impressed by the kindness of the Church porter and yet another, read the material distributed by Catholics in the hospital. Today, they are all baptized and have a firm faith. They have also brought their families and friends to the Church.
The Archdiocese of Tai Yuan, in the Province of Shan Xi, has a long and glorious story of evangelization and many heroic martyrs, beginning with its first Bishop Gregorio Grassi, OFM. It was evangelized in 1620 by Fr. Giulio Aleni, SJ, the famous Jesuit companion of Fr. Matteo Ricci, and his successor, Belgian Jesuit Fr. Alphonsus A. Vagnoni, SJ – known as “the Apostle of Shan Xi.” Today, the Diocese has 27 churches, about 90 worship sites and missionary stations, 50 priests, 30 religious, and nearly 80,000 faithful.
The Diocese of Yu CI (today Jin Zhong) was formed from the Archdiocese of Tai Yuan (Province of Shan Xi) on June 7, 1931. It became an Apostolic Prefecture in 1932, Apostolic Vicariate in 1944, and a Diocese in 1946 (with the first Bishop being Italian Bishop Ermenegildo Focaccia), the year of the establishment of the Hierarchy in China. Today, the Diocese has over 20,000 faithful, about 30 priests, 29 seminarians, and 30 sisters, members of the diocesan congregation of the Assumption. The diocese also runs a clinic that offers both traditional Chinese treatment as well as the methods used by the Western World. (NZ) (Agenzia Fides 05/02/2009)
