Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Hwalien (Agenzia Fides) – Bishop Andrea Tsien Chih-chun, Bishop emeritus of the Diocese of Hwalien, great defender of the Church in China, died at the age of 83 on the evening of February 17, in the Hwalien Hospital, after suffering cardiac arrest. The Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, Cardinal Ivan Dias, and the Secretary of the Missionary Dicastery, Archbishop Robert Sarah, communicated their condolences in a message, on behalf of the entire Congregation, as soon as they were given word of his death.
Bishop Andrea Tsien, who resigned from the pastoral government of the Diocese in 2002, was born in the town of Yu Huan in the province of Zhe Jiang on April 9, 1926, and was baptized along with his entire family as a child. He entered the minor seminary at Ning Bo at 13 years of age and then passed to the Regional Seminary of Zhe Gan, in the city of Jia Zing in 1947, to study philosophy and theology. He was then sent to Genoa, Italy, in 1949 to continue studies. He earned a Doctorate in Philosophy from the Catholic University “Sacro Cuore” in Milan. Ordained a priest in Genoa on June 29, 1953, he also served as pastor of the Chinese community living in Milan and knew Cardinal Montini, then Archbishop of Milan and future Pope Paul VI.
Arriving in Taiwan in 1960, he served as pastor of various parishes in Hsinchu, Keelung, Taipei, Hsinchuang...He became Dean of the Philosophy Department at the Fu Ren Catholic University in 1966, Director of the Institute for Philosophical Research in 1970, and first Director of the University's Art Institute in 1984. He was elected Bishop of Hwalien on February 22, 1992 and consecrated on April 11 of the same year. He resigned on 2002, in conformity with Canon Law. He is remembered as a
great upholder of the Church, especially of his beloved homeland on the mainland, and the Diocese of Wen Zhou, as is confirmed in his farewell to the diocese in 2002: “I am retiring, but I will never be lazy...I will always work to promote communion in the one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church.” His successor, Bishop Philip Huang Chao-ming, announced that the funeral services for Bishop Andrew Tsien Chih-ch'un will be celebrated on Saturday, February 28 in the Hwalien Cathedral.
According to the Catholic Church Directory Taiwan 2004, the Diocese of Hwalien created on 15 July 1963 today has 56,262 faithful, 2 bishops, 54 priests, 5 brothers, 120 sisters, 16 seminarians (9 major, 7 minor), 25 catechists, 10 deaneries, 45 parishes, 151 mission stations, 17 semi-public churches, 1 professional school with 680 pupils, 1 middle school with 1,572 pupils, 2 professional training centres with 1,166 pupils, 1 elementary school with 590 pupils, 17 infant schools for 1,092 children, 1 college, 1 monthly publication, 1 hospital which admits an average 34,028 patients a year, 2 clinics which care for 6,200 patients a year, 2 homes for the aged with 117 inmates and 2 centers for mentally retarded children with 43 patients. (NZ) (Agenzia Fides 19/2/2009)
