ASIA/CHINA - With the death of Bishop Lin Xili, China not only loses a Bishop, but also a hero and a witness to the truth who worked, suffered, and prayed for the Church in China

Wenzhou (Agenzia Fides) – This past October 4, Bishop James David Lin Xili of the Diocese of Yungkia (Wenzhou), in the Province of Zhejiang (mainland China) passed on from this world.
The Prelate was born on October 19, 1918 in the village of Gaoyang, in Leqing. In 1931, he entered the Seminary of Saint Vincent in the Diocese of Ningbo. He was ordained a priest on June 3, 1944 by Bishop Andre Jean Francois Defebvre, CM. After his ordination, he attended the Fu Jen Catholic University of Beijing where he graduated with highest honors. He renounced to the invitation to remain at the University as a professor with possibilities of traveling oversees for further studies. He later confessed that he had passed up on the opportunity for love of his faithful, who were in need of a pastor in a particularly difficult time.
From 1948-1955, he carried out pastoral activity in the Diocese of Ningbo, as Principal of the Catholic middle school in Ningbo. This is when his name begins to already appear on a list of candidates for Bishop, to succeed Bishop Defebvre. On September 29, 1955 he was arrested with the accusation of being against the revolution and condemned to 16 years of forced labor.
Released in winter of 1971, he decided to return to his native town. For several years he worked as a shoemaker, which he later wrote helped him to repair his own shoes which had been worn down due to his continuous and extensive trips that, amidst humiliations and sufferings he underwent in search of the lost sheep. He also offered his services as a shoemaker to the poorest among the faithful, free of charge.
From 1978 to 1992, he was completed dedicated to pastoral activity in the parish in Leqing, while he also worked repairing old churches damaged during the Cultural Revolution, and constructing new churches.
On October 4, 1992, he was consecrated has the first Bishop of the Diocese of Wenzhou, which had been created in 1949. For many years, he traveled without a permanent residence, until September 8, 1999, when the Government forced him to live under strict control in the Cathedral of the Diocese.
A few years ago, after showing evident signs of Alzheimer, he was hospitalized in Wenzhou. On the morning of October 4 of this year, his health conditions having worsened, he was taken to the church in Qiliang, Leqing, where he died in the evening.
The example of this Bishop was of great importance for everyone, as he was a man of profound faith and a model of fidelity to the universal Church and the Holy Father, and he suffered greatly for this fidelity. In 2004, on the 60th anniversary of his priestly ordination, he received a special blessing from the Holy Father, however the Authorities imposed several bans on the festivities, including that of celebrating the Mass as a Bishop (with the episcopal signs of the miter, pectoral cross, and skull cap). He was also forbidden to receive any words of congratulations that made reference to his episcopate, under the threat that he would immediately be placed under house arrest. However, he was allowed to have a dinner in celebration, along with his priests.
The Diocese of Yungkia (Wenzhou), in the Province of Zhejiang, situated at nearly 466 km south of Hangzhou, has over 110,000 Catholics and 30 priests, most of them young, as well as 36 churches, 9 parishes, 36 houses of worship, and over 70 religious sisters, who are very active in caring for the sick and the elderly and visiting families. The Diocese now has 20 major seminarians and 9 minor.
The body of the Prelate has been taken to Leqing. According to press agencies, even his funeral ceremonies have been limited by the local Authorities, who do not want his body to be dressed with Episcopal garb. During his illness, the local government feared that the Prelate, having become very ill towards the end of September, would have the funeral on October 1, with the risk of a crowd of people on a day on which security measures are placed on maximum alert, for the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the People's Republic of China.
With the death of Bishop Lin Xili, China not only loses a Bishop, but also a hero and a witness to the truth, who worked, suffered, and prayed for the Church in China. In his weakness, always lived with faith, in his sickness and death, he made even the powerful of this world tremble. (Agenzia Fides 9/10/2009)