Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Xiushidu (Agenzia Fides) - On September 21, His Exc. Mgr. Giovanni Chrysostom Lan Shi, Coadjutor Bishop Emeritus of the Diocese of Sanyuan, Shaanxi Province (Mainland China) died at the age of 89. He was born in 1925 in Tongyuan, Gaoling County (Shaanxi), from a Christian family. At the age of fourteen, he entered the diocesan Seminary; at twenty-nine, he was ordained a priest and served as pastor in Jingyang, a village in Xiushidu.
In 1965, at the approach of the Cultural Revolution, he was arrested, detained and obliged to forced labor until 1979. In 1980, following the liberalization of religious activities, he was allowed to serve as pastor in the same village in Xiushidu. In 2000, Msg. Lan Shi received the approval of the Holy See to serve as Bishop Coadjutor of Sanyuan, diocese at the time led by His Exc. Mgr. Giuseppe Zong Huaide. On 28 November of the same year, he received episcopal ordination by the then Bishop of the Apostolic Prefecture of Tongzhou/ Weinan, His Exc. Mgr. Lorenzo Zhang Wenbin.
During his episcopal ministry, Mgr. Lan Shi was in particular committed to the young, accompanying some to priesthood and consecrated life. Being a lover of music, he composed some songs for liturgy. The funeral took place on September 24 in the parish of Xiushidu: the funeral was attended by several local Bishops, forty priests, nuns and about a two thousand faithful. (Agenzia Fides 08/10/2014)
