100 YEARS SINCE THE ORDINATION OF THE FIRST SIX CHINESE BISHOPS - Bishop Aloysius Chen Guodi and the Diocese of Fenyang

One hundred years since the ordination of the first six Chinese Bishops consecrated in modern times (October 28, 1926), Fides News Agency is dedicating a series of documentary profiles on these Successors of the Apostles and on their dioceses, which were at the heart of this crucial event in the history of the Catholic Church in China.


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by Prof. Liu Zhiqing

Fenyang (Fides News Agency) — The Diocese of Fenyang, in Shanxi Province, was the third diocese to be entrusted to the governance of a member of the Chinese clergy. It was established on May 7, 1926, as the Apostolic Vicariate of Fenyang. Its first bishop, Aloysius Chen Guodi, was one of the first group of six Chinese bishops consecrated by Pope Pius XI in Rome on October 28, 1926. He had been appointed bishop on May 10, 1926.

1. History of the Diocese

On May 7, 1926, the Apostolic Vicariate of Fenyang was separated from the Apostolic Vicariate of Taiyuan, which was administered by the Italian Franciscans. In 1925, the Vicariate was divided into three deaneries. It had 35,187 baptized Catholics and 48 priests, 26 of of whom were foreigners and 22 Chinese. The Chinese clergy therefore accounted for 45.83 percent.
At the time of its establishment, the Apostolic Vicariate of Fenyang had 11,492 baptized Catholics and 17 Chinese priests, including the Apostolic Vicar.
In July 1926, Archbishop Celso Costantini, the first Apostolic Delegate to China, visited Taiyuan. In his memoirs, he wrote that his visit to the Vicariate of Taiyuan was intended to define the boundaries of the new dioceses entrusted to the local clergy.
The Apostolic Vicar of Taiyuan, Agapito Fiorentini (1866–1941), wholeheartedly supported the Holy See’s directives to entrust the leadership of dioceses to Chinese bishops.
“I therefore proceeded with the final consultations and choice of the new bishops,” Costantini wrote in his memoirs (“Con i missionari in Cina, 1922–1933: Memorie di fatti e di idee” Rome, 1946).

On April 11, 1946, the Apostolic Vicariate of Fenyang was raised to the rank of a Diocese.
In 1949, the Diocese of Fenyang comprised 15 counties. According to Zhao Qingyuan, author of “Chronology of the Division of Catholic Dioceses in China and the Succession of Their Bishops”, the diocese had 139 churches and chapels, 31 priests (including one religious priest), and 15,618 baptized Catholics.

2. The Bishops of the Diocese

The first bishop of the Apostolic Vicariate of Fenyang was Aloysius Chen Guodi (1875–1930), a member of the Order of Friars Minor.
Aloysius Chen was born on November 15, 1875, in the village of Anyang, near Lu’an, Shanxi, into a family that had been Catholic for generations. He entered the Order of Friars Minor on October 4, 1896, in Dongergou and was ordained a priest on March 15, 1903.
For nine years, he carried out missionary work in Xinxian County and other areas, later serving as secretary to two Italian bishops who headed dioceses in China.
In addition to teaching Latin and apologetics at the Taiyuan Seminary, Aloysius Chen also led a Catholic secondary school in the city, Mingyuan School.

In 1911, Chen Guodi was appointed parish priest of Taiyuan Cathedral. He later led a Catholic middle school in the city.

On May 10, 1926, Chen Guodi was appointed Apostolic Vicar of Fenyang, with the titular see of Attuda. On October 28, 1926, he received episcopal consecration at St Peter’s Basilica in Rome from Pope Pius XI, becoming one of the first six Chinese bishops consecrated in modern times.

In 1927, Bishop Aloysius Chen founded the diocesan minor seminary; in 1928, he established a preparatory seminary. That same year, he welcomed ten consecrated laywomen from the charitable association Baochihui (“Protect the Children Association”) from the parish of Qingtang in Linxian County. He also established a charitable institution in the city to receive and care for abandoned infants.
He died on March 10, 1930, at the age of 55.

Following the death of Aloysius Chen Guodi, Francis Liu Jinwen (1872–1951) was consecrated bishop of the Apostolic Vicariate of Fenyang on October 12, 1930. He served until January 15, 1948, and died on April 3, 1951.
On June 9, 1949, Simon Lei Zhenxia (1915–1971) was consecrated bishop of the Diocese of Fenyang. Arrested in 1955, he was sentenced to death and executed by firing squad on February 16, 1971.

3. The development of the Diocese

The Diocese of Fenyang originated from several parishes in the Fenzhoufu deanery that belonged to the Apostolic Vicariate of Taiyuan. After 24 years of growth, the number of baptized Catholics had reached approximately 15,600, while there were 30 priests (29 Chinese priests and one foreign priest).
Statistics on pastoral activity and the development of the diocese over the years are provided in the table below.

Table of Pastoral Statistics of the Diocese of Fenyang, 1926–1950

Source: Les missions de Chine et du Japon, Les missions de Chine, Annuaire des Missions Catholiques de Chine.

(Fides News Agency, 5/10/2026)

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