The Roman Catholic Diocese of Datong/Tatung ( la, Tatomen(sis), ) is a Latin

diocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associat ...

in the

Ecclesiastical province An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction in Christian Churches with traditional hierarchical structure, including Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity. In general, an ecclesiastical province consists of sev ...

Taiyuan Taiyuan (; ; ; Mandarin pronunciation: ; also known as (), ()) is the capital and largest city of Shanxi Province, People's Republic of China. Taiyuan is the political, economic, cultural and international exchange center of Shanxi Province ...

PR China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

. It has its

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the ''cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominatio ...

episcopal see Cathedral of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in the city of

Datong Datong is a prefecture-level city in northern Shanxi Province in the People's Republic of China. It is located in the Datong Basin at an elevation of and borders Inner Mongolia to the north and west and Hebei to the east. As of the 2020 cen ...

(

Shanxi Shanxi (; ; formerly romanised as Shansi) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the North China region. The capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-lev ...

) but is vacant.

History

* Established on March 14, 1922 as

Apostolic Prefecture An apostolic prefect or prefect apostolic is a priest who heads what is known as an apostolic prefecture, a 'pre-diocesan' missionary jurisdiction where the Catholic Church is not yet sufficiently developed to have it made a diocese. Although i ...

of Datongfu 大同府, on territory split off from the

Apostolic Vicariate of Northern Shansi The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Taiyuan ( la, Taeiuenen(sis), ) is an archdiocese located in the city of Taiyuan (Shanxi) in China. History * June 17, 1890: Established as Apostolic Vicariate of Northern Shansi 山西北境 from the Apostoli ...

山西北境) * Promoted on June 17, 1932 as Apostolic Vicariate of Datongfu 大同府 * Promoted on April 11, 1946 as Diocese of Datong 大同, ceasing to be exempt and becoming a

suffragan A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Anglican Communion, a suffragan bishop is a bishop who is subordinate to a metropolitan bishop or diocesan bishop (bishop ordinary) and so is not normally jurisdiction ...

Ordinaries

(all

Roman Rite The Roman Rite ( la, Ritus Romanus) is the primary liturgical rite of the Latin Church, the largest of the '' sui iuris'' particular churches that comprise the Catholic Church. It developed in the Latin language in the city of Rome and, while d ...

; so far all missionary members of the Latin congregation

Scheutists The CICM Missionaries officially named as the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ( la, Congregatio Immaculati Cordis Mariae) abbreviated C.I.C.M, is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right for men established in ...

, C.I.C.M.) ; ''Apostolic Prefect of Datongfu 大同府'' * Father

Joseph Hoogers Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...

, C.I.C.M. (March 3, 1923–1932), previously

Ecclesiastical Superior A mission '' sui iuris'', or in Latin ''missio sui iuris'' (plural ''missions sui iuris''); also spelled mission(s) sui juris), also known as an independent mission, is a rare type of Roman Catholic missionary pseudo-diocesan jurisdiction, rank ...

of the

Mission sui iuris of I-li The Mission sui juris of I-li was a pre-diocesan Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or mission ''sui iuris'' of the Catholic Church in Mongol-imperial China, notably in (mostly Muslim) East Turkestan. History * In 1320, the jurisdiction ...

伊犁 (imperial China) (1918.06.08 – 1922) ; ''Apostolic Vicar of Datongfu 大同府'' * Franciscus Joosten, C.I.C.M. (June 21, 1932 – April 11, 1946 ''see below''),

Titular Bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox a ...

of Germanicopolis (in Isauria) (1932.06.14 – 1946.04.11) : ''Suffragan Bishops of Datong 大同'' *

Franciscus Joosten Franciscus is a Latin given name, originally an epithet meaning "the Frank, the Frenchman". It was applied to Saint Francis of Assisi (1181/82–1226). Francis had been baptized Giovanni (John); his father was Italian and his mother Proven ...

, C.I.C.M. (''see above'' April 11, 1946 – 1947) * ''

Apostolic Administrator An Apostolic administration in the Catholic Church is administrated by a prelate appointed by the pope to serve as the ordinary for a specific area. Either the area is not yet a diocese (a stable 'pre-diocesan', usually missionary apostolic admi ...

Alphonse Van Buggenhout (范普厚), C.I.C.M. (1950.03.31 – 1951), later Secretary General of the Chinese Regional Bishops’ Conference 1967 – 1970 * Thaddeus Guo Yin-gong (郭印宮) (1990 – 2000?) * ''(sede vacante)

References

GCatholic.org with incumbent biography links

Source and External links

Roman Catholic dioceses in China Christian organizations established in 1922 Roman Catholic dioceses and prelatures established in the 20th century Organizations based in Shanxi Religion in Shanxi {{PRChina-RC-diocese-stub