Peter Joseph Fan Xueyan (; December 29, 1907 – April 13, 1992) was a Chinese

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

priest and bishop who lived in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

during the 20th century. He was bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Baoding.

Early life

He was born in Siao Wang Ting (south of Beijing), China on December 29, 1907.

Priesthood

He was ordained a priest on December 22, 1934, in Rome and he shortly thereafter returned to China to work in the diocese of Baoding. He worked in parishes, schools, seminaries, and in the Catholic Relief Agency during 1937–1951. His work took him to several provinces in China.

Episcopate

He was appointed bishop of Baoding diocese on April 12, 1951, and ordained on June 24 of that year. He was

consecrated Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects (a ...

by the archbishop of Hankou, Giuseppe Ferrucio Maurizio Rosà.

Persecution

The Chinese government sought to control religious activities in the country and in 1957 it instituted the

Catholic Patriotic Association The Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association (CCPA) is the national organization for Catholicism in the People's Republic of China. It was established in 1957 after a group of Chinese Catholics met in Beijing with officials from the Chinese Commun ...

(CPA), which is a government mandated organization to oversee the Roman Catholic Church in China. The organization required the church to disavow the authority of the pope and conform to the dictates of the government. Bishop Fan, as well as many other Catholics loyal to the successor of Peter, would not renounce the Pope's authority and he voiced criticism of the CPA. In 1958, Bishop Fan was arrested and sent to a penal farm (a type of forced labour camp) until he was released in 1969. He was kept under continual surveillance until he was arrested again in 1978 for illegal religious activities. He was released in 1979; however, he was arrested again in 1982 for "colluding with foreign forces to jeopardize the sovereignty and security of the motherland" (it was alleged he had had contacts with the Vatican and was secretly ordaining priests in his diocese). He was released in 1987, but placed under house arrest and continually moved around. In November 1990 he went missing and was assumed to have been dead.

Death

Bishop Fan died of pneumonia on April 13, 1992, according to the director of the liaison department of the

. According to anonymous sources, his body was left at the door of his family home in a plastic body bag. His body was found to have had broken bones and other injuries that may have resulted from torture. He may have been the longest-serving prisoner of conscience in the world. It has been reported that underground Christians have called for his canonization.

References

External links

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