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

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, 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 Roman province, prov ...

in the

ecclesiastical province An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction in Christian churches, including those of both Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity, that have traditional hierarchical structures. An ecclesiastical province consist ...

Taiyuan Taiyuan; Mandarin pronunciation: (Jin Chinese, Taiyuan Jin: /tʰai˦˥ ye˩˩/) is the capital of Shanxi, China. Taiyuan is the political, economic, cultural and international exchange center of Shanxi Province. It is an industrial base foc ...

PR 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 ...

. It has its

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

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

Datong Datong is a prefecture-level city in northern Shanxi Province, 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 census, it had a population o ...

(

Shanxi Shanxi; Chinese postal romanization, formerly romanised as Shansi is a Provinces of China, province in North China. Its capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-level cities are Changzhi a ...

) 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 it ...

of Datongfu 大同府, on territory split off from the Apostolic Vicariate of Northern Shansi 山西北境) * Promoted on June 17, 1932 as

Apostolic Vicariate An apostolic vicariate is a territorial jurisdiction of the Catholic Church under a titular bishop centered in missionary regions and countries where dioceses or parishes have not yet been established. The status of apostolic vicariate is often ...

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 Catholic Church, a suffragan bishop leads a diocese within an ecclesiastical province other than the principal diocese, the metropolitan archdiocese; the diocese led ...

Ordinaries

(all

Roman Rite The Roman Rite () is the most common ritual family for performing the ecclesiastical services of the Latin Church, the largest of the ''sui iuris'' particular churches that comprise the Catholic Church. The Roman Rite governs Rite (Christianity) ...

; so far all missionary members of the Latin congregation

Scheutists The CICM Missionaries, officially known as the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary () and often abbreviated as C.I.C.M, is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right for men established in 1862 by the Belgian Cathol ...

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

Joseph Hoogers Joseph is a common male name, derived from the Hebrew (). "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 modern-day Nordic count ...

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

Ecclesiastical Superior In the canon law of the Catholic Church, a mission (, pl. ), also known as an independent mission, can be defined as: "an ecclesial structure erected from a previous territory, with explicit boundaries, under the care of a religious communit ...

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 an ...

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