Aloysius Chen Guodi

Aloysius Chen Guodi
Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fenyang
Aloysius Chen Guodi in December 1926.
ChurchCathedral in Fenyang
ArchdioceseRoman Catholic Archdiocese of Taiyuan
DioceseRoman Catholic Diocese of Fenyang
Installed10 May 1926
Term ended9 March 1930
PredecessorPosition established
SuccessorFrancis Liu Jinwen
Orders
Ordination13 March 1903
Consecration28 October 1926
by Pope Pius XI
Personal details
Born(1875-11-07)November 7, 1875
DiedMarch 9, 1930(1930-03-09) (aged 54)
NationalityChinese
DenominationRoman Catholic

Aloysius Chen Guodi (simplified Chinese: 陈国砥; traditional Chinese: 陳國砥; pinyin: Chén Guódǐ; 7 November 1875 - 9 March 1930) was a Chinese Catholic priest and Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fenyang from 1926 to 1930 until his death.[1]

Biography

Chen was born in Anyangcun, Shanxi in 1875.[2]: 511  He entered the Franciscans[3]: 72  in 1896 in a village named Dong'ergou (洞儿沟). He was ordained a priest on March 13, 1903.

After the Boxer Rebellion, Chen was tasked with investigating the situation of Catholics in Shanxi.[3]: 72 

In Shanxi, Chen worked as secretary to two Italian bishops and taught in Taiyun seminary.[3]: 72  In addition, he led a Catholic middle school in the city. This was the only Catholic middle school in Shanxi at that time. He was appointed apostolic vicar by Fenyang on May 10, 1926, and was consecrated by Pope Pius XI on October 28, 1926. When Chen and five other Chinese priests (Philippus Zhao Huaiyi, Simon Zhu Kaimin, Odoric Cheng Hede, Melchior Sun De-zhen, and Joseph Hu Ruoshan) were consecrated in Rome, they became the first Chinese Catholic Bishops in modern times.[4]: 54 

As a bishop, he was the apostolic vicar of Fenyang and focused on developing vocations to the priesthood from Chinese.[3]: 72 

He died in 1930.[3]: 72 

References

  1. ^ Li Jingxi (李景玺) (18 June 2014). 从教会历史角度看中国天主教的本地化经历与成果 以及相关的经验与反思. catholicchurchinchina.org (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 4 November 2019. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  2. ^ Mariani, Paul P. (2014). "The First Six Chinese Bishops of Modern Times: A Study in Church Indigenization". The Catholic Historical Review. 100 (3): 486–513. doi:10.1353/cat.2014.0143. ISSN 1534-0708.
  3. ^ a b c d e Wong, Stephanie M. (2025). Making Catholicism Chinese: the Catholic Church in a Modernizing China. New York, NY, United States of America: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-762369-5.
  4. ^ Wong, Stephanie M. (2025). Making Catholicism Chinese: the Catholic Church in a modernizing China. New York, NY, United States of America: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-762369-5.