VATICAN CITY – Cardinal Stephen Chow Sau-yan, S.J., Bishop of Hong Kong, is among the Church leaders scheduled to address an international conference in Rome marking the centenary of the consecration of the first six Chinese bishops by Pope Pius XI in 1926, according to a report published by the Sunday Examiner on November 6.
The conference, entitled “The Face of the Universal Church in China: 100 Years Since the Consecration of the First Six Chinese Bishops”, is being held at the Pontifical Urbaniana University on November 5. Bishop Joseph Li Shan of Beijing and Bishop Ignatius Ding Zuyao of Haimen are also expected to participate.
Cardinal Chow is scheduled to speak on “Inculturation, Sinicisation and Interculturality in Formation”. Pietro Cardinal Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State, will address the gathering, while Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelisation, will deliver the concluding remarks.
The conference commemorates the episcopal consecrations held at St. Peter’s Basilica on October 28, 1926, when six Chinese bishops—Odorico Cheng Hede, Melchior Sun Dezhen, Joseph Hu Ruoshan, Philip Zhao Huaiyi, Simon Zhu Kaimin and Aloysius Chen Guodi—were consecrated by Pope Pius XI.
The event marked a significant milestone in the development of the Catholic Church in China. With the exception of Gregory Luo Wenzao, who was consecrated a bishop in 1685, the bishops serving in China before 1926 had been foreign missionaries.
During the Mass, Pope Pius XI expressed his joy at witnessing what he described as the “first fruits and new shoots of the Chinese episcopate”.
The development of a local church #
The six consecrations formed part of a broader missionary renewal promoted by the Holy See in the early 20th century, which sought to encourage the development of indigenous clergy and move Catholic evangelisation beyond a colonial mentality.
In his 1919 apostolic letter Maximum illud, Pope Benedict XV affirmed that the Catholic faith “is foreign to no nation”. The document helped inspire the Council of Shanghai in 1924, where participants called for greater attention to the formation and development of Chinese clergy.
Archbishop Celso Costantini, the first Apostolic Delegate to China, played a central role in this development. He accompanied the six bishops-designate when they departed Shanghai for Rome on September 10, 1926.
According to the Sunday Examiner, the conference will examine both the historical circumstances surrounding the establishment of the Chinese episcopate and their continuing significance for the Church in China.
Proceedings will begin at 10:30 a.m. with a welcome address by Professor Andrea D’Auria, Dean of the Faculty of Canon Law at the university. Jesuit Father Luciano Morra, Director of the Pastoral Commission for China, will chair the morning session.
The programme will include a screening of Teresa Tseng Kuang Yi’s documentary, A Long Journey: The Adventure of the Six Chinese Bishops Consecrated in Rome by Pius XI in 1926.
Professor Mario Luigi Grignani, Dean of the Faculty of Missiology, will examine missionary developments under Pope Benedict XV and Pope Pius XI.
The afternoon session, chaired by Dr. Marta Zhao Nan, Head of the Chinese-language edition of Fides, will feature an address by Bishop Ding and presentations on the establishment of the local Church, the development of episcopal consecrations in China, their canonical and legal dimensions, and historical records preserved in the archives of Propaganda Fide.
Other speakers will include Professor Elisa Giunipero of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart; Professor Liu Guopeng of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta; and Monsignor Flavio Belluomini, Archivist of the Dicastery for Evangelisation. Chinese songs will also feature throughout the programme.
A century of episcopal continuity #
The participation of the bishops of Beijing and Haimen gives the centenary commemoration a contemporary dimension.
The presence of Chinese bishops at gatherings in Rome has not always been possible. In 1998, two bishops from China invited by Pope John Paul II were unable to attend the Synod of Bishops for Asia. In 2005, none of the four Chinese bishops invited by Pope Benedict XVI was able to travel to Rome.
More recently, Bishop Joseph Shen Bin of Shanghai participated in a conference at the Urbaniana University in May 2024, marking the centenary of the Council of Shanghai.
For Bishop Ding, the anniversary also has a particular connection with the history of his diocese. Consecrated in Nantong on October 15 at the age of 40, he became the 19th bishop to be ordained within the framework of the Provisional Agreement between the Holy See and the People’s Republic of China.
The Diocese of Haimen has its own historical connection with the 1926 consecrations through Bishop Simon Zhu Kaimin, a Jesuit and one of the six bishops consecrated by Pope Pius XI, who became its first bishop. The Apostolic Vicariate of Haimen had been established in August 1926, following the suggestion of Archbishop Costantini, with the intention of placing the new ecclesiastical jurisdiction under Chinese leadership.
Bishop Ding previously served as parish priest in Caojiazhen, known as “the Chinese Lisieux”, maintaining another historical connection with Bishop Zhu. During his travels in Europe following the 1926 consecrations, Bishop Zhu received a relic from a sister of St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus in Lisieux. The relic is now venerated in Haimen Cathedral.
Beijing also has close historical ties to the anniversary. Two of the six bishops, Philip Zhao Huaiyi and Melchior Sun Dezhen, were born and received their formation there. Bishop Zhao served as Archbishop Costantini’s secretary, while Bishop Sun taught for 12 years at the minor seminary in the Chinese capital.
Bishop Li, who was consecrated in 2007 with the apostolic mandate of Pope Benedict XVI and recognition from the civil authorities, will join the commemoration in Rome. A century after the first Chinese episcopal consecrations, the gathering recalls the historical development of a locally rooted episcopate and the place of the Church in China within the communion of the universal Church.