Born in Hanzhong, he trained at PIME seminaries in Shaanxi and Henan, but was only able to become a priest after the Cultural Revolution. The great archbishop of Xian, Msgr. Li Duan, sent him to what had been the apostolic prefecture of Hinganfu, in a very poor region, and ordained him a bishop in 2000. He was ill for a long time and in 2016 the Holy See approved the appointment of Bishop Wang Xiaoxun as coadjutor bishop.
Ankang () – Monsignor Juan Bautista Ye Ronguah, bishop of the Catholic diocese of Ankang, in Shaanxi province, died yesterday in China at the age of 91. He was the first Chinese bishop of the former apostolic prefecture of Hinganfu, separated in 1928 from the diocese of Hanzhong, which was in charge of the Italian friars minor conventual until the expulsion of foreign missionaries.
Bishop Ye was born on June 20, 1931 into a Catholic family in the village of Shankou, which is located near Hanzhong, one of the dioceses where the PIME missionaries exercised their ministry. Saint Alberico Criscitelli was martyred in this same diocese in 1900. While still very young, Ye Ronghua entered the minor seminary of Saint Joseph and then continued his studies at the regional seminary of Kaifeng, in Henan province. Both institutions had been founded and directed by PIME missionaries.
The coming to power of Mao’s revolutionaries abruptly stopped the training of new Shaanxi priests. When he completed his studies in 1958 he had to return to Hanzhong without being ordained. In 1966, during the Cultural Revolution, Ye Ronghua was labeled a “counterrevolutionary” and sentenced to forced labor re-education.
He was only able to receive priestly ordination when the harshest period of persecution ended, on December 10, 1981. In 1987, the Bishop of Xian, Monsignor Antonio Li Duan – one of the main figures of the contemporary Chinese Church and a great builder of the unity of the Church in China – sent him to Ankang, in the territory of the former Apostolic Prefecture of Hinganfu, with the task of rebuilding the small Catholic community in this very poor region of Shaanxi. On December 10, 2000, Bishop Li Duan himself consecrated him “official” bishop of Ankang, but very soon he was also recognized by the Holy See. Some people who were able to speak with him say that he accurately remembered the names of the PIME missionaries that he had had as professors in the seminary.
He was ill for many years and was finally able to count on the help of a coadjutor bishop, Monsignor Juan Bautista Wang Xiaoxun, a priest from the diocese of Xian who is currently 56 years old. The ordination took place on November 30, 2016 and was attended by six bishops from the Diocese of Shaanxi, all in communion with the Pope and recognized by the government. On that occasion, the Pope’s mandate for the new coadjutor bishop was read “in private”, in a meeting with all the priests before the ordination mass. Msgr. Wang Xiaoxung will now succeed Msgr. Ye Ronghua as Bishop of Ankang Diocese for all purposes.
Add Comment