Vicariate Apostolic of Kiang-nan

The Roman Catholic Vicariate Apostolic of Kiang-nan (Latin: Vicariatus Apostolicus Nanchinensis) was a missionary jurisdiction in mainland China, comprising the two imperial provinces of Jiangsu and Anhui, often referred to as Jiangnan (Wade-Giles: Kiang-nan).

Jiangnan's alluvial lands make the region, especially Jiangsu, one of the richest and most populous countries of China. The number of inhabitants of both provinces exceeded 60,000,000. The Jesuit Father Matteo Ricci was its first missionary, introducing the Catholic religion into this country at the end of the 16th century. He found a powerful aid in the person of the Kangxi Emperor's minister, the famous academician Xu Guangqi, whom he met first at Guangdong and later at Beijing. Baptized in 1603 at Nanjing, Paul Xu returned to Shanghai, his native place, and there converted many Chinese to Catholicism. In 1607 he took with him from Beijing Father Lazzaro Cattaneo, who built a residence and a chapel still to be seen at Shanghai. Returning to Beijing, he first followed the Jesuit fathers in their disgrace, was restored to favor in 1628, and died there in 1633. In 1641 his remains were transferred to Xujiahui, where they still rest, and the principal establishment of the new mission is in the vicinity his tomb. The Jesuits Francesco Brancati and Geronimo de Gravina were at this period building the churches of Sun-kiang, Suzhou and Chongming; Father Sambriani, those of Nanjing, Yangzhou and Huai'an. The mission of Jiangnan enjoyed peace from 1644 to 1661, but the missionaries were too few for the work.

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