Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
(Agenzia Fides) - On May 24, 2012, liturgical memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Help of Christians, and World Day of Prayer for the Church in China, His Exc. Mgr. Ermenegildo Li Yi, O.F.M., 88 years old, Bishop of Changzhi (Lu'an) in the province of Shanxi (Mainland China) died. The Prelate had been hospitalized in poor health, from which he had never recovered. Mgr. Li was born on November 13, 1923 in the city of Changzhi. As a boy he decided to devote himself to consecrated life and, after his studies at the diocesan Minor Seminary, in 1943 he entered the Order of Minor Friars and he professed his first religious vows. After completing his studies in philosophy and theology in the Major Seminaries in Jinan and Hankou, he was ordained a priest on February 6, 1949 in Hankou.
After ordination, he taught at a secondary school in Macau, as assistant in the parish of Wangde, where he took care especially of refugees who came from northern China. In 1951 he entered the University of Tianjin as a student of history, and finished his studies in 1955, he carried out pastoral work in the parish of St. Francis. In 1958 he was appointed pastor of Laojunzhuang, in the district of Tuanliu, in his diocese of origin in Changzhi. At the beginning of the Cultural Revolution in 1966 he was unjustly sentenced to prison, where he remained until 1985, when he was allowed to resume pastoral work in the churches of An Yang and Machang.
On 28 January 1998 he was ordained a Bishop for the diocese of Changzhi. In 2003, during the joint celebration for his 80th birthday and the 50th anniversary of priestly ordination, he wrote the following verses:
"I walked for eighty years in the trouble.
In the twilight of life, I was appointed Pastor of Lu'an.
I no longer have ambitions in the depths of the heart,
Except to have the Divine light as a boat for my path.
I have nothing to return the immense grace received,
I am a weak old man, but full of courage,
With my strength, I will face humiliations and hardships.
Although inappropriate, I will do everything in truth."
The Diocese of Changzhi (Lu'an) has more than 50,000 Catholics: it has fifty priests, most of them are young, and 60 churches, 28 of which are new. The Diocese has a dispensary, a home for the elderly and for handicapped children. The Prelate, beloved by the faithful and by those who knew him, will remain as a shining example of a priest for the Chinese clergy and caring and zealous pastor for his faithful (Agenzia Fides 31/5/2012)
