100 YEARS SINCE THE ORDINATIONS OF THE FIRST SIX CHINESE BISHOPS - Bishop Simone Zhu Kaimin and the Diocese of Haimen

One hundred years after the ordination of the first six Chinese bishops consecrated in modern times, (October 28, 1926), Fides News Agency is dedicating a series of documentary profiles to these Successors of the Apostles and the dioceses entrusted to them, which were at the heart of that crucial event in the history of the Catholic Church in China.

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by Professor Liu Zhiqing

The Diocese of Haimen was the sixth ecclesiastical jurisdiction in China to be entrusted to the leadership of a member of the Chinese clergy. It was established on August 11, 1926, as the Apostolic Vicariate of Haimen. Its first bishop, Simon Zhu Kaimin, was one of the first six Chinese bishops consecrated in Rome by Pope Pius XI on October 28, 1926. He had been appointed Apostolic Vicar on August 2, 1926.

1. History of the diocese

As part of the process of entrusting the leadership of dioceses to members of the Chinese clergy, in accordance with the directives of the Primum Concilium Sinense—the important synod of the Church in China held in Shanghai in 1924—Archbishop Celso Costantini, the first Apostolic Delegate to China, had expressly stated his wish to entrust a member of the Chinese clergy with a new ecclesiastical jurisdiction, to be erected from part of the territory then under the pastoral care of the Diocese of Shanghai, the most prosperous in China. “I therefore decided,” Archbishop Costantini wrote in his memoirs, “to travel to Shanghai in May in order to find a suitable place and a suitable person.”

At that time, the Apostolic Vicariate of Nanjing was headed by the French Jesuit Prosper Paris (1846–1931). In 1926, Costantini’s plan was realised when the Apostolic Vicariate of Haimen was separated from the Apostolic Vicariate of Nanjing.

According to the statistics, in 1925 the Apostolic Vicariate of Nanjing comprised twelve large ecclesiastical districts, or deaneries: Shanghai Yangjingbang, Nanjing, Yangzhou, Suzhou, Songjiang Puxi, Songjiang Punan, Songjiang Pudong, Changzhou, Xuzhou, Eastern Xuzhou, Western Xuzhou, Chongming and Haimen. It had 202,028 faithful and 211 priests, of whom 130 were foreign and 81 Chinese. Chinese clergy accounted for 38.39% of the total. The two deaneries of Haimen and Chongming formed the territory designated for the new ecclesiastical jurisdiction.

In 1925, the Deanery of Haimen comprised 11 parishes, while the Deanery of Chongming comprised six. Together, the two deaneries had 31,336 faithful and 18 priests, of whom 16 were Chinese and two foreign.

The Apostolic Vicariate of Haimen was established on August 11, 1926. That same year, the vicariate’s numbers reached 32,571 faithful and 22 members of the clergy: the Chinese Apostolic Vicar, 20 Chinese priests and one foreign priest. There were also 16 Chinese religious sisters.

On April 11, 1946, the Apostolic Vicariate of Haimen was elevated to the status of the Diocese of Haimen. In 1949, the diocese comprised seven counties.

According to the statistics reported by Zhao Qingyuan in his "Chronology of the Division of Catholic Dioceses in China and the Succession of Their Bishops", in 1949 the diocese had 156 churches and chapels, 40 Chinese priests and 38,899 baptised Catholics.

2. The bishop of the diocese

The first Bishop of Haimen was the Jesuit Simon Zhu Kaimin (1868–1960). His family came from Zhuxianghui, in Qingpu County, Jiangsu Province. He was born on October 30, 1868, in Dongjiadu, near Shanghai, into a family of junk owners. He was the sixth of seven children.

His mother was the sister of Joseph Ma Xiangbo (1840–1939), a former Jesuit priest who had left both the order and the priesthood, saying that he could not tolerate the arrogance of foreign missionaries towards China. Ma continued his work as a major innovator in Chinese educational practice and was one of the founders of Aurora University, Fu Jen Catholic University and Fudan University. Zhu Zhiyao, the third-born of Simon Zhu’s siblings, was a prominent Shanghai industrialist.

In 1883, Simon entered the minor seminary in Dongjiadu, Shanghai, where he studied Latin. He subsequently entered the major seminary in Xujiahui, devoting himself to the study of philosophy and theology.

He entered the Society of Jesus on September 7, 1888, and was ordained a priest in Dongjiadu on June 28, 1898. Over the following twenty years, he carried out missionary work in Pudong, Chuansha, Jinjiaxiang, Changshu, Jiangyin, Luyuan and other places. He took his perpetual vows on February 2, 1903.

In 1924, he became archpriest of the Deanery of Nantong in Jiangsu. The following year, he also assumed the posts of archpriest of the Deanery of Haimen and headmaster of St Louis Primary School in Maojiazhen.

On August 2, 1926, he was appointed Apostolic Vicar of Haimen. On October 28, 1926, he was one of the six Chinese bishops consecrated by Pope Pius XI in St Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

After returning to China, he celebrated his installation at the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Haimen in March 1927. On April 11, 1946, he was appointed the first bishop of the newly established Diocese of Haimen.

In 1959, he was unjustly labelled a “rightist element”. He died on February 22, 1960, at the age of 92. In May 1980, the Jiangsu provincial government officially acknowledged his innocence, revoked his previous political classification and rehabilitated his reputation.

3. Development of the diocese

The Diocese of Haimen originated from the two deaneries of Haimen and Chongming, which had previously belonged to the Apostolic Vicariate of Nanjing. Of the first six apostolic vicariates entrusted to vicars drawn from the Chinese clergy, it had the most substantial resources.

After 24 years of development (1926–1950), the diocese had 19,496 faithful and 49 members of the clergy, of whom 45 were Chinese and four foreign. There were also 59 Chinese religious sisters.

Annual statistics on the diocese’s pastoral activity are presented in the following table.

Table of pastoral statistics for the Diocese of Haimen, 1926–1950

Periodo/Anno	Vescovi	Sacerdoti		Religiose		Popolazione (milioni)	Fedeli cattolici
		stranieri	cinesi	straniere	cinese
1926-1927	1	1	20		16	11	32571
1927-1928	1	1	21		16	5.6	32350
1928-1929	1	2	20	6	14	5.2	32693
1929-1930	1	2	22	6	14	5.2	32992
1930-1931	1	1	25	9	14	5.2	33024
1933	1	2	23	9	23	5.2	33705
1934	1	2	25	9	31	5.2	33933
1935	1	2	23	9	33	5	34651
1936	1	3	24	9	24	5	34865
1937	1	2	24	9	17	5	35433
1938	1	4	21	9	18	5	35890
1939	1	3	20	9	42	5.4	36344
1940	1	3	24	9	39	5.3	37024
1941	1	2	27	8	44	5.3	37528
1942	1		32	8	46	5.3	37662
1943	1		82	8	48	5.3	38126
1947	1		32	8	48	5.3	38126
1948	1	3	43	9	50	5	39744
1949	1	4	42	11	51	5.2	39496
1950	1	4	44		59	5.2	39496

Source: Les missions de Chine et du Japon, Les missions de Chine, Annuaire des Missions Catholiques de Chine.

(Fides News Agency 26/10/2026)

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