Joseph Hu Ruoshan ( 胡若山) was one of the first six Chinese Catholic bishops of modern times. He lived from 1881 to 1962.
Joseph Hu Ruoshan | |
|---|---|
| Bishop of Linhai | |
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| Native name | 胡若山 |
| Church | Catholic Church |
| Diocese | Diocese of Linhai |
| In office | 30 July 1926 – 28 August 1962 |
| Predecessor | Vicariate erected |
| Successor | Anthony Xu Ji-wei |
| Previous post | Titular Bishop of Theodosiopolis in Armenia (1926-1946) |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | 5 June 1909 |
| Consecration | 28 October 1926 by Pope Pius XI[1] |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1881 |
| Died | 28 August 1962 (aged 81) |
Biography
editHu was born in Zhejiang Province and orphaned at age five.[2]: 512 Hu was raised by Catholic missionaries.[3]: 73
Hu joined the Congregation of the Mission (the Vincentians) at age twenty-five and was ordained at age twenty-eight.[3]: 73 He taught philosophy and dogmatic theology at the Catholic seminary of Ningbo. He was a consulting theologian for the 1924 Plenary Council of Shanghai.[3]: 73
In 1926, Hu and five other Chinese priests (Philippus Zhao Huaiyi, Simon Zhu Kaimin, Odoric Cheng Hede, Melchior Sun De-zhen, and Aloysius Chen Guodi) were consecrated in Rome and became the first Chinese Catholic Bishops in modern times.[3]: 54 The Holy See framed these consecrations as an important moment for indigenizing the Catholic Church.[3]: 71–73 After leaving Rome, the new bishops toured Italy, France, Belgium, and Holland where crowds of local European Catholics greeted them.[3]: 73
Hu was the Vicar Apostolic of Taizhou, later the diocese of Linhai.[3]: 73
He died in 1962.[2]: 512
References
edit- ↑ "Bishop Joseph Hu Ruoshan (Hu Joo-shan, Hu Jo-shan), C.M." Catholic-Hierarchy.org. Retrieved 2026-04-28.
- 1 2 Mariani, Paul P. (2014). "The First Six Chinese Bishops of Modern Times: A Study in Church Indigenization". The Catholic Historical Review. 100 (3): 486–513. doi:10.1353/cat.2014.0143. ISSN 1534-0708.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Wong, Stephanie M. (2025). Making Catholicism Chinese: the Catholic Church in a modernizing China. New York, NY, United States of America: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-762369-5.