James Lin Xili
James David Lin Xili ( 林錫黎 ; * October 19, 1918 in Yueqing , People's Republic of China ; † October 4, 2009 in Wenzhou , Zhejiang , People's Republic of China) was the Roman Catholic Bishop of Wenzhou, a diocese of the underground Catholic Church in China. He spent 16 years in Chinese prisons and forced labor camps for his belief.
Life
James Lin Xili was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Ningpo in 1944 . He studied at the Fu Jen Catholic University in Beijing until 1948 . He was active in pastoral work in Ningpo and was appointed Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Ningpo by Bishop André-Jean-François Defebvre CM in the 1950s during the establishment of a communist state . He was arrested in 1955 for "counterrevolutionary crimes" and spent 16 years in prisons and as a shoemaker in forced labor camps. After his release in 1971, he resumed pastoral service, was able to reinstate the administration in 1978 and helped restore old churches and build new ones.
In 1992 he was secretly ordained a bishop . He was the first bishop of the diocese of Wenzhou, founded in 1949 by the Roman Curia . The official church of China and the government of China never accepted his appointment. In China the Catholic Church is regulated by the state; recognition of the Roman Catholic Church under papal authority is prohibited.
The diocese developed under his leadership. In 2009 his diocese had over 100,000 believers. In 1998 he was able to evade another arrest, was arrested again from 1999 and was under police surveillance until his death and under house arrest since 2003; he died after ten years of Alzheimer's disease. The Chinese government has stopped reporting on the Internet; a Catholic website with obituaries and photos was closed.
Web links
- Short biography of James Lin Xili , accessed December 21, 2016
- Mgr. James Lin Xili, underground bishop of Wenzhou, dies , Asia News, October 6, 2009 (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b China: underground Bishop of Wenzhou dies , ICN, October 6, 2009
- ↑ Mgr. James Lin Xili, underground bishop of Wenzhou, dies , Asia News, October 6, 2009
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Lin Xili, James |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Lin Xili, James David (full name); 林錫黎 |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Chinese Roman Catholic Bishop of Wenzhou |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 19, 1918 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Yueqing , People's Republic of China |
| DATE OF DEATH | 4th October 2009 |
| Place of death | Wenzhou , Zhejiang , People's Republic of China |