Joseph Hu Ruoshan
Chinese Catholic bishop
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Joseph Hu Ruoshan ( 胡若山) was one of the first six Chinese Catholic bishops of modern times. He lived from 1881 to 1962.
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Biography
Hu was born in Zhejiang Province and orphaned at age five.[1]: 512 Hu was raised by Catholic missionaries.[2]: 73
Hu joined the Congregation of the Mission (the Vincentians) at age twenty-five and was ordained at age twenty-eight.[2]: 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.[2]: 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.[2]: 54 The Holy See framed these consecrations as an important moment for indigenizing the Catholic Church.[2]: 71–73 After leaving Rome, the new bishops toured Italy, France, Belgium, and Holland where crowds of local European Catholics greeted them.[2]: 73
Hu was the Vicar Apostolic of Taizhou, later the diocese of Linhai.[2]: 73
He died in 1962.[1]: 512