St. Joseph's Cathedral, Wuhan

In 1862, Eustache Modeste Zanoli (Chinese name: 明位篤), then vicar apostolic of Hubei, moved the bishop's seat from Yingcheng to Wuchang. In 1866, he bought a section of marshland within the English concession of Hankou and turned it suitable for future constructions.[1][2]

In 1875, Zanoli commissioned the Italian missionary Angelus Vaudagna to build St. Joseph's Cathedral. The cathedral was completed in 1876 and costed 120,000 francs.[1]

On 18 January, 1938, during the Second Sino-Japanese War, a memorial mass to mourn the soldiers and civilians killed and to pray for world peace. About 2,000 Chinese and foreign expatriates attended, including K. C. Wu.[1][3]

The church building was damaged in the 1944 Operation Matterhorn air raid, and underwent reparation in 1948 and 1956.[1][3]

In April 1958, Bernardine Dong Guangqing (董光清), a priest of the cathedral, was elected bishop of Hankou. He was the first bishop in China to be elected based on the self-election, self-consecration principle (Chinese: 自选自圣).[4] Union of Catholic Asian News reported that the diocese asked for the approval of the Vatican before the ordination, but the Holy See declined, citing canon law that any ordination of bishops without papal mandate incurs automatic excommunication, with power reserved to the Holy See.[5]

The cathedral was shut down during the Cultural Revolution and re-opened in 1980.[3] Pope John Paul II recognized Dong as bishop of Hankou in 1984.[5]

In May 2007, the funeral of Dong took place at the cathedral, with Bishop John Huo Cheng presiding.[5] Vatican Radio reported that over a thousand people attended the funeral.[6]

In September 2021, Francis Cui Qingqi (崔庆琪) was consecrated bishop at the cathedral.[7] Joseph Ma Yinglin (马英林), bishop of Kunming, led the consecration ceremony.[8]