Paul Yü Pin

Cardinal Paul Yü Pin (Chinese: 于斌; pinyin: Yú Bīn; 13 April 1901 – 16 August 1978) was a Chinese Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Nanking from 1946 until his death, having previously served as its Apostolic Vicar, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1969.

His Eminence Paul Yü Pin
Cardinal, Archbishop of Nanking
Province	Nanking
See	Nanking
Other posts	Cardinal-Priest of Gesù Divin Lavoratore
Orders
Ordination	22 December 1928 by Giuseppe Palica
Consecration	20 September 1936 by Mario Zanin
Created cardinal	28 April 1969 by Pope Paul VI
Rank	Cardinal-Priest
Personal details
Born	April 13, 1901
Died	August 16, 1978 (aged 77) Rome, Italy
Nationality	Chinese
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Previous post	Vicar Apostolic of Nanking (1936–1946) Titular Bishop of Sozusa in Palaestina (1936–1946)
Motto	Restaurare omnia in Christo (English: To Restore all things in Christ)
Coat of arms

Ordination history of Paul Yü Pin
History Priestly ordination Ordained by Giuseppe Palica Date 22 December 1928 Episcopal consecration Principal consecrator Mario Zanin Co-consecrators Simon Zhu Kaimin Paul Léon Cornelius Montaigne Date 20 September 1936 Place Church of the Saviour (Beitang), Beijing Cardinalate Elevated by Pope Paul VI Date 28 April 1969
Episcopal succession Bishops consecrated by Paul Yü Pin as principal consecrator Philip Silvester Wang Tao-nan 20 September 1942 Giuseppe Ferruccio Maurizio Rosà 22 September 1946 Matthew Kia Yen-wen 16 July 1970
Source(s):[1]

Styles of Paul Yü Pin
Reference style	His Eminence
Spoken style	Your Eminence
Informal style	Cardinal
See	Nanking

Biography

Paul Yü Pin (Yu Bin) was born in Hailun, North East China, to Yu Shuiyuan (于水源) and Xiao Aimei. Orphaned at age 7, he was baptized in 1914 after encountering the missionary priests near Lansi, where he lived with his grandfather.[2] Yu attended the provincial normal school in Heilongjiang, the Jesuit Aurora University in Shanghai, and the seminary in Kirin before going to Rome, where he studied at the Pontifical Urbaniana University (earning his doctorate in theology) and Pontifical Roman Athenaem S. Apollinare. He also studied at the Royal University in Perugia, from where he obtained a doctoral degree in politics.

Yu was ordained to the priesthood on 22 December 1928 by Archbishop Giuseppe Palica, and then taught at the Urbaniana University until 1933, when he returned to China. Upon his return, he was named National Director of Catholic Action, secretary of the Chinese nunciature, and Inspector General of Catholic schools in China.

On 17 July 1936, Yu was appointed Apostolic Vicar of Nanking and Titular Bishop of Sozusa in Palaestina by Pope Pius XI. He received his episcopal consecration on the following September 20 from Archbishop Mario Zanin, with Bishops Simon Tchu, SJ, and Paul Montaigne, CM, serving as co-consecrators, in Beijing. In 1937, the Imperial Japanese Army took Nanking and a reward of $100,000 was placed for the capture of Yu, who spent World War II in the United States.[2] There he planned in 1943 to establish employment bureaus, available to American teachers, doctors, and technicians, in China.[3] Also that year, the Chinese cleric supported two bills before the House Immigration Committee that allowed Chinese to enter and become citizens of the United States under the quota system.[4] Yu, following his return to China, was promoted to the rank of a Metropolitan Archbishop when his vicariate was elevated as such by Pope Pius XII on 11 April 1946.

In 1949, the new Communist regime expelled him from his see, and he was yet again forced to leave the country, resuming his exile in the United States. During this time, the Archbishop dedicated himself to helping Chinese Americans and raising funds for refugees from Communist China in Taiwan, where he was made rector magnifico of Fu Jen Catholic University in 1961. He was one of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek's closest advisors, and on the brink of McCarthyism, Archbishop Yü Pin made claims against Americans he thought were pro-Communist that turned out not to be true. [5]

Yu attended the Second Vatican Council from 1962 to 1965.[6] During the Council then Bishop Yü Pin asked the Holy Father to address the issue of communism, however the Council did not address communism or socialism.

Communism is a militant atheism and a crude materialism. In a word, it is a compilation of all heresies, and it must be treated as such, if the truth is to be defended. [The Council] must dispel the confusion created by the doctrine of peaceful co-existence, by the policy of the outstretched hand, and by Catholic communism, as it is called, all of which are stratagems calculated to assist communism and to create obscurity, doubt, or at least hesitation in the minds of Christians. In this matter the utmost clarity is now required.[7]

He was created Cardinal Priest of Gesù Divin Lavoratore by Pope Paul VI in the consistory of 28 April 1969. Upon his resignation as Fu Jen's rector on 5 August 1978, the Cardinal was named its Grand Chancellor. In 1976 he had become the first director of Dharma Realm Buddhist University's Institute for World Religions (now attached to Berkeley Buddhist Monastery).[8]

He died from a heart attack at age 77 in Rome, where he had gone to participate in the conclave following Pope Paul VI's death in August 1978.[9] Yu is interred in a mausoleum on the campus of Fu Jen Catholic University in Xinzhuang, Taipei County, in Taiwan.

Trivia

• While studying in Rome, Yu received a doctorate in philosophy from the Angelicum.[10]
• President Franklin Roosevelt met with Bishop Yu in February 1944.[11]
• He once sat on the All-China Interreligious Association.[12]
• Yu was expected to have voted for a conservative candidate at the August 1978 conclave.[13]
• The Cardinal, second from China, was 6 feet 3 inches (191 cm) tall.[9]

Further reading

In European languages

• Paul Yu-Pin, Un Problème psychique international: appel aux hommes de bonne foi aux hommes de bonne volonté. Bruxelles: Éd. de la Cité chrétienne, 1937.
• The Voice of the Church in China, 1931–1932, 1937-1938, by Archbishop Marius Zanin, Bishop Auguste Haouisée and Bishop Paul Yu-Pin; with a preface by Dom Pierre-Célestin Lou Tseng-Tsiang. London and New York: Longmans, Green and co., 1938.
• Eyes East: Selected Pronouncements of the Most Reverend Paul Yu-Pin. Paterson, N.J.: St. Anthony Guild Press, 1945.
• Raymond De Jaegher, Vie de Mgr. Paul Yu Pin. Vietnam: Ed. du Pacifique libre, 1959.

References

1. "Episcopal ordination of Bishop Paul Yu Pin". Société des Auxiliaires des Missions (SAM) China Photograph Collection. Whitworth University Library. 15 January 2017. Archived from the original on 31 January 2019. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
2. TIME Magazine. A Mission for the Archbishop September 12, 1960
3. TIME Magazine. Employment Available June 7, 1943
4. TIME Magazine. 105 Chinese June 14, 1943
5. Congress, United States (1952). Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the ... Congress, Volume 98, Part 5. p. 6775.
6. "Paul Cardinal Yü Pin [Catholic-Hierarchy]". www.catholic-hierarchy.org. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
7. "Chapter 3". 2007-07-04. Archived from the original on 2007-07-04. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
8. Dharma Realm Buddhist University Archived 2007-07-31 at the Wayback Machine
9. TIME Magazine. Milestones August 28, 1978
10. Free Church for China. Cardinal Yu-Pin
11. TIME Magazine. The President's Week February 21, 1944
12. TIME Magazine. Chungking Meeting June 14, 1943
13. TIME Magazine. In Rome, a Week off Suspense August 28, 1978

External links

• Catholic-Hierarchy
• Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church