Peter Chen Bolu
Peter Chen Bolu (1913 – November 5, 2009) was the Chinese bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Daming.[1]
Biography
Chen was born in 1913. He was first ordained as a Roman Catholic priest in 1944.[1] He was imprisoned and sent to a hard labor camp during the Cultural Revolution.[1]
Chen was secretly ordained the bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Hongdong by Bishop Francis Han Tingbi in 1986.[1]
He was openly installed and ordained as the Chinese bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Handan on May 29, 1988.[1] Unlike other bishops, Chen's appointment was supported both by the Vatican and the government of the People's Republic of China.[1] As bishop, Chen oversaw the construction of the Dazhong Hospital within the diocese, which opened in 1994.[1] He also built ten health care clinics throughout the diocese, which is located in northern China.[1]
He remained at that post until his retirement in 1999.[1]
Chen died on November 5, 2009, at the Dazhong Hospital, which he built, at the age of 96.[2] At the time of his death, Chen was the oldest Catholic bishop in China.[1] His funeral was held on November 11, 2009, in church in the village of Qiancaozhuang, Yongnian county.[1]