Melchior Sun Dezhen, C.M. or Melchior Sun Souen (Chinese: å«德ç¦Â) (1869âÂÂ1951) was a Roman Catholic prelate who served as Vicar Apostolic of Anguo (1929âÂÂ1936), Titular Bishop of Esbus (1926âÂÂ1951), and Prefect of Lihsien (1924âÂÂ1926).
Melchior Sun Dezhen was born in Beijing, China on 19 Nov 1869 and ordained a priest in the Congregation of the Mission on 24 Jan 1897. Sun was a diocesan priest in Beijing. He taught Latin for 12 years in the Beijing seminary and then worked as a missionary in rural China. Beginning in 1923, he was the apostolic prefect of Lixian.
On 24 Jun 1926, he was appointed during the papacy of Pope Pius XI as Titular Bishop of Esbus and on 28 Oct 1926, he was consecrated bishop by Pope Pius XI, with Carlo Cremonesi, Titular Archbishop of Nicomedia, and Celso Benigno Luigi Costantini, Titular Archbishop of Theodosiopolis in Arcadia, serving as co-consecrators. Sun and five other Chinese priests (Philippus Zhao Huaiyi, Simon Zhu Kaimin, Odoric Cheng Hede, Joseph Hu Ruoshan, and Aloysius Chen Guodi) were consecrated in Rome and became the first Chinese Catholic Bishops in modern times. The Holy See framed these consecrations as an important moment for indigenizing the Catholic Church. After leaving Rome, the new bishops toured Italy, France, Belgium, and Holland where crowds of local European Catholics greeted them.
Sun helped Frédéric-Vincent Lebbe return to China, inviting Lebbe to serve in the apostolic prefecture of Lixian.
On 15 Jul 1929, he was elevated during the papacy of Pope Pius XI as Vicar Apostolic of Anguo after the Prefecture was promoted to an Apostolic Vicariate. He resigned as bishop in 1936. He died in 1951.
While bishop, he was the principal consecrator of:
and the principal co-consecrator of: