Chen Xilu was born into a
Catholic family in 1928. He initially enrolled at a minor Catholic
seminary at the age of 15 before entering a larger seminary in
Shanghai in 1950. He was ordained a priest in 1955 after which he worked as a doctor in a clinic in
Jing county, Hebei province. Chen was arrested for his religious beliefs in 1958. He was sent to a hard
labor camp from 1969–79. He returned to
Hengshui diocese in 1979 following his release. He succeeded Bishop Petrus Fan Wenxing in 1996. The diocese consists of approximately 20,000 Roman Catholics. Chen fell into a coma due to a
brain hemorrhage in 2002 and died on January 16, 2008, of organ failure in Jing county, Hebei. He was succeeded by Bishop Peter Feng Xinmao. ==References==