Georges-Marie de Jonghe d'Ardoye, MEP (23 April 1887 – 27 August 1961) was a Belgian prelate of the Catholic Church who worked as a missionary in China and then held several posts in the diplomatic service of the Holy See.
Biography
De Jonghe d'Ardoye was born on 23 April 1887 in Saint-Gilles-lès-Bruxelles, Belgium. He studied at the Collège St Michel in Brussels and Notre Dame de la Paix in Namur. He joined the Paris Foreign Missions Society on 13 September 1905. He was ordained a priest of the Missions Society on 21 June 1910 by Cardinal Désiré-Joseph Mercier. On 30 November 1910 he left France to begin his career as a missionary in Sichuan, China. He was sent first to Moutchang then to Kunglai. From 1919 to 1923, he built a large complex known as the College of Wisdom including a higher primary school, a secondary school and a Catholic normal school.[1]
On 23 May 1933, Pope Pius XI named him titular bishop of Amathus in Cypro and Apostolic Vicar of Yünnanfu.[2] He received his episcopal consecration on 17 September 1933 from Bishop Jean-Baptiste-Marie Budes de Guébriant, Superior General of the Foreign Missions Society.[1]
On 6 July 1947, Pope Pius XII appointed him Apostolic Delegate to Indonesia, the first papal representative there.[4] He became Apostolic Internuncio there on 16 March 1950. [5] His tenure there was marked by disputes with both government authorities and factions within the Church.[6]
