Chinese Saints And Martyrs

The Middle Kingdom The gospel first arrived in the vast and powerful “Middle Kingdom,” or China, in the 6th century via Syria, with different emperors in turn permitting and suppressing the small community of faith planted there. Evangelization in the modern age began in earnest in the 16th century with the arrival of European missionaries such as the Jesuit Matteo Ricci, who painstakingly learned the language and customs of this immensely cultured people. By the 17th century, not a few Chinese had embraced the Lord Jesus Christ and his gospel. Over the next several centuries, they would testify to their commitment to him with their blood. The protomartyr of China The first Chinese martyr was in fact a Spanish Dominican friar, Fr. Francisco Fernandez de Capillas, who was captured in 1647 in Fu’an, in a wave of anti-Christian persecution. From prison, he wrote, “I am here with other prisoners and we have developed a fellowship. They ask me about the gospel of