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...

Pope praises missionary to China https://www.indcatholicnews.com/news/47279

St. Jerome Lou-Tin-Mei, Roman Catholic Layman and Chinese Martyr. The Roman Catholic Church recognizes 120 Catholics who died between 1648 and 1930 as its "Martyr Saints of China". Jan. 28 Bl. Lawrence Wang, Roman Catholic Layman and Chinese Martyr. Lawrence was beheaded by anti-Christian forces and received beatification in 1909. Feastday Jan28

https://sglaydominicans.wordpress.com/saints/st-francis-de-capillas/ St. Francis de Capillas stfrancisdecapillasSt. Francisco Fernandez de Capillas was proclaimed Protomartyr (First Martyr) of China on 16 September 1748 by Pope Benedict XIV. Two centuries later, Pope Pius X was to beatify him on 2 May 1909. Almost another century after his beatification, he was canonised by Pope John Paul II on 1 October 2000. His feast is celebrated on the 15th of January. Angelic, penitential and mortified, it was declared that even if he had not been martyred, he could still have been beatified. The saint who was the first to shed his blood for Christ in China was born in Baquerín de Campos in Palencia, Spain, on 14 August 1607. He eventually entered the Dominican Priory of St. Paul of Valladolid. In February 1632 he arrived in Manila and was ordained to the priesthood. He then ministered for several years in Cagayan de Oro, Philippines. In 1641, at the Provincial Chapter in Manila, he asked p...

China is forcibly aborting, sterilizing hundreds of thousands in Xinjiang   Jul 1st, 2020 Gulnar Omirzakh is the impoverished wife of a detained vegetable trader. After the birth of their third child, the Chinese government ordered her to get an IUD. She complied. Nevertheless, two years later, four military officials came to her door and gave her three days to pay a fine of $2,685 for having more than two children. If she could not pay, she would join her husband and a million others, locked in internment camps for having "too many children." "God bequeaths children on you. To prevent people from having children is wrong," said Omirzakh, an ethnic minority Kazakh. "They [the Chinese Communist government] want to destroy us as a people," she stated, according to a compelling, investigative report by the Associated Press. The Chinese Communist Party regards Omirzakh and people who share her views as religious extremists. CCP-backed scholars ha...

Pope Francis appeals for Day of Prayer for Church in China Pope Francis prays for the Catholic faithful in China, as they celebrate the feast of the Patroness of China at the Shrine of Our Lady of Sheshan in Shanghai. By Devin Watkins & Paolo Ondarza As the Church marks the Day of Prayer for the Church in China, Pope Francis assured Chinese Catholics of the nearness of the universal Church. His remarks came after the prayer of the Regina Coeli on Sunday. “Dearest Catholic brothers and sisters in China, I wish to assure you that the universal Church, of which you are an integral part, shares your hopes and supports you in your trials. She accompanies you with prayer for a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit, so that the light and beauty of the Gospel might shine in you as the power of God for the salvation of those who believe.” Catholics in China celebrate the feast of Our Lady, Help of Christians and Patroness of China on Sunday. The Virgin Mary is venerated under ...

© Fides Marian Month in Times of Pandemic Chinese Catholics Follow ‘Visitation Method’ and Teaching of Pope Francis MAY 09, 2020 08:48 ZENIT STAFF MARY AND MARIOLOGY The “method of the Visitation of Mary” as a model suitable for all the baptized to live faith and devotion in May, the Marian month; and a “Year of the family” inspired by the teaching of Pope Francis to accompany families in the difficult time still marked by the coronavirus pandemic. These are some of the initiatives that mark the time for the Chinese Catholic community in the month dedicated to the Virgin Mary and lived in the sign of the intense Marian devotion that has always characterized the faith of Chinese Catholics. This devotion is perhaps experienced even more intensely, in this year marked by the Covid-19 epidemic, reported Fides News Agency. On May 1, it was not possible to physically make a Marian pilgrimage to the various sanctuaries dedicated to Mary Assumption, in mainland China for the sol...

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St. Raymond Li-Ts'Uan, Chinese Martyr. Sept. 28

St. Gabriel Taurin Dufresse, Roman Catholic Martyr of China, and a priest of the Society for Foreign Missions of Paris at the age of twenty-four. In 1776 he arrived in China to undertake his missionary labors in the country's Szechwan Province. The renewed persecution of Chinese Christians in 1784 led to Father Dufresse's arrest. He soon escaped from prison and was taken in by a Chinese Catholic family. He subsequently surrendered himself to the pagan authorities after an auxiliary bishop instructed all the priests staying with families to turn themselves in rather than expose their hosts to the danger of arrest. Father Dufresse was imprisoned and then exiled to Macao. In 1789 he managed to return to Szechwan Province. In the years that followed, his missionary labors were blessed with increasing success. In 1800 he was consecrated an auxiliary bishop. The resumption of intense anti-Christian persecution in 1805 put Bishop Dufresse in so much danger that he had to change his pl...

Bl. John-Gabriel Perboyre, Martyr of China: He was a Vincentian from Puech, France, who was ordained in 1826. In 1835 he volunteered for the missions of China and went to Honan, where he rescued abandoned children. When the persecution started, John was arrested and tortured for a year. On September 11, he was strangled to death. Pope Leo XIII beatified him in 1889, making him the first martyr in China to be so honored. Sept 11

Bl. Agnes Tsao-Kouy, Roman Catholic Martyr of China, Agnes was a widow when she faced persecution for being a missionary catechist. She was executed by being placed in a cage at Sy-Lin-Hien. Sept 10