The Martyr Saints of China (), or Augustine Zhao Rong and his Companions, are 120 saints of the Catholic Church. The 87 Chinese Catholics and 33 Western missionaries"120 Martyrs and Saints of China", Archdiocese of Chicago from the mid-17th century to 1930 were martyred because of their ministry and, in some cases, for their refusal to apostatize.
Many died in the Boxer Rebellion of 1900 and 1901, in which anti-Western peasant rebels slaughtered 30,000 Chinese converts to Christianity along with missionaries and other foreigners.
The martyrs are remembered with an optional memorial on 9 July.
The 17th and 18th centuries On 15 January 1648, during the Manchu Invasion to Ming China, Manchu Tatars, invaded the region of Fujian and captured Francisco Fernández de Capillas, a Dominican priest aged 40.Martyrs of China (1) – Canonized Martyrs († 1648–1930) After having imprisoned and tortured him, they beheaded him while he recited with others the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary. Father de Capillas has since been recognised by the Holy See as the protomartyr of China.
After the first wave of missionary activities in China during the late Ming to early Qing dynasties, the Qing government officially banned Catholicism (Protestantism was considered outlawed by the same decree, as it was linked to Catholicism) in 1724 and lumped it together with other 'perverse sects and sinister doctrines' in Chinese folk religion.David Lindenfeld. Indigenous Encounters with Christian Missionaries in China and West Africa, 1800–1920: A Comparative Study. Journal of World History, Vol. 16, No. 3 (September 2005), pp. 327–369
While Catholicism continued to exist and increase many-fold in areas beyond the government's control (Sichuan notably; see "Catholic Church in Sichuan"), and many Chinese Christians fled the persecution to go to port cities in Guangdong or to The Philippines, where many translations of Christian works into Chinese occurred during this period, there were also many missionaries who broke the law and secretly entered the forbidden mainland territory. They eluded Chinese patrol boats on the rivers and coasts; however, some of them were caught and put to death.
Towards the middle of the 18th century five Spanish missionaries, who had carried out their activity between 1715 and 1747, were put to death as a result of a new wave of persecution that started in 1729 and broke out again in 1746. This was in the epoch of the Yongzheng Emperor and of his successor, the Qianlong Emperor.
Peter Sanz, O.P., bishop, was martyred on 26 May 1747, in Fuzhou.Cordier, Henri. "Martyrs in China." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 9. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910
All four of the following were killed on 28 October 1748:
Francis Serrano, O.P., vicar apostolic and bishop-elect Joachim Royo, O.P., priest John Alcober, O.P., priest Francis Diaz, O.P., priest.
Early 19th-century martyrdoms
A new period of persecution in regard to the Christian religion occurred in the 19th century.
While Catholicism had been authorised by some Chinese emperors in the preceding centuries, the Jiaqing Emperor published, instead, numerous and severe decrees against it. The first was issued in 1805. Two edicts of 1811 were directed against those among the Chinese who were studying to receive sacred orders, and against priests who were propagating the Christian religion. A decree of 1813 exonerated voluntary apostates from every chastisement—that is, Christians who spontaneously declared that they would abandon their faith—but all others were to be dealt with harshly."Agostino Zhao Rong (+ 1815) and 119 Companions, Martyrs in China (+ 1648 – 1930)", Vatican News services
In this period the following underwent martyrdom:
Peter Wu, a Chinese lay catechist. Born of a pagan family, he received baptism in 1796 and passed the rest of his life proclaiming the truth of the Christian religion. All attempts to make him apostatize were in vain. The sentence having been pronounced against him, he was strangled on 7 November 1814. Joseph Zhang Dapeng, a lay catechist, and a merchant. Baptized in 1800, he had become the heart of the mission in the city of Guiyang. He was imprisoned, and then strangled to death on 12 March 1815.
Also in the same year, there came two other decrees, with which approval was given to the conduct of the Viceroy of Sichuan who had beheaded Monsignor Dufresse, of the Paris Foreign Missions Society, and some Chinese Christians. As a result, there was a worsening of the persecution.
The following martyrs belong to this period:
Gabriel-Taurin Dufresse, M.E.P., Bishop. He was arrested on 18 May 1815, taken to Chengdu, condemned, and executed on 14 September 1815. Augustine Zhao Rong, a Chinese diocesan priest. Having first been one of the soldiers who had escorted Monsignor Dufresse from Chengdu to Beijing, he was moved by his patience and had then asked to be numbered among the neophytes. Once baptized, he was sent to the seminary and then ordained a priest. Arrested, he was tortured and died in 1815."120 Martyrs of China", Catholic News Service, July 9, 2018 John of Triora, O.F.M., priest. Put in prison together with others in the summer of 1815, he was then condemned to death, and strangled on 7 February 1816.Agasso, Domenico. "San Giovanni da Triora (Francesco Maria Lantrua)", Santi e Beati, January 30, 2003 Joseph Yuan, a Chinese diocesan priest. Having heard Monsignor Dufresse speak of the Christian faith, he was overcome by its beauty and then became an exemplary neophyte. Later, he was ordained a priest and, as such, was dedicated to evangelisation in various districts. He was arrested in August 1816, condemned to be strangled, and was killed in this way on 24 June 1817. Paul Liu Hanzuo, a Chinese diocesan priest, killed in 1819. Francis Regis Clet of the Congregation of the Mission (Vincentians). After obtaining permission to go to the missions in China, he embarked for the Orient in 1791. Having reached there, for 30 years he spent a life of missionary sacrifice. Upheld by an untiring zeal, he evangelised three immense Chinese provinces: Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan. Betrayed by a Christian, he was arrested and thrown into prison where he underwent atrocious tortures. Following sentence by the Jiaqing Emperor he was killed by strangling on 17 February 1820. Thaddeus Liu, a Chinese diocesan priest. He refused to apostatize, saying that he was a priest and wanted to be faithful to the religion that he had preached. Condemned to death, he was strangled on 30 November 1823. Peter Liu, a Chinese lay catechist. He was arrested in 1814 and condemned to exile in Tartary, where he remained for almost twenty years. Returning to his homeland he was again arrested, and was strangled on 17 May 1834. Joachim Ho, a Chinese lay catechist. He was baptised at the age of about twenty years. In the great persecution of 1814 he had been taken with many others of the faithful and subjected to cruel torture. Sent into exile in Tartary, he remained there for almost twenty years. Returning to his homeland he was arrested again and refused to apostatize. Following that, and the death sentence having been confirmed by the Emperor, he was strangled on 9 July 1839. John Gabriel Perboyre, C.M., entered the Vincentians as a high school student. The death of his younger brother, also a Vincentian priest, moved his superiors to allow him to take his brother's place, arriving in China in 1835. Despite poor health, he served the poverty-stricken residents of Hubei. Arrested during a revival of anti-Christian persecution, upon imperial edict, he was strangled to death in 1840.Glass, Joseph. "St. Jean-Gabriel Perboyre." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 23 October 2021 Augustus Chapdelaine, M.E.P., a priest of the Diocese of Coutances. He entered the Seminary of the Paris Foreign Missions Society, and embarked for China in 1852. He arrived in Guangxi at the end of 1854. Arrested in 1856, he was tortured, condemned to death, and died in February 1856."Auguste Chapdelaine", Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Christianity Lawrence Bai Xiaoman, a Chinese layman, and an unassuming worker. He joined Blessed Chapdelaine in the refuge that was given to the missionary and was arrested with him and brought before the tribunal. Nothing could make him renounce his religious beliefs. He was beheaded on 25 February 1856."Saint Bai Xiaoman and the Chinese Martyr Saints", Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, Hong Kong Agnes Cao Guiying, a widow, born into an old Christian family. Being dedicated to the instruction of young girls who had recently been converted by Blessed Chapdelaine, she was arrested and condemned to death in prison. She was executed on 1 March 1856.Lectionary Calendar, The Episcopal Church
Martyrs of Maokou and Guizhou
Three catechists, known as the Martyrs of Maokou (in the province of Guizhou) were killed on 28 January 1858, by order of the officials in Maokou:
Jerome Lu Tingmei (catechist)Maheu MM, Betty Ann. "The 120 Martyr Saints of China", Tripod, No.119, October-November 2000 Laurence Wang Bing (catechist)Maheu 2000, p. 63 Agatha Lin
All three had been called on to renounce the Christian religion and having refused to do so were condemned to be beheaded.
In Guizhou, two seminarians and two lay people, one of whom was a farmer, the other a widow who worked as a cook in the seminary, suffered martyrdom together on 29 July 1861. They are known as the Martyrs of Qingyanzhen (Guizhou):
Joseph Zhang Wenlan, seminarian Paul Chen Changpin, seminarian John Baptist Luo Tingyin, layman Martha Wang Luo Mande, laywoman
In the following year, on 18 and 19 February 1862, another five people died for Christ. They are known as the Martyrs of Guizhou.
Jean-Pierre Néel, a priest of the Paris Foreign Missions Society, Martin Wu Xuesheng, lay catechist, John Zhang Tianshen, lay catechist, John Chen Xianheng, lay catechist, Lucy Yi Zhenmei, lay catechist.
19th-century social and political developments
In June 1840, Qing China was forced to open the borders and afforded multiple concessions to European Christian missions after the First Opium War, including allowing the Chinese to follow the Catholic religion and restoring the property confiscated in 1724. The 1844 treaty also allowed for missionaries to come to China, provided if they come to the treaty ports opened to Europeans.
The subsequent Taiping Rebellion significantly worsened the image of Christianity in China. Hong Xiuquan, the rebel leader, claimed to be a Christian and brother of Jesus who received a special mission from God to fight evil and usher in a period of peace. Hong and his followers achieved considerable success in taking control of a large territory, and destroyed many Buddhist and Taoist shrines, temples to local divinities and opposed Chinese folk religion. The rebellion was one of the bloodiest armed conflicts in human history, accounting for an estimated number of 20–30 million deaths. As missionary activities became increasingly associated with European imperialism, violence against missionaries arose.
In 1856, the death of missionary Auguste Chapdelaine triggered a French military expedition during the Second Opium War, which China lost. The resulting Treaty of Tientsin, granted Christian missionaries the freedom of movement throughout China and the right to land ownership.