Feast of Augustine Zhao Rong and 119 companions

By Santificarnos.com

The Feast Of St. Augustine Zhao Rong and 119 companions, commonly called the 120 martyrs of China, will be celebrated on Jul 9. The feast has been included for the first time in the Ordo for the Singapore Archdiocese although it has been included in the Roman Ordo for five years.

Among the 120 martyrs were 87 Chinese and 33 foreigners. Augustine Zhao Rong was neither the first of the martyrs nor the one highest in the church hierachy among them – there were seven bishops, but none native.

Augustinus Zhao Rong (1746-1815) was placed first on the list because he was the first native priest martyr. A native mandarin of Guizhou, he was baptized a Catholic at the age of 30 and ordained a priest five years later. His desire for baptism came after his service as one of the soldiers who escorted Monsignor Dufresse (another of the 120 martyrs who was later beheaded) from Chengdu to Beijing.

Rome decides who is to be canonized (there are many thousands more who died for the faith in China but have not been canonized) and Rome decides the status of the particular saint in the church. By giving the 120 Chinese martyrs the status of universal memorial celebration, Rome affirms their importance to the universal church and to the church in China.

“I know that you are spiritually united with us, and I am certain that you understand that this is a special moment of grace for the whole church and for the entire Catholic community in China,” Pope John Paul II said to Catholics in China at the canonization ceremony on Oct 1, 2000. He prayed that the new saints would “comfort and sustain” the Catholics in China. “Like them you bravely and generously bear witness to your fidelity to Jesus Christ and to your genuine love of your people,” he said.

China’s First Saints

A group of 120 Chinese and European martyrs spanning three centuries – were canonized by Pope John Paul II at an Oct 1, 2000 ceremony in St. Peter’s Square.

Eighty-six of the martyrs were killed about a hundred years ago in China’s anti-foreign Boxer Rebellion, in which an estimated 30,000 Catholics were killed.

Those canonized range in age from seven to 79. They include 87 Chinese nationals, all lay men and women except for four priests. The other 33 were missionaries from Spain, France, Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands: seven bishops, 18 priests, one religious brother and seven nuns.

Spanish Dominican Father Francesco Fernandez de Capillas, beheaded in 1648 while reciting the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary, is recognized by the church as China’s first martyr.

The other martyrs include:

— Five Spanish missionaries killed in a wave of persecutions in southeast China in the mid-18th century. One was beheaded; the others were suffocated or strangled.

— 26 people killed between 1816 and 1862 in a series of anti-Christian edicts issued by two successive Chinese emperors, including a French priest betrayed by a Chinese Christian for 30 coins and a 57-year-old Chinese man who was executed two days after being baptized.

— 86 Catholics killed in the Boxer Rebellion, including 39 lay Chinese men and 27 lay Chinese women. Among them are two Jesuits killed at a church altar and a Chinese man who protested at his trial that he was a Christian over the attempts of his friends to testify otherwise.

— One Italian Salesian bishop and an Italian Salesian priest killed in 1930 by communist soldiers.

Defending the new saints’ reputation for holiness against accusations by Chinese government representatives that some of them were “evil-doing sinners”, he said the Holy Year was the right time to highlight their “heroic witness”. The Mass, celebrated in St. Peter’s Square featured Chinese singing, readings and incense-bearing processions.

Chinese authorities, who had branded the martyrs as anti-Chinese criminals in the days leading to the Mass, expressed fresh indignation at the canonizations and said the move would seriously damage future dialogue with the Vatican. A Chinese Foreign Ministry statement said some of the martyrs were “evil-doing sinners” who raped, looted and committed unforgivable crimes against the Chinese people.

In his sermon, the pope touched gently upon the political issues, saying the martyrs had lived during complex and difficult periods of Chinese history. Most were killed during the anti-foreigner Boxer Rebellion of 1900. He said the canonization Mass, however, was not the moment to “form judgements on these historical periods; this could and should be done in other circumstances”.

“Today… the church intends only to recognize that these martyrsare an example of courage and integrity for all of us and do honour to the noble Chinese people,” he said.

At an audience with pilgrims the next day, the pope stressed that the canonizations were not an attempt to legitimize the colonial policies of past eras. He said critics who see only errors and limits in the missionaries’ actions were not being objective; but if mistakes were made in the missionary effort, he added, “we ask forgiveness”.

At the canonization Mass, the pope said the foreign missionary martyrs in the group had “sincerely loved China, giving all their energy to the country”. The pontiff also spoke of the deep faith shown by the martyrs in the face of death. He recalled 14-year-old Anna Wang, who before being beheaded declared to her executioners: “The door of heaven is open to everyone.”

He said that 18-year-old Chi Zhuzi, even as he was being skinned alive, cried out: “Every piece of my flesh and every drop of my blood will tell you again that I am a Christian.”

At the end of the Mass, which was broadcast to China by Vatican Radio, the pope told Chinese Catholics that he prayed for them daily, understood their trials and was sure they supported the canonizations. “I know that you are spiritually united with us, and I am certain that you understand that this is a special moment of grace for the whole church and for the entire Catholic community in China,” he said. Pope John Paul prayed that the new saints would “comfort and sustain” the Catholics in China. “Like them you bravely and generously bear witness to your fidelity to Jesus Christ and to your genuine love of your people,” he said.

The pope’s words attempted to bridge the growing rift between the Vatican and China’s communist government over the new saints. In a crescendo of criticism that began in mid-September, Chinese authorities first questioned the motives and timing of the canonizations, then said that most of the martyrs were agents of Western imperialism and deserved their fate.

Those canonized included four priests born in China and seven European bishops. The 120 martyrs ranged in age from seven to 79. Nearly three-fourths of them died in the Boxer Rebellion, during which an estimated 30,000 Catholics were killed. China’s current government has applauded the nationalistic fervour of the 1900 uprising.

China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Sun Yuxi, told reporters before the canonization ceremony that most of the martyrs “were executed for violating Chinese law during the invasion of China by imperialists and colonialists”. He said their canonization “distorts truth and history, beatifies imperialism and slanders the peace-loving Chinese people”. Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said the Vatican was “deeply saddened” by Sun’s remarks, especially by his claim that many of the martyrs were guilty of “enormous crimes”.

“The misdeeds which were committed by colonial powers” cannot be blamed on the martyrs, the Vatican spokesman said. “How is it possible to imagine that the Holy See would canonize persons who have committed ‘enormous crimes’?” he asked. China had earlier objected to the date of the canonizations, which fell on the Oct 1 anniversary of the communist takeover of China, a national holiday in the country. The Vatican called that a coincidence, saying it chose the date traditionally used to honour the church’s missionaries.

In the Catholic Church calendar, Oct 1 is the feast of St. Therese of Lisieux, patron saint of missions. That day was chosen for the canonization because the history of Catholicism in China is intimately linked to missionary work and there are many missioners among the 120 martyrs.

Sentiment among Chinese Catholics over the canonizations appeared sharply divided between the clandestine and the government-backed wings of the church. The Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association and the Bishops’ Conference of the Catholic Church in China issued a statement denouncing the canonization of the 33 foreign missionaries. They also expressed dissatisfaction that the mainland bishops had been left out of the process and said the choice of China’s National Day for the canonization humiliates the Chinese people. Local church celebrations of the canonizations were barred in mainland China amid repeated harsh condemnations by the Chinese government and top Chinese church officials.

Bishops and priests in various Chinese dioceses, who all asked not to be named, said that they had been pressured by the government to avoid speaking publicly about the canonizations. But the Vatican missionary news agency, Fides, reported that 57 bishops of mainland China, representing the government-backed and underground church, had sent a signed petition to the pope requesting the canonizations. Church leaders from Hong Kong and Taiwan defended the canonizations.

In the midst of the controversy, China published revised restrictions on religious activities by foreigners, reiterating a ban on proselytizing by foreigners, prohibiting foreigners from bringing religious items into the country except for personal use, and requiring teachers and speakers at any religious gathering to have prior approval from the central government’s religious affairs office.

This is an edited version of an article published at Singapore's Catholic News

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