St. Augustine Zhao Rong and Companions

Their story

For more than three centuries, Christians in China faced waves of persecution. On July 9 the Church honors 120 of them, martyred between 1648 and 1930. Eighty-seven were Chinese: priests, catechists, seminarians and lay people, including children and elderly people. Thirty-three were missionaries from Europe. Pope St. John Paul II canonized them together in the year 2000. Augustine Zhao Rong was a Chinese soldier. In 1815 he was one of the guards who escorted a French missionary bishop, Gabriel Dufresse, to his execution in Chengdu. Augustine was so moved by the bishop's patience and peace that he asked to learn about the faith. He was baptized, studied for the priesthood and was ordained. Soon he too was arrested. He was cruelly beaten and died in prison in 1815. Many of the martyrs died during the Boxer Rebellion of 1900, when thousands of Christians were killed in northern China. Among them was St. Mark Ji Tianxiang, the doctor who kept his faith through years of addiction, and young people who refused to deny Christ even when promised their lives. Today the Church in China still faces many difficulties, and these martyrs remain a powerful witness of faith, courage and forgiveness.