St. Mark Ji Tianxiang

Their story

Mark Ji Tianxiang was born in 1834 in Hebei province, China, into a Catholic family. He became a respected doctor and a leader in the local Catholic community. Around the age of thirty he became ill with a painful stomach complaint and treated himself with opium, a common medicine at the time. He soon became addicted, and he could not break free. In those days his addiction was seen as a scandal, and because he could not promise to stop, his confessor could not give him absolution. For about thirty years Mark was unable to receive Holy Communion. Yet he never left the Church. He kept going to Mass, kept praying and kept his faith, trusting that God had not abandoned him. He asked God for the grace of martyrdom, believing it was the one way he could be fully reconciled. In 1900, during the Boxer Rebellion, Mark was arrested along with several members of his family, including grandchildren. In prison and on the way to execution he encouraged the others to stay faithful. He asked to be killed last so that none of his family would die alone, and he sang the Litany of the Blessed Virgin as he went to his death. He was beheaded in July 1900. Pope St. John Paul II canonized him in 2000 among the 120 Martyrs of China. Mark is a patron and friend for anyone who has fallen into addiction and fears they are too far gone for God's mercy.