St. Augustine Zhao Rong and Companions
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
St. Augustine Zhao Rong and 119 companions represent Chinese and missionary Catholics killed for the faith between 1648 and 1930.
The story
The 120 martyrs commemorated under the name of Augustine Zhao Rong did not die in one place or during one persecution. Their deaths occurred across China between 1648 and 1930. The group includes Chinese laypeople, catechists, seminarians, priests, and bishops, together with missionaries from several religious communities and nations. Some were children, while others had served the Church for decades.
The first chronologically was the Dominican priest St. Francis Fernández de Capillas, who was beheaded at Fu'an in 1648. Augustine Zhao Rong was born in Guizhou in 1746 and served as a soldier. He was assigned to escort the imprisoned French missionary bishop Jean-Gabriel-Taurin Dufresse. Augustine was moved by the bishop's patience and faith. He sought instruction, received baptism, and eventually became a diocesan priest. During a new persecution, he was arrested and tortured. He died from his injuries at Chengdu in 1815.
Other members of the group suffered during repeated imperial prohibitions of Christianity. They include bishops and priests who refused to abandon their flocks, women who sheltered missionaries, catechists who continued teaching, and lay Catholics who would not renounce Christ. Several were executed during the Boxer uprising of 1900, when Christian communities in northern China were attacked. Families sometimes died together. The martyrs came from different regions and social classes, but each faced a demand to deny the faith or sever communion with the Church.
Their causes were examined in separate groups over many years. Some had already been beatified in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. St. John Paul II canonized all 120 together in Rome on October 1, 2000. Their liturgical observance on July 9 is an optional memorial in the General Roman Calendar. Their collective witness honors both the deep roots of Catholicism in China and the sacrifices of missionaries who served there. It also avoids reducing their deaths to a single political conflict, since the persecutions spanned almost three centuries.
What Augustine teaches
The martyrs of China show that holiness belongs to every age, culture, and state of life. Their courage came from fidelity to Christ rather than hatred for their persecutors. The Church honors martyrdom as the supreme witness to the truth of the faith in CCC 2473.
Patronage
Chinese Catholics, persecuted Christians, missionaries to China, Christian converts.
Prayer
God of all nations, you gave St. Augustine Zhao Rong and his companions strength to confess Christ amid persecution. Through their intercession, protect the Church in China, reconcile divided peoples, and keep all Christians faithful in suffering. Amen.