Mga Martir ng Iglesia sa China, Inaalala ngayong araw!

Optional Memorial of St. Augustine Zhao Rong, priest and companions, Chinese martyrs

Si Santo Augustine Zhao Rong ay isang Intsik.  Siya ay isang diocesan priest na pinatay ng gobyerno kasama ng may 119 niyang mga kasamahan noong 1815.  Ilan sa mga martir ay isang 18 años na binata, si Chi Zhuzi. Habang tinatapyas ng patalim ang kanyang kanang braso habang siya'y binabalatan ng buhay ay nagwika: "Bawat bahagi ng aking laman, bawat patak ng aking dugo ay mangungusap sa inyo na ako'y Kristiano."  

San Augustin Zhao Rong at mga kasama, ipanalangin niyo kami.

Source: Catholic Culture

Augustine Zhao Rong and companions
Christianity arrived in China by way of Syria in the 600s. Depending on China's relations with the outside world, Christianity over the centuries was free to grow or was forced to operate secretly.

The 120 martyrs in this group died between 1648 and 1930. Most of them (eighty-seven) were born in China and were children, parents, catechists or laborers, ranging from nine years of age to seventy-two. This group includes four Chinese diocesan priests.

The thirty-three foreign-born martyrs were mostly priests or women religious, especially from the Order of Preachers, the Paris Foreign Mission Society, the Friars Minor, Jesuits, Salesians and Franciscan Missionaries of Mary.

Augustine Zhao Rong was a Chinese soldier who accompanied Bishop John Gabriel Taurin Dufresse (Paris Foreign Mission Society) to his martyrdom in Beijing. Augustine was baptized and not long after was ordained as a diocesan priest. He was martyred in 1815.

Beatified in groups at various times, these 120 martyrs were canonized in Rome on October 1, 2000.

Excerpted from Saint of the Day, Leonard Foley, O.F.M.