St. Augustine Zhao Rong and Companions
Be confident and courageous. Be proud of your faith. Let us learn from St. Augustine Zhao Rong and Companions.
In total there were 120 laity, priests, and religious killed between 1648-1930 for refusing to denounce their Christian faith in China.
On July 9th we honor them on the feast day of Chinese priest St. Augustine Zhao Rong and his 119 Companions. Among them were 87 Chinese Catholics and 33 western missionaries. The Chinese were children, parents, catechists, and four priests. Their ages ranged from nine years old to 72.
During the Boxer Rebellion it is estimated that about 30,000 Chinese converts to Christianity along with their missionaries were killed.
Augustine Zhao Rong was a Chinese Soldier, who witness the martyrdom of Bishop John Gabriel Taurin Dufresse, a Paris Foreign Mission Society member, in Beijing. Augustine chose to be baptized soon after and was ordained as a diocesan Priest. He was martyred in 1815. Of these 120 brave souls, they were mostly beatified in groups at various times, all 120 of these martyrs were canonized in Rome, on October 1, 2000.
