Italian
The liturgical memory of Saints Augustine Zhao Rong and Companions Martyrs recalls one of the brightest and most dramatic pages in the history of the Church in Asia.
CHINA. The announcement of the Gospel in China has its roots in very ancient times. According to a venerable tradition, it was even Saint Thomas the Apostle who brought the first seed of the Christian faith to the Far East. However, the earliest historically documented testimonies date back to the 5th century, when missionaries from Syria introduced Christianity into the Chinese Empire.
In the Middle Ages, missionary work gained new momentum thanks to the Franciscans, among whom Blessed Odoric of Pordenone stood out, arriving in China in 1327. In the modern era, it was primarily the Society of Jesus that gave a decisive boost to evangelization, with extraordinary figures like the Servant of God Matteo Ricci, who landed in Macau in 1582 and established a fruitful dialogue with Chinese culture, earning the respect of the imperial court.
In 1692, the emperor issued an edict that recognized freedom of worship for Christians and allowed the preaching of the Gospel in the Empire. It was a period of relative peace, but it was destined to be interrupted by the resurgence of persecutions against the Church.
Augustine Zhao Rong was born in 1746 in the province of Guizhou (then Kweichou), to a non-Christian family. He joined the imperial army at a young age and served as a prison guard. In 1772, he was assigned to oversee some missionaries and believers who were arrested during a persecution.
The daily contact with those prisoners radically changed his life. Admired by their serenity, their faith, and their ability to proclaim Christ even amidst the sufferings of prison, he began to listen attentively to the preaching of the Gospel. Grace worked in his heart, and he asked to receive Baptism, taking the name Augustine.
Having become a fervent Christian, he initially collaborated with missionaries in assisting the sick and in baptizing dying children during famines. He later undertook ecclesiastical studies and was ordained a priest in 1781.
Endowed with great apostolic zeal, he traveled through numerous regions of China proclaiming Christ. His sermons on the Passion of the Lord deeply moved the listeners and led many people to conversion. He was then sent to the province of Yunnan to evangelize the local populations, bravely facing hardships, deprivations, and constant dangers.
In 1815, anti-Christian persecutions resumed with particular violence. Agostino Zhao Rong was arrested for being a Catholic priest, imprisoned, and subjected to cruel torture. He remained steadfast in his faith until death, offering his life for Christ and for the Church.
He belongs to that long line of martyrs who have fertilized the Chinese land with their blood. The first among them was the Dominican Father Francesco Fernández de Capillas, killed in 1648. In the following centuries, numerous bishops, priests, religious men, religious women, and lay faithful faced martyrdom rather than renounce their faith.
The group includes a total of 120 martyrs, killed between 1648 and 1930: 87 were Chinese, while the others came from various countries and arrived as missionaries. Their stories testify to how the Gospel has taken deep roots in Chinese culture and how holiness knows no boundaries of people or nation.
In the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, Saint John Paul II canonized them together, presenting them to the universal Church as a single crown of witnesses to the faith. They represent unwavering fidelity to Christ, lived out to the total gift of life.
The testimony of Saint Augustine Zhao Rong and his Companions continues to speak to the Church today. Their story demonstrates that no persecution can stop the work of the Holy Spirit: the Gospel conquers hearts not with the force of arms, but with the coherence of life, charity, and sacrifice.
The priest who once kept Christians as prisoners became a minister of the Gospel himself and, ultimately, a martyr. His conversion reminds us that the grace of God can transform any existence and that the blood of martyrs, as Tertullian stated, is truly the “seed of new Christians.”
Their memory invites every believer to live faith with courage, perseverance, and love, trusting that the Cross of Christ is always a prelude to the Resurrection.
