Martyr Saints of China

Martyr Saints of China
Memorial plaque at Saint Francis Xavier Church (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam)
Died1648–1930, Qing dynasty and Republic of China
Martyred byBoxer Rebellion
Venerated inCatholic Church
Beatified27 May 1900 by Pope Leo XIII
24 November 1946 by Pope Pius XII
Canonized1 October 2000, by Pope John Paul II
Feast9 July
Notable martyrsAnna Wang
Augustine Zhao Rong
Francisco Fernández de Capillas
Augustus Chapdelaine

The Martyr Saints of China (traditional Chinese: 中華殉道聖人; simplified Chinese: 中华殉道圣人; pinyin: Zhōnghuá xùndào shèngrén), or Augustine Zhao Rong and his Companions, are 120 saints of the Catholic Church. The 87 Chinese Catholics and 33 Western missionaries[1] from the mid-17th century to 1930 were martyred because of their ministry and, in some cases, for their refusal to apostatize.

Many died in the Boxer Rebellion, in which anti-Western peasant rebels slaughtered 30,000 Chinese converts to Christianity along with missionaries and other foreigners.

In the General Roman Calendar of 1969, they are remembered with an optional memorial on 9 July.[citation needed]