Xaverians in China

Past Presence

Three years after the foundation of the Xaverians, Guido M. Conforti had a young priest who helped him in the guidance of young missionary students, while Conforti was quite busy as Vicar General of the Diocese. That was the year 1898. It was in that year that Mons. Francis Fogolla, bishop in China, came to Parma. Even in the midst of doubts, Conforti did not hesitate to send to China Fr. Caio Rastelli, and the only theology student, Deacon Odoardo Manini. They left with Bishop Fogolla.

 

As soon as they settle in the Eastern Shanxi, Fr. Caio was sent to the Western Mountains. He personally experienced the sacrifices of hunger and the endless work to be done. With the Boxer insurrection, Fr. Caio made his escape through rough terrains and valleys, followed by a group of ten soldiers who wanted him dead. Young Manini, too, found it difficult to avoid the persecution. They both arrived in Mongolia, and found refuge in the fortified residence of the Scheut Father, Belgian missionaries. For two months they sustained the assault of the Boxers and Mongols.

 

Meanwhile, at Taiyan-fu, capital of Shanxi and center of the diocese, Bishops Grassi and Fogolla were killed, together with three missionaries, seven sisters, five seminarians, and nine mission workers. With them, 32 protestants were also killed, the pastors with their families.

 

At the end of the persecution, Fr. Caio Rastelli was exhausted by the travels, the lack of sleep, the desolation of the land, the illness of typhoid. He died on Feb. 28, 1901, at the age of 28. Conforti called home Manini, the only remaining missionary. The first mission to China was over in two years.

 

But Conforti did not waver. In 1902 he was named bishop of Ravenna, and asked the Propagation of the Faith to assign his missionaries to a new mission in China. Four of these missionaries left for the region of Honan, China in 1904. After two years, three other Xaverians reached them. And in the following years, they left two by two.

 

This new mission did not come without complications and sorrows. In 1908 Fr. Vincent Dagnino, the youngest of the Xaverians, contacted yellow fever while assisting a sick; he died in just a few days, and he was 24 years old. The following year, Fr. Corrado Di Natale, a Maltese Xaverian of 23 years of age, died of malaria, after only a 40 day-stay in China.

 

The First Xaverian Bishop

 

Since January 1906 the Apostolic Prefecture of East Honan was established with its center of Cheng-chow. Eight million people lived in an area of 25,000 sq. miles. It was a mountainous region, with no more than 600 Christians. In 1911 Fr. Louis Calza was named Apostolic Vicar of Honan, and will be consecrated Bishop in April 1912 by Conforti, by then Bishop of Parma. Bishop Calza was 33 years old, the youngest bishop in those years, at the head of a diocese of twelve Xaverians and a vast mission territory. Bishop Calza had to return to China soon after, for there was a civil war between rival factions that had started in 1911: the supporters of the republic versus those of the empire. What followed were attacks by bandit bands, hunger, looting, abandoned children, misery and sorrow. The First World War isolated the group of Xaverians even more.

 

In 1921, other departures of missionaries took place. But the 1920’s brought more conflict among national-communists of the south against the regular northern troops. Our missions were often battle fields, with threats from both sides. Oftentimes, bands of brigands assaulted small villages and cities and in December 1927 three Xaverians were imprisoned. They were freed, by a miracle, on Christmas Day.

 

Things calmed down a bit in 1928, and that is when Bishop Conforti took the long journey to visit his missionaries in China. He wanted to visit with his missionaries, understand their difficulties, sustain them in their efforts as their Religious Superior, and found, if possible, a novitiate house for young Chinese missionary students.

 

He lived the hard life of his missionary sons for 40 days, traveling with any means available. Like in the Apennines with the horse, Bishop Conforti adjusted well also in the travels in China.

 

He admired their zeal and dedication, their sacrifices and the many good fruits for the Reign of God. Those 600 Christians became 16,000 by 1928, with Churches built, schools and orphanages administers, dispensaries and small clinics in full operation. Bishop Conforti was filled with great joy in his heart, and loudly sang his “Nunc dimittis” once he returned to Parma. He died on Nov. 5, 1931. He was 66 years old.

 

Between Wars and Revolutions

 

A period of relative peace followed the death of the Founder, but war broke out in 1937. Japan had in fact started a systematic invasion, bring destruction and death everywhere. The Chinese were hoping that the Yellow River would be a natural barrier for stopping the Japanese, but it did not worked out that way. The Missions of the Xaverians was being assaulted, not by the Japanese, but by the refugees who had to escape a flooding of the Yellow River. In fact, the Chinese broke the dikes in order to stop the advance of the Japanese, but were unsuccessful. Tens of thousands lost their lives in this maneuver.

 

In 1938 bombs reappeared. Chengchow, the residence city of the Bishop, was hit, and the cathedral destroyed.

 

In 1942, the missionaries were brought to a concentration camp because Italy allied itself with Japan. Only a few of the missionaries remained behind to run hospitals. On April 30th, 1944, the Japanese arrived in the city of Hsuchang where Fr. John Botton and Fr. Ermanno Zulian resided. They hid themselves in a cellar with a few of the Christians. As the troops advanced, Fr. Botton decided to go outside and stop the launching of bombs, but a soldier shot him at close range. He died, but the Christians were saved that day.

 

On October 27, 1944, Bishop Calza died in the hospital because of the extreme life conditions: he became very weak and ill, consumed by the daily sufferings, and overcome by the destruction of the mission. “I will never see my own missionaries any longer” were his last words.

 

The Chinese-Japanese War ended in 1945 when the Japanese were defeated by the allies. Soon after, over 30 Xaverians from Italy were sent to the mission in China. The dioceses of Cheng-chow and Loyang were established. Xaverians began a new mission at Ichun in Kiang-si. A language center was opened in Peking and a novitiate house as well. On March 13, 1959, three young Chinese priests entered the Xaverian Congregation: Louis Wang, Augustine Yang, and Simon Liu. But new events put a question mark on the activity and life of their mission.

 

Between 1947 and 1950, communist troops took over the majority of China, followed by killings and trials. The Catholic Church became the new enemy to the regime and many priests and bishops, religious and laity were imprisoned because they would not agree to belong to the patriotic Church of the Party. Foreign missionaries were often imprisoned and tortured, brought to the tribunals of the people, and condemned to being expelled. Many of the Chinese Christians paid with their lives. The last of the Xaverians to leave China was the Bishop of Loyand, Mons. Assuero Bassi, who personally suffered 7 years of imprisonment and trials by the regime.

 

The missionaries knew well that their people were not at fault. They felt victims of an ideology of immense proportions. They left weeping, for they left their hearts in China, among the people they loved. The missionaries always admired the traits of this centuries-old civilization, their deep sense of human bonding, their laborious skills and their patience.

 

The Xaverians believed that these characteristics would overcome even the communist ideas. But most of all, as they left the soil of China, they were overjoyed at seeing the witness of the Chinese Christians toward the new-found faith in Christ and his Church: “Love for life did not deter them from their death.” (Rev. 12:11)

by Fr. Augustus Luca

 

 

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