Martyr in China

Chapter 1. A Visit from China

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Fr. Francis Fogolla with his visitors from China

In the afternoon of Wednesday March 9, 1898, five odd figures were seen getting off a train in Parma. They were ungainly dressed in long cassocks and gray jackets, with brownish faces, prominent cheekbones and almond eyes. Besides their clothing, onlookers were surprised by the long plaits of hair hanging from the back of their heads. 

They had come from China and were accompanied by Fr. Francis Fogolla, an old-looking missionary with a majestic flowing white beard that gave him a venerable air.

The stress and the strain of missionary life made him look older than his 58 years. Born in Montereggio, near Pontremoli, in 1840, his family had moved to Parma when he was a child; as a young man he joined the Franciscan Friars of the Annunciation, Parma. He had left for China in 1866, at the age of 26, and was now returning to Italy for the first time, after an absence of 32 years, to take part in a missionary exhibition organized in Turin by an association that helped Italian missionaries working overseas. However, the main reason of his visit was to recruit some young missionaries for his mission in the North Shanxi, in China, which was as vast in size as it was lacking in human resources. His companions were four young Chinese seminarians and an older man who acted as his secretary.

The mission of the North Shanxi lay close to the Great Wall of China and along its northern part lay the 4,000 miles stretch of the wall that had been erected to keep out the ever restless Mongol hordes; nevertheless, the Mongol horses and their fierce riders had overcome every obstacle in the distant year 1200 and they had set up the Mongol dynasty of the Yuan, which had lasted almost a century. Now, the missionaries were building churches and spreading the faith among the Chinese people, and another Mongol dynasty, the Qing of the Manchuria, had already been reigning over China for two and a half centuries. 

Young Caio Rastelli before entering the Xaverian Seminary

A missionary vocation

A few days later, Fr. Fogolla gave a conference on China in the church of the Annunciation. A huge crowd listened with great attention to what he had to say about China, its customs, usages and the progress of the faith. He told them that his Christians loved Christ so much that, in the event of a persecution, they would willingly sacrifice their lives for Him; he did not know then that his words were to prove prophetic.

Among the listeners was a young cleric, Fr. Guido M. Conforti, with a group of 29 young seminarians; two years previously, on December 3, 1895, he had founded a small Seminary for  Foreign Missions to recruit young boys who wished to become missionaries among the non-Christians.

The young seminarians, who were fascinated by the missionary with the long beard, thought to themselves: “Perhaps we, too, will go to China one day…”.

Among them was one who thought seriously about going to China: the young Vice-rector, Fr. Caio Rastelli. Born in Ghiara di Fontanellato, Parma, on March 25, 1872, Fr. Caio was one of the first to join Conforti, not long after his ordination to the priesthood.

Fr. Caio, how could I manage without you? Can you not see how busy I am in the Curia since the bishop appointed me Vicar of Priests?
Bishop Conforti

A few days after the conference, Fr. Fogolla visited Conforti’s seminary and Fr. Rastelli asked if he could go to China with him. He received a very encouraging answer, but when Rastelli informed Conforti he was brought back to earth by the Founder’s reply: “Fr. Caio, how could I manage without you? Can you not see how busy I am in the Curia since the bishop appointed me Vicar of Priests?”

The bishop in question, Francis Magani, had arrived in Parma in September 1894, and had not hesitated in choosing Conforti as his trusted collaborator; he had first appointed him Pro Vicar and then, despite the fact that Conforti was just 30 years old, Vicar of Priests. 

That same evening, Conforti’s one theology student, the deacon Odoardo Manini, told him that he also wanted to leave for China. Manini was the “assistant of students” of the small community and he, too, was indispensable. Besides, he wasn’t even 20 years old and was an only child. Theirs was an impossible dream.

The Founder was torn between the joy of his students’ missionary zeal and the impossibility of granting their requests.

Nevertheless, a meeting between Conforti and Fogolla tipped the scales in favor of the two aspirants to the mission in China: would Conforti ever have another chance to entrust his first missionaries to a more worthy guide than the Franciscan Friars, and particularly to Fr. Fogolla who promised to care for them as if they were his own sons?

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