Martyr in China

Chapter 4. The Boxer Uprising

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Blessed Conforti: "I looked at Him, and He looked at me, and it seemed as though He was telling me many things"

In the meantime, storm clouds were gathering on the horizon.  War had broken out in Peking: a great number of fanatical revolutionaries, known as the Boxers, had launched an attack against the foreigners whom they accused of invading China. They advanced like savage hordes, wearing red headscarves and brandishing swords and rifles. They had prepared themselves for battle with spells that were supposed to make them invulnerable.

On June 20, 1900, the German ambassador, Baron Von Ketteler, was assassinated; that same day, an angry mass of Boxers thronged around the headquarters of the Foreign Legations and the Catholic church in Pétang. Sensing the impending trouble, all the foreigners had sought refuge in the British Embassy, which was thought to be the most secure place since it was surrounded by walls. A small French garrison was sent to the mission to defend the priests and the Christians who had gone into hiding there. Over the following days, the regular army, instigated by the Empress Mother Cixi, joined the Boxers. The attack began.

Messengers had been sent by stealth to Tientsin to ask for help. A first expedition was intercepted and the European soldiers were forced to withdraw. This victory exalted the assailants’ spirits and terrible shouts, “Death to the Europeans”, rang through the air.

I suffer a lot because I cannot get deeply involved with the people; if only I could just speak to them, to work for Jesus and save souls.
Fr. Caio Rastelli

The attacks on the Legations and the Church in Peking were multiplying, and the tragedy in Taiyuan was coming to a head.

A few months previously, the new Manchurian Governor, Yushien, had arrived in the capital of the Province; he was well known for his hatred of the Europeans and the Christians. He immediately had posters put up, accusing the missionaries of irritating the gods by preaching a new religion, and blaming them for the grave famine that was afflicting the Province. Those who had become Christians were ordered to return to the ancient divinities and withdraw their support from the foreigners.

In the first days of July, the Boxers, spurred by the fighting in Peking and by the defeat of a foreign army in the city of Datong, to the north of the province, had burned the church and captured the Chinese priest who was stationed there. The priest suffered an atrocious death along with two other Christians.  

Remembering the martyrs of the Chinese Church

The first martyrs

The news had not yet reached Taiyuan when the same kind of attack was perpetrated on the residence of the Protestant pastors by a group of violent people. The pastors were given shelter, together with their families, in an old temple in the city center.

Following the death of their Superior as a result of typhoid, the Franciscans had gathered to appoint a successor. Bishop Grassi, aware of the gravity of the moment, ordered the missionaries to look for a safe place. They could not leave by the usual way since the doors were under surveillance; the priests, therefore, were lowered from the city walls during the night, as the two bishops, two elderly missionaries and brother Andrea Bauer remained behind. They hoped to get the sisters out the following day, dressed as peasant women, but they did not want to abandon the orphan girls under their care.

The Governor gave orders that the orphan girls, some of whom were adolescents, be removed from the mission. During the night, the weeping children were taken away in a carriage. The following day, using the threats of the Boxers as an excuse, the Governor ordered the missionaries and the sisters to be brought in to the same pagoda as the Protestants.

In the afternoon of July 9, a strong contingent of soldiers surrounded the building where the prisoners were held. A squad of soldiers entered the building with arms drawn. The Protestants replied with gunfire, but they were soon reduced to helplessness. Bishop Grassi gave absolution to the priests and sisters who had gathered around him; he was then struck in the back with a rifle butt; Bishop Fogolla was struck twice on the neck with the flat of a saber, and both he and brother Andrea were bleeding. The soldiers tied them up with excessive force and led them amidst a ferocious crowd to the court of the Governor.

Once there, Yushien approached Fogolla and said to him: “How long have you been in China, and how much harm have you done to my people?” The bishop quietly replied: “I have been here for 34 years and I have only done good to the Chinese people”.

Yushien angrily replied: “You are lying, and I am going to kill you”.

He then stabbed Fogolla twice and then ordered his men: “Take them outside and kill them all”.

An enormous confusion followed. In the yard, the two bishops, the two fathers, the brother and the seven sisters were massacred. Some were beheaded, some had their throats cut, and others were stabbed through the heart with a sword. They died with their five seminarians and the nine servants of the mission: in all 26 martyrs died that day. The Protestant pastors were also massacred with their families, making another 32 martyrs for the Kingdom of God.

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