July 9--St. Augustine Zhao Rong and Companions, Martyrs

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Is Catholicism a Western ideology or a universal religion? This is an important question if we are to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ. St. Augustine Zhao Rong was one of 87 native Chinese, along with 33 foreign-born missionaries who were martyred between 1648 and 1930. He was a soldier assigned to escort a French bishop in China. St. Augustine was so impressed by the priest and his patience he converted and soon became a priest. However, Catholicism was seen as a foreign religion and a threat to Chinese culture. Shortly after his ordination, St. Augustine Zhao Rong was “jailed, tortured, and left to die in prison” in 1815. Many were martyred during the Boxer Rebellion of 1900, one a nine-year-old. None of the martyrs were engaged in political activities, nor were they agents of Western colonial powers, although that was what the governments feared. They were living their faith in Jesus.

The word catholic means universal. We have been given a command by Jesus to “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age” (Mt. 28:19-20). To do so we must inculturate, or adapt to the local culture, the message of Jesus and the faith of the Church. That is what missionaries do and have done through the centuries! Some have been more successful than others, but the goal has never been to wipe out other cultures to supplant it with Western culture, although many in modern society have accused the Church of doing so. Thus, the destruction of statues of St. Junipero Serra! We are called to love, not destroy.

* https://mycatholic.life/saints/saints-of-the-liturgical-year/july-9-saint-augustine-zhao-rong-and-companions-martyrs/

July 9—St. Veronica Giuliani, Abbess

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI wrote one way we can combat scandal is through a greater reverence for the Eucharist: “The way people often simply receive the Holy Sacrament in communion as a matter of course shows that many see communion as a purely ceremonial gesture. Therefore, when thinking about what action is required first and foremost, it is rather obvious that we do not need another Church of our own design. Rather, what is required first and foremost is the renewal of the Faith in the Reality of Jesus Christ given to us in the Blessed Sacrament.” 

Today’s saint spoke of the joy of communion about 300 years ago! St. Veronica Giuliani was a holy woman who became novice mistress and abbess of her convent. She also received the stigmata of Christ, which caused her humiliation. However, she experienced a profound communion with God and shared that in her diary: “While I was about to go to Holy Communion, I seemed to be thrown wide open like a door flung open to welcome a close friend and then shut tight after his entry. So my heart was alone with him—alone with God. … Love makes the heart leap and dance. Love makes it exult and be festive. … Love possesses it and gives it everything. Love takes it over completely and dwells in it. But I am unable to say more because if I wished to relate all the effects that my heart experiences in the act of going to Holy Communion and also at other times, I would never finish saying everything. It is sufficient to say that communion is a … mansion of love itself.”

Jesus blesses us with his presence and brings us to holiness by giving us himself! Would that we remember what that really means! We would be focused on Jesus, joy, and holiness, rather than scandal.

July 9--St. Augustine Zhao Rong, Priest, and Companions, Martyrs

    

Christianity has had a speckled history in China.  It was first introduced in the seventh century and then reintroduced in the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries.  The Church has not expanded into China very well for a number of reasons, including being associated with Western colonial powers in the last centuries.  There have been times of growth and acceptance as well as setbacks and times of persecution.  Over 120 Chinese Catholic martyrs died between 1648 and 1930.  Most of them were born in China and were children, parents, catechists, or laborer ranging in age from nine to 72.  They were beatified at different times, but St. John Paul the Great canonized them together in 2000.

St. Augustine Zhao Rong was originally a soldier who escorted a bishop to his martyrdom.  St. Augustine was moved by his patience and eventually was baptized and ordained a priest.  He was then arrested, tortured, and also martyred within months of his conversion.

"The blood of the martyrs is the seed of Christianity."  This saying from Tertullilan, an early Christian apologist, is true for the Church today and in China.  The Catholic Church in China has about 12 million members.  However, it is still in a state of flux.  There are two Catholic Churches, one the official Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association sponsored by the Chinese government, and the other, an "underground" Catholic Church. There have been some efforts to work together and try to regularize the situation but they are not complete.  We pray for the intercesssion of St. Augustine Zhao Rong and the Chinese martyrs to help Catholicism to grow in China.