The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1900-09-08
CATHOLICS IN CHINA.
OUR UNSELFISH AND DEVOTED BAND
OF MISSIONARIES.

Their Work. Coupled with Priv,.
ton Snd Hardship, Is Glorious In
the Sight of God and WIN Ra,r
Fruit In His own Time.
From the accounts published in the
daily papers Of the terrible massacres
in China one would infer that the only
sufferers of this awful persecution
were the missionaries sent out by Eng
fish and American Bible societies. That
these poor people have suffered their
share we do not doubt, but when ali
the truth is known it will be found
that their loss and their suffering are
very small compared to that endured
by our Catholic missionaries there.
Persecution is nothing new to those
OF our faith in China. For more than
200 years devoted missionaries and
their Christian converts have had to
face Ordeals as cruel, if not as vast
as that which confronts these cham
pions Of the faith today. In spitesof the
wickedness Of man, in spite of the
powers Of darkness, the gospel OF
Christ has spread in the Celestial
kingdom, so called, and at the breaking
out Of this last and most terrible per.
secution of all the number of Catho-
lies was already 100000 and was
daily and hourly increasing. Nowhere
was it ever better shown that ''the
blood of martyrs is the seed of the
church" and this is what gives us en-
couragement in the awful afiiction she
is bearing today. The early church
bore ten bloody prosecutions extending
over 300 years. but in the end ross,
triumphant from the catacombs. So
let us hope it will be with the seel
planted in China and deluged with the
blood of her heroic martyrs.
Some, and those who profess to be
missionaries, too, have been unkind
enough to lay the blame of this upris-
ing. together with its terrible conse-
quences, at the door Of the Catholic
missionary. Never was charge more
false or slandeTOus, for never was
band Of missionaries more unselfsh,
more devoted to the people and the
country in which they labored than
those who brought the Catholic faith
to China. Young men, the flower of
France. Belgium, Italy, Germany and
Spain, left their homea and severed
every tie dear to the human heart,
sought out the most abandoned souls,
the most inhospitable climate, this
most dangerous places. with the one
hope and desire of bringing the gospel
of Christ to those who knew him not.
Here they led the lives of the people
they lived among. shared their hard
ships and privations, healed their
bodies and saved their souls. They
instructed the little unes. attended the
sick and suffering, sought out the
abandoned and the outcast lepers and
shared their frugal fare with those
who had less than themselves. They
asked for nothing in return but to i'm
part the blessings of Christianity.
They were not the advance agents OF
a government seeking to steal an en-
pire. They were not representatives
Of mercantile houses looking for their
own ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Never was man
more disinterested in striving to help
another. The Chinese with all his
barbarity is not a fool and was not
slow TO perceive their high purpose |
and TO admire the faith capable of in
spring such heroism as this. God ]
blessed the work of the missioner. and |
an abundant harvest repaid his toll. 4
Is it all lost now? We do not think so.
I'm the sight of the unwise they seem.
ed to die, and their departure was
taken for misery" but their work is
still glorious in the sight of God and /
will bring forth fruit in his own time. /
1t is sincerely to be hoped that the |
Christian nations now clamoring for
revenge will exercise Christian for
Dearance. The provocation is great,
we admit. and If only half Of the hor
rors told is true it is almost more
han flesh and blood can endure. But
vengeance is mine," said the Lord,
and l will repay" and whether II be
he individual or the nation that seeks
-eprisal only evil can come of it.
When peace and security are once
more restored. let the nations then
each the pagan the most practical
md glorious lesson of Christianity the
world ever knew.