The Irish standard., 1901-05-25
THE MARTYRS OF CHINA.

AoASA
many neophytes and catechumens he
roically died for the Catholic religion.
On refusing to apostatize from their
rev faith they We're seized and bar
barously put to death. In letter from
Father Gaudissarl, of the Society of
Jesus, who had to fly, for his life, and
for time was supposed to be dead,
we find the following instance of for
titude unto death:
"One of my Christians died glori-
GUS death confessing the faith. The
acts Of the martyr have an official
character, and are beautiful page in
the history of this persecution. Ou
Wenn Yinn was mayor of the Chris
tian part OF his village, and when the
ragans came to demolish the church,
he oppos ed them. Denounced before
the mandarin, he was brought to judg.
ment Knowing that he would not es-
cape with his life he threw himself
on his knees before his aged mother
to bid her farewell. The heroic wom-
an said to him: If you die for the
faith, God will take care of us: do not
be concerned about me or your chill
dren. If you apostatize I shall disown
ycu as my son. Mother he replied,
BE assured. With the grace of God,
l shall not apostatize'
Whom fold fl,o ,,I>
he must change his religion the Chi
nese. hero replied that he could not.
What followed is thus described by
the missionary:
The eNecutiOners inflicted the pun
iSllment Of baStinado on the confessor
until he lost consciousness. When lr
recovered his senses. the mandarin
again proposed that he should apostu-
tize; upon his refusing, he was beaten
Il second time with no different result.
Then he was suspended in the cage of
wood. The martyr said to him:
"When on account of my suffering.
! shall no longer be able to speak and
you see me move my lips, 1 shall not
be uttering words of apostasy but of
prayer At the end of IL few moments
of the torture of the cage. the execl-
toners fastened to take him down,
Judging by the change, of his features
that he was going to die. They were
too hate; On Wenn Yinn had gathered
the palm of the eternal victors"
Tire following is another sublime in
stance which occurred mt Tsing-ho A
Christian of Si-Kao-C Chang who had
made Il brave defence against the
Large Knives when they attempted to
burn the church of his village was
taken by them.
You are Il Chrstian?" they asked
him.
Beyond doubt"
"lf YOU apostatize, we will have
compassion on YOU"
II will not :postatze: you can not
only cut off my head, but you can cut
my body into two or three pieces and
each piece, if YOU question it, will re-
ply that it is Christian" After this
proud profession of faith. he was put
to death.
Several Catholic missionaries were
apprehcndcd Ivy the Boxers and 70
crivcd a crown of martyrtlom. The
most lamcnted is Father Alberto Crcs-
citell, who was only thirty-seven years
old. After enduring cXcrucinting tor
lures, he was decapitatcd. His body
was cut into pieces and cast into the
river. and his soul, which was beyond
the reach of his prosecutors, ascenued
into heaven to keep company With the
spirits of myriads of blessed martyrs
who died for tl,e faith in every age
and cline.
Without Intending to make invidiollS
comparisons between the Catholic and
Protestant missionaries in China dur
ing the r"rrnt persecution We cannot
help rpnlarkin@ that the former and
their converts were free from the
charge OF looting and observed the
commandment. Thou shalt not steal"
DIR. Amcnt. the Protestant missionary,
admits the crime of looting and j,lSti-
tics it by saying that he and his CO.
liborclS in the vineyard of the Lord
were acting for the benefit of the Chi
nese converts. and that they had the
appreciation of Minister Conger in talk
ing what did not belong to them. An
other Protestant missionary, one Rev.
Mr.. Reid, declares that he looted in
good company and has no apology to
make. II only regret" he says, Il
didn't have more time to loot from
such dcspicable wretches. instead of
leaving so much to Others"
The Chinese Minister WI, in an ad-
dress some time ago, suggested that
the seventh commandment be SO
amended as to read as follows: "Thou
shalt not steal. but thou mayest loot"
In some future address the astute Chi
nese minister may suggest another ap-
propriate amendment. like this: "rhou
shalt not steal, but thou mayest loot
for Chinese converts under your care,
especially when you receive the ap-
proval Of McKinley's minister extraor-
dinary to China"
1t will be gratifying to Catholic read
ers to learn on the authority of DR..