The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1912-07-27
LABORS Of THE LAzAR|sTS
Noble Record of Missionary Work in
China.

The priests of the Congregation of
the Mission, popularity known in the
United States as Lazarists, have done
heroic missionary work in the last
century in China, and many members
of the congregation are at present
laboring to spread the gospel of Christ
in the revOlution-ridden fiowery King
dom. During the first half of the last
century Lazarists ministered in secret
to the remnants of the once flourish
ing missions, and on more than one
occasion were they called upon to con-
TESS the faith and to seal their confess
sion with their blood. Two of them
have been decreed the honors of beati-
f1cation-Blessed F. Clet and Blessed
John Gabriel Perboyre. The former
suffered martyrdom in 1919 and the
latter in 1910.
Blessed Perboyre's sister, who also
devoted herself to the Chinese mis-
sions as a Sister of Charity, survived
her brothers Qualification several
years and died only few years ago
in the Sisters Hospital at Shanghai
A marked revival in the missions of
China took place toward the middle
of the last century. The Jesuits re-
turned to the scene of labor in 1912,
and the Congregation of Foreign Mis-
sions of Paris began to send out zeal
GUS workers in increasing numbers
The Franciscans and the Dominicans
fastened to enter the field which had
witnessed the labors of their brethren
in religion so many years before. In
| the. latter half of the century the prog
ress was solid and steady, but it was
not strikingly rapid
The period was one of organization
and of struggles against the prejudice
of the people and the hostility of the
mandarins. The dangers, too, were
many. More than one worthy mis-
sionary met violent death at the
hands of Infatuated mobs. On one
occasion ten Sisters of Charity were
massacred together in Tientsin In a
letter recently received by the Inter
national Catholic Truth Society from
missionary correspondent, who is
laboring among the Chinese, the hope
is expressed that the present great
upheaval will not be characterized
by the sanguinary persecution that
marked the Boxer uprising" of few
years ago. The correspondent believes
that owing to the treaties made with
China by the different powers, the
rights of the missionaries, both as to
their personal safety and their work of
evangelization, will be respected.
But he says in concluding, IF after
the revolution comes chaos we are
ready to die for the cause as our con-
freres did in days gone by"
In the Boxer uprising five Bishops
laid down their lives heroically and
they were followed by thirty-five Eu-
ropean missionaries and five of the
native clergy. The number of neo-
phytes who sealed their faith with
their blood is estimated at 10000.
Some of them had occasion to con-
fess their faith openly and to accept
death rather than purchase their
safety by apostasy Since that period
of appalling bloodshed unprecedented
movements towards the Church have
been reported from various parts of
the empire. Baptisms of new converts
are numbered by the tens of thou
sands, and there has been a constant
demand for more Bishops and for the
| division of the missions into more
| vicariates, to meet the needs of the
growing church