The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1918-04-13

munity became the prey of the Boxers. |
The Chinese Sisters were bound to |
trees and pierced with swords and |
spears. One of them survived the |
dreadful scene, but so mutilated and |
disfigured that she scarcely looked |
like human being. The girls and |
children were slain until only one-third |
of them remained and these with a |
number of young women were dragged
away and sold to Mohammedan slave
dealers.
Meanwhile ten soldiers forced their
way into the church to seize the
Bishop. He was taken without
resistance, partly stripped of his
clothes and dragged in the toughest
manner from the church. They then
cut off the fingers of his right hand
to prevent him from giving his bless
ing to the faithful, to which act the
heather ascribed mysterious power.
The mutilated hand was then tied up
They fettered the hands and legs of
the venerable old, man and carried
him fastened to pole through the vii.
their sport with the poor victim, often
letting him fall heavily to the ground.
Passing Boxers tore the hair from his
head, and when they found how pain
full this was they also tore away his
strong, full beard. After this the con-
fessor, along with five other Chris
tians, was thrown on a cart and
brought to Boatai, three hours distant.
Here the prisoners were so fettered
that they could rest only on their
knees, and at every jolt of the cart
they were wounded in the back of the
neck by the edge of knife placed
horizontally behind 1t.
On the following day after a journey
of seven hours they reached T'uosheng
city of ten thousand inha bitants,
near which there was place of execu-
ton, where shortly before, three hun
dred Christians had been beheaded
and their heads fixed on stakes. On
July %, began the long succession of
fortunes which were to precede DEATH
They stripped the flesh of the breast
of the confessor so as to fix a chain
there. Then he was taken out of the
cage in which he had been placed and
led through the streets of the city by
a rope wound round his head Above
his head was the inscription: Lao
Jang Muo," l. e., "old devil of the
West" The people gathering about
assailed the confessor with jeers and
insults of all sorts. From this place
the Bishop was brought on cart to
Ho-ken for a like exhibition, and on
the way was subjected to one of the
| most disgraceful tortures. Fettered
so that he could not move he was
obliged to sit on sharp instrument
which is used in this country for max
ing broOms. Whenever the poor suf-
ferer, on account of the jolting of the
cart, seemed to lose consciousness
from the pain, they asked him jeer-
ingly whether he found the seat as
made his apostolic journeys. Much
| better" was the answer of the heroic
old man. After he had endured un-
imaginable torment and ill treatment
| for three days they returned to
T'uosheng and from this place he at
| length went forth on his last journey
| to the open field before the city.
Here they had driven three stakes
in the ground in such wise that the
| upper ends came together in a point.
Upon this triangle the Bishop was
| bound fast, and first the flesh was
torn from his back with iron instru-
ments. Then they cut off successfully
his hands, feet, ears, and nose. The
mutilated body was now fastened by
the legs on the point of the scaffold
of stakes in an upright position, and
| the cotton, soaked with oil and tallow,
with which the legs and lower part
of the body had been wrapped, was set
on fire. The frightful pain forced d
| few deep signs from the poor victim.
But the wadding, in spite of all efforts
| to keep afire, continually became ex-
tinguished and the legs were only
ScOrched. This did not satisfy these
devils in human form. They finally
slashed open the body of the confessor,
tore out his heart, roasted it, and
LO1CCu q UGS6dF W eat II, giving ulLH
five hundred sapecks. Probably they
had some superstitious notion in this.
The fat of the intestines was removed
and sold as medicine to the heather.
Finally the head was cut off and fixed
on a stake, where it remained for
many days. According to another ac-
count, Monsignor Hamer spoke only
once during all these cruelties, saying,
Il forgive you all and will pray for
YOU"
What greatness of soul such hero
ism argues? 1t is thus that true mar
tyrs die. The first of them, Stephen,
gave the example, and he learned
from the cross of his Master Such
heroes are glory of the world to
come. Nijmegen, the native town of
Monsignor Hamer, has erected a mon
ument to him; and the Church, it is
hoped, will soon number him among
her blessed martyrs.