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Reflection on Today’s Feast

By Fr. Harry Geib, SJ

I have always been attracted to the history of Christianity in China and Southeast Asia, and specifically, I have been edified by the Christians who were brutally martyred for their faith in the Boxer Rebellion in 1900.

The Boxer Rebellion took place in China between 1899 and 1901. During this time, anti-western, anti-colonial peasant rebels killed 30,000 Chinese converts to Christianity along with missionaries and other foreigners. These martyrs include four French Jesuit missionaries (Sts. Leo Ignatius Mangin SJ, Paul Denn SJ, Remy Isore SJ, Modeste Andlauer SJ) along with their lay companions Mary Zhu Wu and others, killed in 1900.

The foreign missionaries in China were advised to leave. However, these four French Jesuits, along with other missionaries, chose to stay with the villagers with whom they lived and served.

Two French Jesuits, Fr. Remy Isore and Fr. Modeste Andlauer, were working in small towns in China at this time. When Fr. Isore visited Fr. Andlauer in Wuyi, the Boxers had already taken control of that village. The next day, the Boxers attacked the residence where they lived and killed the two Jesuits kneeling in prayer in the chapel. Their desecrated bodies were used to frighten the local Christians into returning to their ancestral faith.

When the Zhujiahe village was attacked, where Frs. Leo Mangin and Paul Denn ministered, the people gathered in the chapel where the Jesuits led the prayers. At the sound of the gunfire, the faithful panicked but Leo Mangin offered words of comfort. Mary Zhu Wu, a laywoman, stood in front of Fr Leo Mangin to protect him and was shot dead. After the Jesuits were killed, the Boxers began to shoot the rest of the faithful indiscriminately, and they set fire to the chapel. While some survivors managed to escape by abandoning the faith, the courage of those who died remains an eloquent witness to the message of the Gospel.

Saints Leo Mangin, SJ, Mary Zhu Wu, and companions, martyrs of the faith in China, pray for us!

Fr. Harry Geib, SJ, serves as a Regional Promoter of Vocations for the USA East Province and as Superior of the Gonzaga Jesuit Community in Washington, DC.