St. Augustine Zhao Rong shares today’s optional memorial with 119 other Chinese martyrs, killed for the faith between 1648 and 1930. He was China’s first native-born priest to die as a martyr, and his witness opened a path thousands would follow. If you wonder whether faith still demands courage, these 120 answer yes.
Who Augustine Zhao Rong was
Augustine Zhao Rong was born around 1746 in Sichuan province. He served as a soldier escorting a French missionary priest to execution in 1815. Watching the priest’s calm in the face of death, Augustine converted. He was baptized, studied for the priesthood, and was ordained around 1781, one of the first Chinese Catholic priests.
In 1815, during the Jiaqing Emperor’s persecution, authorities arrested Augustine for his priesthood. He was imprisoned, tortured, and died from his wounds in prison that same year. He was 69 years old. He never renounced Christ.
The 119 martyrs commemorated with him include 87 Chinese laypeople and religious, plus 33 foreign missionaries. They span nearly three centuries of persecution. Four were children. The youngest, Chi Zhuzi, was nine years old when he refused to trample a crucifix and was beheaded.
What they’re known for
These martyrs are known for ordinary lives interrupted by a choice. Most were farmers, mothers, catechists, simple priests. When authorities demanded they renounce the faith or reveal other Catholics, they refused. Some died quickly by beheading. Others were strangled slowly, burned, or left to die in prison from torture wounds.
Augustine Zhao Rong is depicted in Chinese vestments holding the palm of martyrdom and a cross, sometimes with chains at his feet. The chains represent his final imprisonment. The palm, ancient symbol of victory, marks him as one who conquered death by dying for Christ. His Chinese vestments matter because his martyrdom was not foreign, it was Chinese soil baptized in Chinese blood.
Pope John Paul II canonized all 120 together in 2000, the largest single canonization in Church history. They are patrons of the Church in China.
For today
Find one concrete way your faith costs you something today. Not dramatized persecution, but real cost: the conversation you don’t join, the compromise you don’t make, the extra hour you give, the grudge you release because Christ asks. Do that one thing before sunset in honor of Augustine and the 120.
Their courage was tested in cells and at scaffolds. Yours will be tested in living rooms and office kitchens. Same Christ, different battlefield.
St. Augustine Zhao Rong and companions, pray for us.
