Saint Augustine Zhao Rong

Saint Augustine Zhao Rong was a Chinese soldier who accompanied Bishop Dufresse to his martyrdom in Beijing. He was so overcome by the beauty and power of the faith, that even after directly witnessing the danger of being Christian, he had himself baptized.

 

He soon became a priest and ministered for many years. He was arrested for the crime of being a priest and tortured to death in 1815.

It is to be remembered that the persecution of Christians in China had much to do with complex historical and political events. Pope John Paul 11 apologized to China for ‘errors and limits of the past’. For more info http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=3159