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| Image: The icon of the Holy Orthodox Martyrs of China (1900) |
Saint Augustine Zhoa Rong died in 1815 and was a soldier in China who was sent to bring the Catholic bishop, John Gabriel Taurin Dufresse to Beijing to be beheaded. However, he converted to Christianity due to the bishop’s faith and he then asked to be baptised. He took up the name of Augustine and entered the seminary to be ordained as a priest. Augustine was arrested, then tortured and martyred for his faith in 1815 and is recognised with a group of 120 martyrs who died for their faith in China in between 1648 and 1930. They were canonised by Pope Saint John Paul II n 2000. 87 of them were Chinese natives and 33 were Western missionaries.
