October 1st marked the 25th anniversary of the canonization of the 120 Chinese martyrs, OFM friars, FMM sisters and OFS tertiaries. Between Chinese Christians and foreign missionaries, all victims of the Boxer Rebellion of 1900, here are testimonies that cross cultures, languages and social conditions, united by a common loyalty to Christ.
The Boxer Uprising of 1900 was an anti-foreign and anti-Chrisitan insurrection. But from the persecution emerged Chinese Christians from generations, catechists and consecrated virgins who led the local communities, entire families who chose to die together rather than to deny Christ.
Next to them, missionaries of different nationalities: friars minor, Franciscan Sisters Missionaries of Mary who shared until the end the fate of the communities they served; lay Franciscan tertiaries who testified to faith in the world of work and family.
The persecution of 1900 made no distinctions: Chinese Christians and foreign missionaries, young and old, religious and lay people, all united in shedding their blood for faith. Among the most significant figures there stand out Franciscan bishops such as Gregory Grassi and Fantosati, friars such as Cesidio da Fossa, killed in Shanxi together with their confreres. But alongside the illustrious names shine the silent testimonies of hundreds of anonymous Chinese Christians, who preferred death to apostasy.
Among these witnesses, Saint Anthony Fantosati (1842-1900), a missionary who knew how to become truly Chinese. Born in Trevi, he left Italy in 1867. Arriving in China, he distinguished himself for his ability to become everything to everyone. In the mountains of Hubei he accompanied the poorest nomadic populations, sharing their precariousness. He learned the local dialect, wore Chinese clothing, even changed his name. His gaze always privileged the last: abandoned children, hungry families, nomads in search of fertile lands.
Appointed bishop, Fantosati was faced with the greatest challenge: to be a pastor without betraying his Franciscan vocation. The tensions did not take long to arise. The local Christian community, accustomed to privileges and compromises, could not bear his evangelical rigor.
The holy bishop rejected the clientele system that allowed speculation on funds designated for orphans. He preferred to be accused of meanness rather than betraying justice: he knew that the true glory of God is justice for the poor.
On July 7, 1900, popular uprisings also overwhelmed him. His martyrdom was the fulfillment of a life spent by the truth of the Gospel: he had chosen Christ in the poor against any compromise with power.
His final words sound prophetic: “We are not driving away by the Gentiles but by their own faithful”. A confession that questions every Christian generation about the most subtle betrayal: that of those who use the faith for their own interests.
Even today, the 120 Chinese martyrs give us a testimony that transverses every cultural barrier. Their holiness is not in the miracles, but in the daily fidelity to the Gospel of justice and love.
All these martyrs remind us that being a Christian means always choosing the side of Christ, even when it costs misunderstanding, persecution, death.
His answer was martyrdom. What will be ours?
