The 25th anniversary of the canonization by John Paul II of the Franciscan martyrs in China was commemorated on Wednesday, the 1st October 2025. In Rome, at the Basilica of St Anthony at the Lateran, the Eucharistic celebration, concelebrated by several Chinese priests, was enlivened by the participation and singing of the Franciscan Missionary Sisters of Mary. At the end of the Mass, the painting displayed for the veneration of the faithful was incensed. It depicts the seven holy martyred Missionary Sisters of Mary, with bishops and friars in the centre and, in the background, the tiny secular Franciscan martyrs of the Third Order.
In the same chapel, there is also a portrait of Blessed Gabriele Allegra, who not only translated the Bible into Chinese but also sent a fragment of the martyred body of St Antonino Fantosati (Trevi, 1842-Hengzhou, 1900) from China to the friars of Assisi. Moreover, in the latter's birthplace, at the friary of St Martin, Mass was presided over by Monsignor Renato Boccardo, Archbishop of Spoleto and President of the Umbrian Episcopal Conference.
For this occasion, Erica Cecchetti has published Antonino Fantosati, a Franciscan in China (1842-1900), with a preface by Giuseppe Buffon (Carocci, Rome 2025). It will be presented in Trevi at the friary of St Martin on Sunday the 19th October at 5:00 PM.
