Zhao Rong leaned on his musket and contemplated the prisoner before him.
He was an old hand in the military. After all, a man saw a lot of action in 10 years, especially on the prisoner-escort detail. He had thought that nothing would surprise him anymore, that he had seen it all. Now he began to wonder…had he?
No. Definitely not. The foreign priest huddled on the ground shattered all his experience of prisoners and their typical behavior. Fear he had seen, yes, and despair, anger, hatred, cowardice. But serenity? Courage? Gentleness? Even gratitude?
How on earth did the foreigner remain calm on this march to Beijing, where exile was the kindest fate that could await him? Zhao Rong could not resist asking. Soon, he and his prisoner conversed frequently and freely.
He learned of a God-Man called Christ. He learned of sin and suffering and salvation. He learned about sacraments, and a wondrous thing called the Eucharist. He learned that a desire for these things had gnawed at him all his life. Towards the end of the march to Beijing, he asked for baptism.
The 17th Century Japanese Martyrs
The rest, as they say, is history. After his baptism into the Catholic Faith, Augustine Zhao Rong entered seminary. He was ordained five years later, in 1790, and spent nearly 30 years guarding his flock before his martyrdom in 1815.
In 2000, he was canonized along with 119 fellow martyrs, both native Chinese and foreign missionaries. They are among the brightest gems in the Church—these men and women who bore witness to the Truth with courage, sweetness, and charity.
Fr. Joseph Spillman, S.J., understood how essential it is to encourage admiration for these inspiring examples, so he collected adventure-stories of the Faith and formed Tales of Foreign Lands. This last book of the trilogy for young readers contains four exciting, beautifully-illustrated stories of the Faith. Get your copy today at The Catholic Company!
