St. Augustine Zhao Rong

St. Augustine Zhao Rong was born around 1746 in China and died a martyr in 1815. He was a Chinese soldier assigned as one of the guards escorting a European missionary bishop, Bishop Dufresse, to his execution. Deeply moved by the serenity and courage of the martyr in the face of death, Zhao Rong was drawn to the faith for which the bishop died, and he asked to become a Christian.

After his baptism he studied for the priesthood and was ordained, ministering to the persecuted Catholic communities of China until he too was seized, tortured, and killed for the faith. He is remembered as the representative and namesake of the great company of the Martyrs of China — some one hundred and twenty missionaries and native Chinese Catholics who died for Christ across several centuries of persecution — all of whom were canonized together in 2000 by Pope St. John Paul II.