ST PAUL GE TINGZHU, MARTYR - 8 AUGUST

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN AUGUST

Saints celebrated on the 8th of August

Prayer to the Angels and the Saints

Heavenly Father, in praising Your Angels and Saints we praise Your glory, for by honouring them we honour You, their Creator. Their splendour shows us Your greatness, which infinitely surpasses that of all creation.

In Your loving providence, You saw fit to send Your Angels to watch over us. Grant that we may always be under their protection and one day enjoy their company in heaven.

Heavenly Father, You are glorified in Your Saints, for their glory is the crowning of Your gifts. You provide an example for us by their lives on earth, You give us their friendship by our communion with them, You grant us strength and protection through their prayer for the Church, and You spur us on to victory over evil and the prize of eternal glory by this great company of witnesses.

Grant that we who aspire to take part in their joy may be filled with the Spirit that blessed their lives, so that, after sharing their faith on earth, we may also experience their peace in heaven. Amen.

ST PAUL GE TINGZHU, MARTYR 

Saint Paul Ge Tingzhu, born 1839, was a farmer of Xiaotun, China, and the leading Catholic layman in his village. In 1900 the Chinese quasi-religious faction known as the “Boxers” began a bloody persecution against Christians in China.

AS THE SUN ROSE ON AUGUST 8, PAUL WAS SETTING OFF WITH A SHOVEL OVER HIS SHOULDER

As the sun rose on August 8, 1900, Paul was setting out with a shovel over his shoulder to begin his routine farm labours when he was confronted by a band of Boxers. Having been told that the sixty-one-year-old farmer was a Catholic, the Boxers demanded from him a denial of his faith. Paul answered, ‘Absolutely not!’

THEY TIED HIM TO A TREE AND DEMANDED THAT HE APOSTATISE

The Boxers prepared to kill him on the spot. Paul interrupted them, insisting that insofar as the ground they were standing on belonged to another farmer, they should take him to his own farm plot and kill him there instead. The Boxers then brought Paul to his own field, tied him to a tree, and again demanded that he apostatise.

"IT DOES NOT MATTER IF YOU KILL MY BODY; I WANT TO SAVE MY SOUL"

Paul replied, ‘No, no! It does not matter if you kill my body; I want to save my soul.’ The Boxers proceeded to dismember and disembowel him. During his horrific death agony, Paul reaffirmed his profession of the Catholic faith and continually invoked the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary.

“My body and my strength faileth, but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.” (Psalm 72:26)