ST MARK JI TIANXIANG, DOCTOR AND MARTYR

ST MARK JI TIANXIANG, DOCTOR AND MARTYR - 7 JULY

SAINT MARK JI TIANXIANG, DOCTOR AND MARTYR

Saint Mark Ji Tianxiang (馬克冀天祥)

was born in Jizhou District, Hengshui, Zhili (now Hebei), China in 1834. He was an affluent acupuncturist; a Catholic all his life. Known for treating poor people for free, everybody loved him. In his forties he went down with stomach illness involving severe discomfort. He successfully kept numbing the pain with opium for a prolonged period of time, and duly got addicted.

Mark made frequent confessions, admitting to and regretting his addiction, but he was denied absolution and Holy Communion because the parish priest thought he lacked true sorrow for his addiction since he did not amend it by kicking the habit. Mark ended up not receiving the Sacrament for decades, but eventually, after many years of being a faithful and regular church-goer, he was given the Sacraments once more due to his sincere perseverance in faith.

On July 7, 1900, during the Boxer Rebellion, Mark and 119 other Christians were rounded up and asked to renounce Christianity, but they steadfastly refused. Mark begged the rebels to kill him last so that he could encourage his family to die as martyrs, and so they would not have to die alone. He did not renounce his Catholic faith and hence was beheaded.

A century later, this opium addict was canonized by the church. Mark Ji Tianxiang was beatified at first (on November 24, 1946) by Pope Pius XII along with 120 other Chinese martyrs, as part of the martyr group Saint Augustine Zhao Rong and Companions, and canonized by Pope John Paul II on October 1, 2000.

Sources:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Ji_Tianxiang

https://www.ncregister.com/blog/simonson-st-mark-ji-tianxiang

https://www.acupuncture.net.ph/post/mark-ji-tianxiang-patron-saint-of-acupuncturists#:~:text=He%20was%20an%20acupuncturist%20who,But%20he%20got%20addicted.

PRAYER:

Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that we who know how courageously your holy martyr Mark confessed the faith, may experience his goodness as he intercedes for us with you. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.

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