ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN MARCH
Saints celebrated on the 12th of March
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SAINT JOSEPH ZHANG DAPENG, MARTYR
Zhang Dapeng was born as a Buddhist in Duyun, Guizhou Province, in the year 1754. He grew up without any knowledge of the gospel. He later moved to the provincial capital Guiyang where he went into the silk business with a man named Mr Wang. It was through Mr Wang’s son that he first heard the good news of Christ’s salvation. Zhang Dapeng repented of his sins and put his faith in Jesus Christ. He was not allowed to receive baptism, however, because at the time of his conversion Zhang Dapeng kept a concubine, which was a standard practice for wealthy Chinese men at the time.
A Chinese priest named Luo Madi was doing missionary efforts in neighbouring Sichuan at that time and he sent a Chinese lay missionary named Hu Shilu (Lawrence) to go to Guizhou to preach the faith and establish a mission there.
Hu Shilu met Zhang Dapeng and had a long chat with him. Zhang Dapeng then agreed to send his concubine away. He paid a dowry for her to be married to a Catholic layman that was surnamed Du, and then he began religious instructions to join the Catholic Church. One of his fellow catechumens in the same class was the future Chinese martyr saint Wu Guosheng (Peter Wu).
Zhang Dapeng was baptised in the year 1800 at the age 46 by Fr Luo Madi. After his baptism, he started to preach the good news. Over a thousand people came to accept Christ and join His Catholic Church through grace and the preaching of Joseph Zhang Dapeng. Joseph Zhang Dapeng also sometimes helped in doing service for poor elderly people and orphans.
He also spent three years working as a headmaster and teacher at a Catholic school that was set up by a missionary in Guiyang.
His wife and son eventually joined the faith after he had and were baptised too. His son took the baptismal name of Anthony.
Because of his preaching, the Mandarins wanted to imprison him, which coincided with the new wave of persecution initiated by the Jiaqing Emperor in the 1810s against Christians in China. Soon, Joseph Zhang Dapeng's son was captured by the Mandarins and died in 1813.
Joseph Zhang Dapeng heard of his son's death and fled to Sichuan. His brother-in-law betrayed him to the authorities for a monetary reward. Joseph Zhang Dapeng was captured and was imprisoned in the year 1814. He was put into the same prison that was holding Wu Guosheng (Peter Wu) and other Christians arrested for the faith. They were presented with a crucifix and told to trample on it, but Joseph Zhang Dapeng refused.
Joseph Zhang Dapeng's nephew offered to pay him a large sum of money if he would renounce Christ, but Joseph Zhang Dapeng still refused, saying "What use is silver to me? You can buy my body, but you can't buy my soul."
Zhang Dapeng was ordered to be executed. His relatives still tried to call for him to give up the faith while there was still time, but he refused.
He was tied to a crucifix shaped like a capital letter T and the executioner used a rope around his neck to strangle him to death. Thus, on March 12, 1815, Joseph Zhang Dapeng was killed by the Mandarins aged 61.
A big storm started after he died, which was interpreted as an omen by people that were there. People in later times would go to his gravesite to collect plants for medicine and they believed these plants had special healing properties.
Joseph Zhang Dapeng was beatified on February 12, 1909 by Pope Pius X and was canonized on October 1, 2000 by Pope John Paul II.
Sources:
https://www.asiaharvest.org/china-resources/guizhou/1815-joseph-zhang-dapeng
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhang_Dapeng
Catholicism in East Asia
@TheChurchInAsia
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