Agnes Tsao Kou Ying, Agatha Lin Zhao, and Lucy Yi Zhenmei were three lay catechists who were martyred in China in the mid-nineteenth century for refusing to renounce the Christian faith. Although Christians were persecuted at this time in large part because of the association between the Christian religion and imperial colonialism, all three of these women were raised within Chinese Christian families, and saw no conflict between their identity as Christians and their identity as Chinese women. All three were canonized by the Roman Catholic Church on October 1, 2000.

Agnes Tsao Kou Ying was born in the small village of Wujiazhai in Guizhou Province in 1821. She was orphaned at a young age, and had to work to support herself. She married at age 18, but was treated poorly by her in-laws because they disapproved of her Christian faith. After only two years of marriage, her husband died, and she took shelter with an elderly Christian widow who taught her more about the faith. In 1852, the missionary priest Fr. Auguste Chapdelaine heard of her education in the scriptures and in Christian doctrine, and he invited her to accompany him to the province of Guangxi in order to catechize women and children there. After four years of this work, however, they were both arrested and tortured to death. Agnes Tsao Kou Ying died on January 22, 1856.

Agatha Lin Zhao was born in 1817, the only child of Christian parents. She had many suitors, and her parents had arranged an advantageous marriage for her. However, when she was 18 she asked to be released from the betrothal, and to dedicate herself to work in the church as a single laywoman instead. This was a considerable sacrifice for her parents since it would end their family line, but they agreed to her wish. She earned a university degree, and then returned to her home to run a school for girls. She was arrested in 1857, although she defended herself by protesting that she had been preparing the girls to be good wives since she was teaching them traditional Chinese culture and manners. When she refused to renounce her Christian faith, however, she was executed on January 28, 1858.

Lucy Yi Zhenmei was born to a Catholic family in Sichuan on December 9, 1815. Keenly interested in theological and historical studies, she began university studies but her health and family circumstances did not permit her to continue. Instead, after the death of her father, she lived at home with her mother and brother and worked to support her family. She assisted in the parish by teaching at the local school and by catechizing women and children. Although the church offered to pay her for her work, she insisted upon working for free in order to give something back to the church. In 1862 she accompanied Pt. Wen Nair to open a new Christian mission, but this effort was received poorly by the local authorities. They and three other Christian leaders were arrested and sentenced to death without a formal trial. Lucy Yi Zhenmei was executed by beheading on February 19, 1862.

Excerpted directly from “Lesser Feasts and Fasts 2022,” p. 102-103.

Lessons and Psalm

Exodus 23:1-9
Psalm 27
Matthew 25:1-13

Preface of a Saint (3)