Agatha Lin, born in Qinglong in the

Guizhou Guizhou (; formerly Kweichow) is a landlocked province in the southwest region of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Guiyang, in the center of the province. Guizhou borders the autonomous region of Guangxi to t ...

of southeast China in 1817, was a Chinese saint and martyr. She was a headmistress and

catechist Catechesis (; from Greek: , "instruction by word of mouth", generally "instruction") is basic Christian religious education of children and adults, often from a catechism book. It started as education of converts to Christianity, but as the ...

, and one of the first to evangelize the

Miao people The Miao are a group of linguistically-related peoples living in Southern China and Southeast Asia, who are recognized by the government of China as one of the 56 List of ethnic groups in China, official ethnic groups. The Miao live primarily in ...

. She was beheaded for her faith on January 28, 1858. Agatha was beatified by Pope

Pius X Pope Pius X ( it, Pio X; born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto; 2 June 1835 – 20 August 1914) was head of the Catholic Church from 4 August 1903 to his death in August 1914. Pius X is known for vigorously opposing modernist interpretations of C ...

on May 2, 1909, and canonized in 2000. Her feast day is February 18.

Early life

Agatha Lin, born Lin Zhao, was born in the village of Machang in the Qinglong district of Guizhou in 1817. Her father was a salt merchant, and both parents, who were "fervent Christians", had been converted to Christianity by

Zhang Dapeng Zhang Dapeng (Chinese: 張大鵬, 1754 – 12 March 1815), also known as Saint Joseph Zhang Dapeng, was a Chinese martyr. Life Zhang Dapeng was born in 1754 as a Buddhist in Guizhou. He was a silkmaker by trade and operated a business with a par ...

. Agatha was baptized when she was three days old, though her father was in prison at the time for refusing to renounce his Catholic faith. Her parents taught Agatha to read and write, and her mother trained her to become an expert in needlework. When she was young, Agatha took "a private vow of virginity". (Her patron was

Agatha of Sicily Agatha of Sicily () is a Christian saint. Her feast is on 5 February. Agatha was born in Catania, part of the Roman Province of Sicily, and was martyred . She is one of several virgin martyrs who are commemorated by name in the Canon of the ...

, who was martyred in the 3rd century.) Her parents, however, had betrothed Agatha to a man while she was a child, according to custom, but they agreed to annul the marriage when she was 18 because she had consecrated her life to God. A priest, Matthew Liu, advised Agatha's father to send her to

Guiyang Guiyang (; ; Mandarin pronunciation: ), historically rendered as Kweiyang, is the capital of Guizhou province of the People's Republic of China. It is located in the center of the province, situated on the east of the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau, ...

, the capital of Guizhou Province, to study at the school for girls founded and run by the consecrated virgin Annie Yuan of

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of th ...

. Two months later, the school was closed due to persecution, and Agatha went to Longping, near Zunyi, with the school's head teacher and studied there for two years. She returned home to discover that her father had been re-arrested, and she stayed to care for her aging mother.

Religious work

Agatha made her vows when she was 25. After the death of her father, she and her mother moved to the district of Zhenning. There she converted people to Christianity. She moved to

to become the director of a house of formation for consecrated virgins under Bishop Etienne Albrand. Her father bequeathed her enough money that she was able to buy a house near Xinggi, which served as a chapel and school. Under the direction of the priest Paul Perny, she moved to Maokou, a Miao village in the Langdai district, to teach women. She was one of the first to evangelize the Miao people. After two years, her pupils were baptized.

Death and canonization

In 1858 the village where Agatha was living was raided. She was arrested alongside another catechist, Jerome Lu Tingmei. Both were condemned to death, "after they had been denounced as Christians". They along with Laurence Wang Bing, a successful farmer, were beheaded on January 28, 1858. She was beatified by

Pope Pius X Pope Pius X ( it, Pio X; born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto; 2 June 1835 – 20 August 1914) was head of the Catholic Church from 4 August 1903 to his death in August 1914. Pius X is known for vigorously opposing modernist interpretations of ...

in 1909, and was canonized in 1984. Her feast day is February 18. Agatha Lin Zhao is honored (with

Agnes Tsao Kou Ying Agnes Tsao Kou Ying (28 April 1821 – 1 March 1856; also Agnes Kouying Tsao), or Cao Guiying (), was a Qing dynasty Chinese layperson who was martyred for preaching the Gospel in Guangxi. She was canonized a martyr-saint by Pope John Paul II o ...

and

Lucy Yi Zhenmei Lucy Yi Zhenmei ( zh, t=易貞美, s=易贞美, first=t, w=I Chên-mei, p=Yì Zhēnměi; December 9, 1815 – February 19, 1862) was a Sichuanese Roman Catholic saint from Mianyang, Sichuan Province, China. She is the lone woman of the five Gu ...

) with a Lesser Feast on the

liturgical calendar The liturgical year, also called the church year, Christian year or kalendar, consists of the cycle of liturgical seasons in Christian churches that determines when feast days, including celebrations of saints, are to be observed, and wh ...

of the

Episcopal Church in the United States of America The Episcopal Church, based in the United States with additional dioceses elsewhere, is a member church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. It is a mainline Protestant denomination and is divided into nine provinces. The presiding bishop o ...

on February 19.

References

{{authority control 1817 births 1858 deaths 19th-century Christian saints 19th-century Christian martyrs 19th-century Chinese people 19th-century Chinese women Anglican saints Beatifications by Pope Pius X Canonizations by Pope John Paul II Venerated Catholics Christianity in Guizhou

Early life

Religious work

Death and canonization

See also

References