Gregory Mary Grassi, O.F.M., (in

Italian language Italian (, , or , ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family. It evolved from the colloquial Latin of the Roman Empire. Italian is the least divergent language from Latin, together with Sardinian language, Sardinian. It is ...

Gregorio Maria Grassi) (13 December 1833 – 9 July 1900) was an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...

friar A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders in the Catholic Church. There are also friars outside of the Catholic Church, such as within the Anglican Communion. The term, first used in the 12th or 13th century, distinguishes the mendi ...

and

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

who is honored as a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', 'witness' Word stem, stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external party. In ...

and

saint In Christianity, Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of sanctification in Christianity, holiness, imitation of God, likeness, or closeness to God in Christianity, God. However, the use of the ...

. He is one of the 120 Martyrs of China who were canonized on 1 October 2000 by

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

Early life and mission

He was born Pier Luigi Grassi in

Castellazzo Bormida Castellazzo Bormida (Ël Castlass in Piedmontese, and Castlass an Burmia or Castlas an Burmia locally) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Alessandria in the Italian region Piedmont, located about southeast of Turin Turin ( ...

, in the

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

region of

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, on 13 December 1833. At the age of 15, on 2 November 1848, he took the Franciscan

habit A habit (or wont, as a humorous and formal term) is a routine of behavior that is repeated regularly and tends to occur subconsciously. A 1903 paper in the '' American Journal of Psychology'' defined a "habit, from the standpoint of psychology, ...

in the

Friary A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which may ...

Montiano Montiano () is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Forlì-Cesena in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about southeast of Bologna and about southeast of Forlì. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 1,573 and an are ...

Romagna Romagna () is an Italian historical region that approximately corresponds to the south-eastern portion of present-day Emilia-Romagna, in northern Italy. Etymology The name ''Romagna'' originates from the Latin name ''Romania'', which originally ...

, with the name Gregory. His solemn

profession A profession is a field of Work (human activity), work that has been successfully professionalized. It can be defined as a disciplined group of individuals, professionals, who adhere to ethical standards and who hold themselves out as, and are ...

was made one year later, on 14 December. He was then sent to

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

to do his

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as cle ...

studies, and was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

priest on 17 August 1856 in

Mirandola Mirandola (Emilian language#Dialects, Mirandolese: ) is a city and ''comune'' of Emilia-Romagna, Italy, in the Province of Modena, northeast of the Modena, provincial capital by railway. History Mirandola originated as a Renaissance Defensiv ...

. Then he was sent to

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

for further training to prepare for his mission to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. In 1860 Grassi was assigned to

Taiyuan Taiyuan; Mandarin pronunciation: (Jin Chinese, Taiyuan Jin: /tʰai˦˥ ye˩˩/) is the capital of Shanxi, China. Taiyuan is the political, economic, cultural and international exchange center of Shanxi Province. It is an industrial base foc ...

, China, where he was appointed Mission Promoter, Director of the mission orphanage, and

choirmaster A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

at the seminary there. On 25 January 1876, he was chosen as the Coadjutor Vicar Apostolic for the Apostolic Vicariate of Shanxi. On 17 June 1891, he assumed authority over the Apostolic Vicariate of Northern Shanxi. On 6 September 1891, he established a

novitiate The novitiate, also called the noviciate, is the period of training and preparation that a Christian ''novice'' (or ''prospective'') monastic, apostolic, or member of a religious order undergoes prior to taking vows in order to discern whether ...

to provide access to Franciscan life for the Chinese of all four vicariates in

Shanxi Shanxi; Chinese postal romanization, formerly romanised as Shansi is a Provinces of China, province in North China. Its capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-level cities are Changzhi a ...

and a rest home for overworked missionaries. He also dealt with the suffering of the local population brought on by plague and

famine A famine is a widespread scarcity of food caused by several possible factors, including, but not limited to war, natural disasters, crop failure, widespread poverty, an Financial crisis, economic catastrophe or government policies. This phenom ...

, which led him to enlarge the orphanage in the city and establish several others, in order to cope with the orphans left behind by these catastrophes.

Martyrdom

When the short but bloody

Boxer Rebellion The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, was an anti-foreign, anti-imperialist, and anti-Christian uprising in North China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by the Society of Righteous and Harmonious F ...

broke out in

Peking Beijing, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's most populous national capital city as well as China's second largest city by urban area after Shanghai. It is l ...

in June 1900 and the

Empress Dowager Cixi Empress Dowager Cixi ( ; 29 November 1835 – 15 November 1908) was a Manchu noblewoman of the Yehe Nara clan who effectively but periodically controlled the Chinese government in the late Qing dynasty as empress dowager and regent for almost 50 ...

issued the

Imperial Decree of declaration of war against foreign powers The Imperial Decree of declaration of war against foreign powers () was a simultaneous declaration of war by the Qing dynasty on June 21, 1900 against eleven foreign powers which held varying degrees of influence in China: Russia, the United Sta ...

, Grassi was urged to flee. He responded, "Ever since I was twelve, I have desired and also asked God for martyrdom. Now that this longed-for hour has come, must I run away?" At the beginning of July, the Provincial Governor of Shanxi, Yuxian, ordered the arrest of the European missionaries in the province. On 4 July a mob attacked the Franciscan mission in

Hengyang Hengyang (; ) is the second largest city of Hunan Province, China. It straddles the Xiang River about south of the provincial capital of Changsha. As of the 2020 Chinese census, Its total population was 6,645,243 inhabitants, of whom 1,290,71 ...

(southern

Hunan Hunan is an inland Provinces of China, province in Central China. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the Administrative divisions of China, province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to the east, Gu ...

), murdering one of the friars, Cesidio Giacomantonio, and burning the mission to the ground. A few days later, on 7 July, the friar who served as Apostolic Vicar of Southern Hunan, bishop Antonio Fantosati, and his companion, the friar Giuseppe Maria Gambario, were attacked while returning to the mission in Hengyang. Both were killed. On 27 June 1900, Grassi described the situation of Christians in the Shanxi province in a letter, saying, "The European establishments... are seriously threatened by the mob, united with the Boxers and the soldiers: a catastrophe could occur at any moment. The gates of the city are open, but they are guarded by the Boxers, who prevent the travel of Christians. Now, in the outskirts, we are in the throes of a real revolution: nothing and no one can be said to be safe." During the night of 5 July 1900, Grassi, along with fellow bishop Francis Fogolla, three friars, seven

Franciscan Missionaries of Mary The Franciscan Missionaries of Mary are a Roman Catholic centralized religious institute of consecrated life of Pontifical Right for women founded by Mother Mary of the Passion (born Hélène Marie Philippine de Chappotin de Neuville, 1839–190 ...

, 11 Chinese members of the

Third Order of St. Francis The Third Order of Saint Francis, or Franciscan Tertiaries, is the third order of the Franciscan tradition of Christianity, founded by the medieval Italian Catholic friar Francis of Assisi. Francis founded the Third Order, originally called t ...

, of whom six were

seminarian A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy ...

s, and three employees of the Taiyuan Mission were imprisoned by Boxer forces. On 9 July 1900, Grassi, along with the rest, was escorted from prison with his hands bound behind his back to public trial presided by Yuxian. After a

show trial A show trial is a public trial in which the guilt (law), guilt or innocence of the defendant has already been determined. The purpose of holding a show trial is to present both accusation and verdict to the public, serving as an example and a d ...

, the group was sentenced to death. Grassi was stripped naked before a crowd of onlookers and Yuxian himself cut Grassi to pieces with a sword. His heart was removed from his body and delivered to Chinese Buddhist monks so that they could study its alleged occult powers. By custom, Grassi's head was severed from his corpse so that it could be put on display in a small cage at the city entrance. What remained of his corpse, along with the corpses of all the others killed that day, was tossed over the city wall and left unburied so that dogs would eat the remains.Valli 1905, pp. 260–261 These killings are known as the

Taiyuan massacre The Taiyuan massacre took place during the Boxer Rebellion, July 9, 1900, in Taiyuan, Shanxi province, North China. Sources recall that they were killed in the presence of Yuxian, governor of Shanxi. 44 people were killed. Before the 1900 ma ...

. Throughout China during the Boxer Uprising, 5 bishops, 50 priests, 2 brothers, 15 sisters and 40,000 Chinese Christians were killed. The 146,575 Catholics served by the Franciscans in China in 1906 had grown to 303,760 by 1924 and were served by 282 Franciscans and 174 local priests.

Veneration

Grassi, along with his companions Fogolla and Fantosati, was

beatified Beatification (from Latin , "blessed" and , "to make") is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their name. ''Beati'' is the ...

Pope Pius XII Pope Pius XII (; born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli; 2 March 18769 October 1958) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death on 9 October 1958. He is the most recent p ...

on 24 November 1946. The cause for their

canonization Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christianity, Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon ca ...

was opened on 25 February 1949, and they were declared saints on 1 October 2000 by

Notes

References and further reading

External links