Mark Ji Tianxiang was a

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

lay

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 ...

and doctor. He was martyred during the

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 ...

and had been an

opium Opium (also known as poppy tears, or Lachryma papaveris) is the dried latex obtained from the seed Capsule (fruit), capsules of the opium poppy ''Papaver somniferum''. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid mor ...

addict. He was canonized in 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 career

Ji was born in

Jizhou District, Hengshui Jizhou (), formerly Ji County (), is a district in Hengshui, Hebei Province, China. It shares its name with a province of old, Jizhou or Ji Province, which covered parts of modern-day Hebei, Henan, and Shandong Provinces. Administrative divis ...

Zhili Zhili, alternately romanized as Chihli, was a northern administrative region of China since the 14th century that lasted through the Ming dynasty and Qing dynasty until 1911, when the region was dissolved, converted to a province, and renamed ...

(now

Hebei Hebei is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It bor ...

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 1834. He was a medical doctor and contracted a violent stomach ailment, for which he treated himself with

. This was a routine treatment at the time, but he became addicted to the drug, which addiction was considered shameful and gravely scandalous. He was a pious Catholic, frequenting the sacrament of Confession and spending time in prayer, attending

Mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

, and providing free treatment to his patients. Despite his frequent confessions, he was denied Absolution by his confessor and consequently could not receive the Blessed Sacrament because his confessor believed he lacked contrition for his addiction. He did not receive the Blessed Sacrament for 30 years, but finally after 30 years of being a faithful and regular church-goer, he was able to receive the sacraments.

Martyrdom

On 7 July 1900, during the

, Ji and 119 other

Christians A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...

were rounded up and asked to renounce

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

, but they refused. Ji 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

faith and hence was beheaded.

Canonization

Mark Ji Tianxiang 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 ...

on 24 November 1946 by

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 ...

along with 120 other Chinese martyrs, including Augustine Zhao Rong, and other

Chinese Martyrs Chinese Martyrs ( zh, t=中華殉道聖人, s=中华殉道圣人, first=t, w=Chung1-hua2 hsun4-tao4 shêng4-jên2, p=Zhōnghuá xùndào shèngrén) is the name given to a number of members of the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox C ...

, who were

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

on 1 October 2000.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ji, Mark, Tianxing 1834 births Christian martyrs 1900 deaths Chinese Roman Catholic saints Qing dynasty Christians