Peter Sanz (22 September 1680 – 26 May 1747) (, ) was a Catalan Dominican

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 ...

who was sent as a missionary

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 ...

to China. He was declared a

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

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 ...

by the

Catholic Church 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 ...

Early life

Sanz was born 22 September 1680 in

Ascó Ascó () is a large village in the comarca of Ribera d'Ebre, Catalonia, Spain, on the right bank of the Ebre river at the feet of the Serra de la Fatarella range. The village of Ascó is known for its nuclear power station, and for excellent f ...

Ribera d'Ebre Ribera d'Ebre () is a comarca (county) in Catalonia, Spain. It extends to both sides of the Ebre river between the reservoir of Riba-roja and Miravet. It belongs to the Terres de l'Ebre Terres de l'Ebre (, in English 'Ebro, Ebre Lands') is t ...

, in the Catalan region of Spain. In 1697 he

professed A vow ( Lat. ''votum'', vow, promise; see vote) is a promise or oath. A vow is used as a promise that is solemn rather than casual. Marriage vows Marriage vows are binding promises each partner in a couple makes to the other during a wedding c ...

religious vows Religious vows are the public vows made by the members of religious communities pertaining to their conduct, practices, and views. In the Buddhist tradition, in particular within the Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions, many different kinds of r ...

as a member of the Dominican Order in Lerida. After completing his theological studies, he 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 A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

on 22 September 1704.

Mission in China

Sanz later volunteered and was accepted to serve in China. He was sent to the Philippines in 1713 to prepare for this mission, where he studied the

Chinese language Chinese ( or ) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and List of ethnic groups in China, many minority ethnic groups in China, as well as by various communities of the Chinese diaspora. Approximately 1.39& ...

for two years. He then entered China with a small band of fellow friars, where he began a ministry which lasted over 30 years. In January 1728, the

Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith The Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples (CEP; ) was a congregation of the Roman Curia of the Catholic Church in Rome, responsible for missionary work and related activities. It is also known by its former title, the Sacred Congregatio ...

named him as

Coadjutor The term "coadjutor" (literally "co-assister" in Latin) is a title qualifier indicating that the holder shares the office with another person, with powers equal to the other in all but formal order of precedence. These include: * Coadjutor bishop ...

Vicar Apostolic of Fujian, for which he was

consecrated Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects (a ...

a bishop on 22 February 1730 with the new

titular see A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbi ...

Maurocastrum The town of Maurocastrum (Medieval Greek: , ) was a settlement on the banks of the Dniester River, now the city of Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi, Ukraine, in the 6th century BC. It later came under successive Greek, Roman and Byzantine rule. Under the Tre ...

by the Bishop of Nanking, Emmanuel de Jesus-Maria-Joseph, with João de Casal,

Bishop of Macau Portuguese Jesuit priest Melchior Miguel Carniero Leitão was appointed Titular Bishop of Nicaea Pope Gregory XIII issued an edict for the establishment of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Macau, where Leitão served—he was appointed the firs ...

, and Francisco da Purificação da Rocha Froes, Bishop of Beijing, serving as

co-consecrators A consecrator is a bishop who ordains someone to the episcopacy. A co-consecrator is someone who assists the consecrator bishop in the act of ordaining a new bishop. The terms are used in the canon law of the Catholic Church, Lutheran Churche ...

. He succeeded to the office of Vicar in January 1732, upon the death of Magino Ventallol, who had been unable to be consecrated a bishop during the thirteen years of his administration.

Martyrdom

Sanz was arrested by imperial authorities in 1741, along with four other friars. They suffered torture and a long imprisonment in

Fuzhou Fuzhou is the capital of Fujian, China. The city lies between the Min River (Fujian), Min River estuary to the south and the city of Ningde to the north. Together, Fuzhou and Ningde make up the Eastern Min, Mindong linguistic and cultural regi ...

. Finally, on 26 May 1747, Sanz was

beheaded Decapitation is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and all vertebrate animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood by way of severing through the jugular vein and common c ...

at Fuzhou. In October 1748, word came that one of his companions had been named his

coadjutor bishop A coadjutor bishop (or bishop coadjutor) ("co-assister" in Latin) is a bishop in the Latin Catholic, Anglican and (historically) Eastern Orthodox churches whose main role is to assist the diocesan bishop in administering the diocese. The coa ...

by the

Holy See The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...

. The other friars were executed immediately upon that news.

Beatification and canonization

He and his companions were

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 Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII (; born Gioacchino Vincenzo Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2March 181020July 1903) was head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 until his death in July 1903. He had the fourth-longest reign of any pope, behind those of Peter the Ap ...

on May 14, 1893. They were included among a group of 120 saints known collectively as the

Martyr Saints of China The Martyr Saints of China ( zh, t=中華殉道聖人, s=中华殉道圣人, first=t, p=Zhōnghuá xùndào shèngrén), or Augustine Zhao Rong and his Companions, are 120 saints of the Catholic Church. The 87 Chinese Catholics and 33 Wester ...

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 ...

. The group was given the

feast day The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context does n ...

of 9 July. Previously, their

was kept on June 3, which is still the date kept by Dominicans who follow the

General Roman Calendar of 1960 This article lists the feast days of the General Roman Calendar as approved on 25 July 1960 by Pope John XXIII's '' motu proprio'' '' Rubricarum instructum'' and promulgated by the Sacred Congregation of Rites the following day, 26 July 1960, by t ...

as part of the

traditional A tradition is a system of beliefs or behaviors (folk custom) passed down within a group of people or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examp ...

Dominican Rite The Dominican Rite is the unique liturgical rite of the Dominican Order in the Catholic Church. It has been classified differently by different sources – some consider it a usage of the Roman Rite, others a variant of the Gallican Rite, and st ...

, which was in place before the changes that occurred after Vatican II.1959 Saint Dominic Missal
/ref> The keeping of the

is in accordance with the universal permissions which were clarified in

Summorum Pontificum (English: 'Of the Supreme Pontiffs') is an Ecclesiastical letter#Letters of the popes in modern times, apostolic letter of Pope Benedict XVI, issued on 7 July 2007. This letter specifies the circumstances in which Priesthood in the Catholic Chur ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanz, Peter 1680 births 1747 deaths Spanish Dominicans Dominican missionaries Dominican bishops Dominican martyrs Dominican saints Roman Catholic missionaries in China Spanish missionaries in China Catalan Roman Catholic saints People from Ribera d'Ebre 18th-century Roman Catholic bishops in China 18th-century Roman Catholic martyrs 18th-century Christian saints Deaths by decapitation 18th-century executions by China