Zhu Rixin, Peter, St.
ZHU RIXIN, PETER, ST.
Lay martyr; b. 1881, East Zhujiahe, Qin County, Hebei (Hopeh) Province, China; d. there, July 18, 1900. Peter Zhu Rixin (also given as Chou Jih-hsin or Tchou-Jeu-Sinn), a promising 19-year-old student, was one of the martyrs killed with Mary Zhu Wu by the Boxers. The parishioners in the predominantly Catholic Village were gathered in the church, which was set aflame. Most who escaped the burning building were massacred outside. Fifty-one, including Peter, were bound, ordered to renounce the faith, and, upon refusal to comply, executed the following day. Peter was among the 2,072 killed between June and August 1900 whose causes were submitted to the Vatican, and among the 56 from this period who were beatified by Pope Pius XII (April 17, 1955) and canonized (Oct. 1, 2000) by Pope John Paul II with Augustine Zhao Rong and companions.
Feast: July 20.
Bibliography: l. miner, China's Book of Martyrs: A Record of Heroic Martyrdoms and Marvelous Deliverances of Chinese Christians during the Summer of 1900 (Ann Arbor 1994). j. simon, Sous le sabre des Boxers (Lille 1955). c. testore, Sangue e palme sul fiume giallo. I beati martiri cinesi nella persecuzione della Boxe Celi Sud-Est, 1900 (Rome 1955). L'Osservatore Romano, Eng. Ed. 40 (2000): 1–2, 10.
[k. i. rabenstein]