YAN GUODONG, JAMES, ST.

Servant, lay martyr, member of the Third Order of St. Francis; b. 1853, Jianhe, Yangqu Xian, Shanxi Province, China; d. July 9, 1900, Taiyüan, Shanxi Province. James (Jacob) Yan Guodong (also spelled Yen Ku-tung or Ien-Ku-Tun) was the eldest child of the peasants Matthias Side and Maria Du. He cheerfully served the Franciscan community at Taiyüan as scullery servant. He was among the innumerable Christians martyred during the Boxer Rebellion and among the several dozen trapped inside the Taiyüan cathedral, arrested, and beheaded. James was beatified by Pope Pius XII (Nov. 24, 1946) and canonized (Oct. 1, 2000) by Pope John Paul II with Augustine Zhao Rong and companions.

Feast: July 4.

Bibliography: l. m. balconi, Le Martiri di Taiyuen (Milan 1945). Acta Apostolicae Sedis 47 (1955) 381–388; Vita del b. A. Crescitelli (Milan 1950). m. t. de blarer, Les Bse Marie Hermine de Jésus et ses compagnes, franciscaines missionnaires de Marie, massacrées le 9 juillet 1900 à Tai-Yuan-Fou, Chine (Paris 1947). Les Vingt-neuf martyrs de Chine, massacrés en 1900, béatifiés par Sa Sainteté Pie XII, le 24 novembre, 1946 (Rome 1946). 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]