ZHANG HUAILU, ST.

Martyred catechumen, also known as Chang Huai-lu or Tchang-Hoai-Lou; b. 1843, in the village of Zhukotian, Hengshui County, Hebei (Hopeh) Province, China;d. there, June 9, 1900. Zhang Huailu became a catechumen the same year that he shed his blood for the faith. Because he was born and lived in a village where there were only a few Christians, the 57-year-old suffered first as a confessor. Taking advantage of the animosity aroused against Christians by the Boxers, local criminals extorted 300 silver pieces from him to guarantee they would not denounce him as a Catholic. Forewarned, most Catholics escaped the village prior to the June 9 invasion of the Boxers. Zhang Huailu, however, was captured. Although the extortionists pleaded that he was not a Christian (he was not yet baptized), Zhang Huailu replied, "If I am not Catholic, why did you take money from me to ensure my freedom?" Thereafter he was beaten and beheaded. He was beatified by Pope Pius XII (Apr. 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]