“What do you want to be when you grow up? A doctor or lawyer maybe?” asked Aunt Mary at our family Christmas celebration.
“Well…I want to be a Saint!” I declared.
“Uh, oh. That’s nice.” patting me on the head, she let out a nervous laugh and walked away.
Did I say something wrong? Why didn’t she like my answer? Aren’t we supposed to want to be saints? That’s what Sister Anne told us in our third grade class. The saints are Jesus’ best friends. Doesn’t my aunt want to be Jesus’ best friend too? Imagine what her reaction would have been if I told her I actually wanted to be a martyr.
What makes the lives of the saints so intriguing? Is it their steadfast faith: the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen? (Hebrews 11:1) Or possibly the radical way in which they lived out their lives. In the case of the martyrs, maybe it is their courageous declaration that they belong to Christ alone.
Fast forward thirty-something years to 2000. The news of the upcoming canonization of 120 martyrs of China is released from the Vatican. The memory of that long ago conversation stirs in my heart.
“Did you hear that on October 1, there’ll be 120 new saints canonized?” I asked my husband Stephen over dinner one night.
“I did. Finally we will have Chinese saints.”
“St. Rong Zhao and companions. I wonder who his companions are? At least we should know their names, no?”
“We could do some research. I wonder how much information is out there? Let’s look into it.”
That conversation over a bowl of rice started a three year long
investigative journey through the dusty streets of turn of the century China that culminated into a set of 126 holy cards, one for each of these holy men, women and children of God. Months of research rewarded us with only two books with scant details of the native born Chinese, which even included one saint whose given name is known only to God. The foreign missionary priests and sisters accounts, however, faired better, having a more complete documentation of their lives. We were up for the challenge, and it definitely turned out to be one!
This first project gave birth to Queen of China Catholic Ministries, a ministry that my husband and I began in 2008 with the sole purpose of evangelizing the Chinese living in Diaspora. These Saints have been the driving force for everything we do: be it teaching Chinese to priests, sisters and seminarians, offering classes in Sacred Scripture to Chinese speakers or working with English speaking parishes to provide OCIA classes for catechumens. No matter what the Lord has asked us to do, we do it in imitation of the love that these martyrs had for Christ and His Holy Church.
In the following months, the stories of these heroic, men, women and children will be told here. Will they just be a horrific story of suffering and death to remember them by or will they ignite a fire deep in your soul? Will the message of their love for Christ which they proclaimed so boldly in front of their executioners stay within the walls of the church building or will you “take it to the rooftops…and make Christ known in the modern metropolis.” (St. John Paul II)
The invitation is there. The choice is yours.
爾當效我，如我效基督。
「你長大後想做什麼？是醫生還是律師？」瑪利亞阿姨在我們家的聖誕聚會上問我。
「嗯…我想成為一位聖人！」我宣告式的回答。
「呃，喔。那很好。」她拍了拍我的頭，緊張地笑了一下，然後走開了。
我是不是說錯了什麼？她為什麼不喜歡我的回答？我們不是應該都希望成為聖人嗎？我的三年級老師亞納修女就是這麼告訴我們的。聖人是耶穌最好的朋友。難道我的阿姨不想成為耶穌最好的朋友嗎？回想一下，如果我告訴她其實我想成為一名殉道者，她會有什麼反應 ?
聖人的生命為何如此引人注目？是因為他們那堅定的信德—「信德是所希望之事的擔保，是未見之事的確證」（希伯來書11:1）？ 抑或因為他們以徹底而激進的方式實踐信仰？而對殉道者來說，也許正是那句無所畏懼的宣認：「我唯獨屬於基督。」
時光一晃，將近三十年過去了，回轉到 2000 年。當我聽到梵蒂岡宣布即將冊封一百二十位中華殉道聖人的消息時，心中忽然被觸動。那一段多年前的對話，也在我的心裡慢慢甦醒，再次浮現在記憶中。
有一天晚餐時，我問我的先生 Stephen :
「你有沒有聽說，十月一日將會冊封一百二十位新聖人？」
「我聽說了! 我們終於有中國聖人了。」
「聖趙榮和同伴…我好奇他們到底是誰呢？至少我們應該知道他們的名字吧？」
「我們可以自己去查查資料。我想知道到底能找到多少資訊呢？我們來找找看吧！」
這場在飯前展開的談話，竟開啟了一段為期三年的旅程。我們踏上追尋的道路，走進世紀之交中國塵土飛揚的街巷；最終編製完成一套一百二十六張中華聖人卡。每一張都紀念這些屬於天主的聖潔男女與孩童。
歷經數月之研究與查考，我們最終僅覓得兩本相關書籍。然而，關於那些在中國本地出生的殉道者，所載資料相當有限 ；其中甚至提及一位聖女，其本名已無從稽考，唯有天主所知。相較之下，外籍傳教神父與修女的事跡則保存得較為完整，其生平亦有較為詳盡的記錄可循。儘管資料如此匱乏，我們仍毅然接受此一挑戰；而事實證明，這確實是一項艱鉅而充滿考驗的工作。
這個最初的福傳計畫促成了「中華之后聖母天主教福傳會」（Queen of China Catholic Ministries）的成立。這項事工由我和丈夫於2008年創立，其唯一宗旨，是向散居世界各地的海外華人宣講福音，使更多人得以認識並相遇於基督。
這些聖人始終是激勵並引領我們一切福傳事工的力量與榜樣：無論是為司鐸、修女與修生教授中文；為華語信友講授聖經；或與需要中文慕道班的堂區合作，為當地的華人慕道者開設中文成人入門聖事培育（OCIA）課程。無論上主呼召我們行何事工，我們都願效法這些殉道聖人對基督及其至聖教會所懷的熾熱之愛，以忠信與奉獻之心，竭誠完成祂的旨意，持續為福音作見證。
在接下來的幾個月裡，這些英勇的聖人、聖女與聖童的故事將在此與大家分享。他們的故事，是否僅成為讓人回憶起苦難與殉道的驚悚記錄？或能在你的心靈深處點燃信德之火？他們對基督的愛，曾在行刑者面前勇敢宣認，這份訊息會僅停留在教堂的四面牆內嗎？抑或你願意「登高宣揚…讓基督之名響徹現代都會。」（聖若望保祿二世）
邀請已擺在你面前，選擇就在你手中。
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