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The saints

St. Augustine Zhao Rong and Companions

A soldier who guarded a martyr bishop, was moved by him, and became a priest and martyr himself.

Feast: 9 July · died 1815, and companions from 1648 to 1930 · The modern era · China

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Stained-glass window of St. Augustine Zhao Rong holding a palm and a book.

Judgefloro, 2017. Wikimedia Commons, CC0.

Home / The saints / St. Augustine Zhao Rong and Companions

Sichuan, China, 1815

Augustine Zhao Rong was a Chinese soldier who escorted a French missionary bishop to his execution.1

He was so struck by the bishop’s patience that he asked to be baptized.1

He became a priest, and was arrested and died after torture in 1815.

Patronage No official patronage we can cite yet. The Church remembers them as the 120 martyrs of China.

01St. Augustine Zhao Rong and Companions

120 martyrs

He is one of 120 martyrs, Chinese and foreign, who died for the faith in China between 1648 and 1930.1

The 120 were canonized together in Rome in 2000.1

Live it this week

Let someone’s patience change you

Augustine was converted by a man’s patience under suffering. This week, practice patience on purpose with the one person who tests you most, and let them see it.

Notes

How we know · 1 source for this page
  1. Franciscan Media, Saint of the Day: “Saint Augustine Zhao Rong and Companions”. franciscanmedia.org. franciscanmedia.org

The Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) is in the public domain; we quote the New Advent edition. Texts of the Holy See are quoted briefly from vatican.va. Scripture: World English Bible, Catholic edition (public domain); Verse numbers are modern, with Douay-Rheims numbers in brackets where they differ. Photographs: Wikimedia Commons, credited under each image; full list on the photo credits page.

Lines in the narrator’s voice, without a note, are our reflection, not a historical claim. Stone & Incense restates Church teaching in plain words; our wording is not an official Church text. Report an errorCorrections.