1900 - Pauline Jeurise

July 9, 1900

Taiyuan, Shanxi

Pauline Jeurise. [CRBC]

Born in Belgium on December 28, 1872, Pauline Jeurise’s mother died when she was seven. Consequently, a loving family who were devout Christians adopted her. As a young adult she attended the Institute of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary, and thereafter she was known as Marie Amandine. After graduating from the institute she was assigned to nurse the sick at Marseilles in France, and was later handpicked by Bishop Fogolla as one of the seven sisters sent to Shanxi Province in 1898. There she worked at the mission hospital in Taiyuan. Her “hands were full, with patients suffering from various diseases and terrible infections and wounds. Besides that, there were many ill among the 200 or more orphans. She wrote home describing that work and the terrible situation.”[1]

Despite the trying workload and the stress of living in a new culture, Jeurise retained her infectious joy and zeal for the Lord. Irma Grivot said of her, “Sister Amandine [Pauline Jeurise] is one of the youngest in the community. She sings and laughs all day. It is good to have such a merry person in the missions. The cross becomes more bearable with joy.”[2] When the threat of death at the hands of the ruthless Boxers drew near, Jeurise wrote to her loved ones back in Belgium:

“The news is not good, danger is approaching, but we are peaceful. We are in God’s hands. May His Holy Will be done. When this letter reaches you, perhaps we may already be dead. But rest assured that before we go, we have already offered our lives and our health for the non-Christians. When we came, we knew we would have to suffer. I am neither worried nor sad. I confide myself to God’s care and I pray Him to console and fortify the martyrs and those who have to suffer for His Name.”[3]

God answered her prayer, and with great calmness of heart she was decapitated by a Boxer sword at Taiyuan on July 9, 1900. Pauline Jeurise (a.k.a. Marie Amandine) was 27-years-old.

1. CRBC, The Newly Canonized Martyr-Saints of China, 84.
2. CRBC, The Newly Canonized Martyr-Saints of China, 84.
3. CRBC, The Newly Canonized Martyr-Saints of China, 79.