1869 - Jean Rigaud, Pierre Liu, & Paul Jin

January 2, 1869

Youyang, Chongqing

Jean François Rigaud came into the world on June 2, 1834, at Arc-et-Senans, France. He entered the seminary of France’s greatest Catholic mission, the Missions Etrangères de Paris (Paris Foreign Missionary Society) in September 1860, and there accepted ordination on December 21, 1861.

Rigaud left for China’s Sichuan Province in March 1862, and almost drowned when the vessel he was on shipwrecked in the South China Sea. The occupants of the boat were rescued by a Chinese boat and taken to Macau. After recovering he started out on the long and dangerous journey through bandit-infested territory and finally reached Sichuan several months later. Rigaud was initially appointed to Dazu in the present-day Chongqing Municipality, but was transferred to Youyang after Mabileau was martyred there in 1865. For several years Rigaud endured in a cauldron of hatred and opposition.

On the morning of January 2, 1869, an armed mob entered the city and attacked the walled compound that surrounded the Catholic mission. The local magistrate was summoned but he was complicit with the attackers, and cunningly told the Catholics if they remained where they were he would ensure their safety. The huge gate of the mission refused to yield to the attackers, until

“the pagans broke it open with gunpowder, and then commenced the massacre. Rigaud was on his knees in prayer at the altar with two of his students, Pierre Liu and Paul Jin. The murderers laid their hands on Rigaud and struck him down with two stabs. He was already dead when his head was cut off.”[1]

Jean Rigaud was 34-year-old.

1. My translation of the Biographical Note of Jean Rigaud in the Archives des Missions Etrangères de Paris, China Biographies and Obituaries, 1800-1899.