1747 - Pedro Martyr Sanz

May 26, 1747

Fuzhou, Fujian

Pedro Martyr Sanz.

Southeast China’s Fujian Province was the location of a fierce persecution against the Spanish Dominican missionaries in the 1740s. The viceroy of the province turned against the Christians, launching an enquiry that resulted in Christianity being outlawed. One source says “a dreadful persecution broke out in 1746, during the reign of Emperor Qianlong, the victims of which were all Spanish Dominicans.”[1] By 1722 the Dominicans had established 37 churches in Fujian Province,[2] overseen by nine missionaries. After an attack against Christianity was launched in 1724, seven of the nine Dominican priests, including Pedro Sanz, chose to hide in the province and continue their ministry secretly.

Born in the Spanish town of Tarragona on September 2, 1680, Sanz was baptized with the Christian name Joseph, but he decided to change it to “Pedro Martyr” when he joined the Dominican Order. Perhaps this humble Spaniard knew the kind of death by which he would later glorify God.

At the age of 24 Pedro Sanz was ordained a priest. He worked in Spain for several years before being sent to the Philippines. He first went to China’s Fujian Province in 1715, where he found a flourishing Christian community experiencing many new conversions.

In 1730, while still in hiding, Sanz was appointed Bishop of Fujian. In 1738 he was smuggled back to his long-time home in Fu’an County, Fujian Province—the very same place where Francisco Fernandez de Capillas had been beheaded for his faith almost one hundred years earlier.

For many years Sanz hid in Christians’ homes, secretly ministering to them. The Chinese authorities presumed he and several other Dominican missionaries had fled China, but when rumours started to abound that the priests were in hiding a large manhunt was launched to flush them out. At that stage Sanz and the other foreign Christians decided to surrender, believing it was not worth endangering the lives of their protectors. This act of surrender did nothing to lessen the punishment against Sanz. He was cruelly tortured and sentenced to death. In prison at Fuzhou, Sanz found out about his pending execution in a letter from a Chinese priest, who wrote: “Your Excellency will soon be crowned with the palm of martyrdom. We cannot hold back our tears. But now we ask your blessing and intercession before God.”[3]

After reading the letter in his prison cell, Bishop Sanz prostrated himself on the ground and recommitted himself to Jesus Christ. For three days he prayed in order to prepare his soul to meet the Lord. On May 26, 1747, an executioner’s sword separated Sanz’ head from his body. His body slumped to the floor, but his spirit had already ascended to heaven. One source states that Sanz “converted many Chinese to Christians, including prison guards and even the executioner who beheaded him. They were all convicted by Sanz’s joyfulness while in prison and his calmness in facing death.”[4]

1. The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume IX, online edition at www.newadvent.org
2. Standaert, Handbook of Christianity in China, Vol.1, 325.
3. CRBC, The Newly Canonized Martyr-Saints of China, 71.
4. From a profile “Execution of Bishop Sanz” on the www.yutopian.com website.