1898 - Henri Chanès & 13 Chinese Christians

October 14, 1898

Boluo, Guangdong

Henri Chanès was born at Coubon sur Loire, France, on July 22, 1865. At the age of 22 he entered the seminary of the Missions Etrangères de Paris. Two years later he was ordained a priest and he departed for the south China province of Guangdong on December 23, 1889.

After studying the difficult Cantonese language Chanès was sent to Boluo (Poklo), a city east of the provincial capital Guangzhou. During the eight years he ministered at Boluo, Chanès counted more than 1,500 new believers. In October 1898 several of the new converts were mistreated because of their faith. Chanès complained to a local magistrate on behalf of his flock. The authorities not only had no interest in seeing justice done for the Christians, but one source says, “Chanès was massacred on the 14th of October, with the complicity of the local authorities.”[1]

Another report sheds more light on the slaying, adding that Henri Chanès died alongside 13 of his Chinese Christians inside the church at Boluo. “Chanès was slain at the altar after having given his fellow victims absolution and plenary indulgence.”[2]

Like his Saviour, Chanès was 33-years-old at the time of his death.

1. My translation of the Biographical Note of Henri Chanès in the Archives des Missions Etrangères de Paris, China Biographies and Obituaries, 1800-1899.
2. MacGillivray, A Century of Protestant Missions in China, 498.