1898 - Mathieu Bertholet, Dang Jiyu, & Ben Achang

April 21, 1898

Dongjiang, Guangxi

Mathieu Bertholet was born at Charbonnier, France, on June 12, 1865. His parents were nominal Christians, and Mathieu got to see many parts of France and America as they took him along on their business trips. They finally settled down in the city of Lyon, where his mother ran a store. Little else is known about Mathieu Bertholet’s formative years, or what led him to offer his life to the service of Jesus Christ. He entered seminary in 1886, graduating three years later after having already been appointed as a foreign missionary to the south China province of Guangxi.

For the first few years Bertholet was stationed in Xiangzhou and Laibin counties in the central part of Guangxi. Bertholet was surprised to find the Chinese he had learned was of little value in this part of the country, which was largely inhabited by ethnic minority groups. He studied Zhuang, a language more closely related to Thai, and was soon able to communicate with the people.

Over the next eight years Bertholet proved an effective missionary. He was involved with orphanage work, a boarding school for Catholic children, and an old people’s home built from donations given in France. These community development projects softened the people’s hearts towards the missionaries, and many were eager to hear the gospel. In one village nearly a hundred people professed faith in Christ. These wonderful projects among such impoverished people needed ongoing support in order to continue. A fund dried up back in France and in 1897 Bertholet was forced to suspend much of his work. In the same year the missionaries started to come under threat. Several key Zhuang chiefs had turned against the Catholics, and the local believers experienced a time of persecution.

On April 21, 1898, Mathieu Bertholet and six new believers were travelling towards the town of Dongjiang when a group of fifteen men ambushed them. Not possessing any weapons, the bandits blocked the way and shouted, “Anyone who tries to pass will be killed!” At the same time the bandits blew on conches to alert more of their numbers to come. Bertholet, realizing the danger of the situation, tried to take refuge in a nearby village but as he approached, the gates were locked to bar his entry. A group of bloodthirsty men encircled the priest. Without a word they stabbed the 32-year-old Frenchman with their swords and he soon passed from this world to the next.

Nearby, two young Christians, Dang Jiyu and Ben Achang, were also hacked to death. The other believers were taken captive and forced to pay a fine to secure their release.