1834 - Peter Liu Wenyuan & Sons

May 17, 1834

Guiyang, Guizhou

Peter Liu Wenyuan. [CRBC]

Liu Wenyuan, a native of Guizhu County in the southern Chinese province of Guizhou, was born in 1760 into a simple farming family. He grew up helping his family grow vegetables and later inherited the farm.

One day in 1797, when Liu was 37, a Catholic from Wuchuan passed through Liu’s village selling silk. He told Liu about Jesus Christ and the Way of salvation. Liu was so convicted by the words he heard that he decided to go to Guiyang, the provincial capital, so he could learn more about Christianity. His soul was like a dry sponge, soaking in every drop of information it could. Liu repented of his sins and put his faith in Christ. At his baptism he took the Christian name Peter and immediately began to tell the gospel to others.

Extreme hardship was not far away for Peter Liu Wenyuan. In 1800 he was arrested with five other believers and sent into exile in northeast China. On their journey north they stopped in Beijing, where Liu was able to meet the Catholic bishop. Liu was greatly encouraged and spiritually strengthened after this meeting, and he needed to be, for “On arrival in Manchuria, he was sold as a slave and for thirty years was treated worse than a dog by that family. But he suffered all torture and humiliation for God, making no complaint but rather offering it all to God.”[1]

In 1830 a general pardon was declared for all exiled prisoners throughout China. Liu made the long journey southward, only to find after thirty years absence nobody remembered him. All memory of his existence had long since faded. Liu was kept from utter despair, however, by the comfort of the Holy Spirit, and the promise of Jesus Christ that He would never leave or forsake his children. Finally after much effort he was able to locate his wife and two sons, who were now grown adults. Liu returned to vegetable gardening to earn a living.

Four years later the authorities launched another severe persecution against Christians. This time the 74-year-old Liu was ignored, but his two sons and a daughter-in-law were arrested. Having been separated from his family for so much of his life, Peter Liu Wenyuan “disguised himself as a vegetable vendor and succeeded in meeting his sons, whom he always encouraged to be steadfast in the faith. However, a soldier recognized him as a Catholic, immediately jailed him and put him to the severest torture. He was not discouraged, but prayed constantly and sang praises to God.”[2]

Again threatened with exile, Liu refused to renounce his faith. The threats did not trouble him; after all, he already had thirty years’ experience in exile. The authorities, maddened by Liu’s stubborn faith (which they took to be insolence), exiled his second son and daughter-in-law to Ili in northwest China.

A few months later Peter Liu’s eldest son died in prison. Through his grief, Liu was nevertheless overjoyed that his sons had persevered for Christ.

One day while in prayer, a large white cloth appeared before Liu in a vision. When he reached out to pick it up, the cloth disappeared. Liu took it as a sign that he would soon die, for in China white cloth is associated with death and mourning. Soon after, on May 17, 1834, the provincial authorities in Guiyang gave an order for Peter Liu Wenyuan’s execution. When it was carried out, astonished eyewitnesses reported,

“…a ball of fire came down from heaven and rested over his head, and an angel appeared to wipe the blood from his face. The angel carried his soul to heaven and the next day his wife came to carry his body away for burial in his own vegetable garden.”[3]

1. CRBC, The Newly Canonized Martyr-Saints of China, 9.
2. CRBC, The Newly Canonized Martyr-Saints of China, 9.
3. CRBC, The Newly Canonized Martyr-Saints of China, 9.