1857 - Agatha Lin Zhao

December 14, 1857

Guiyang, Guizhou

Agatha Lin Zhao. [CRBC]

Lin Zhao was born in 1817 in Qinglong County, in the southern province of Guizhou. Even before her birth, Lin’s family had suffered for the Lord Jesus Christ. Her father was imprisoned for being a Christian, and was only released when Agatha was three.

At an early age Agatha learned to read and write, something considered extraordinary for Chinese girls at the time. While she was still a child her mother betrothed her to a boy from the Liu family. When she discovered this secret arrangement Agatha was horrified, as she had already dedicated her body to Christ and taken a vow of chastity. She appealed to her parents to cancel their contract with the Liu family. Perhaps in a bit to separate herself from this stressful situation, Agatha enrolled in a girls’ school and moved to the provincial capital Guiyang.

Two years after she started school a large anti-Christian persecution began in Guizhou. Agatha’s father was imprisoned for the second time. The authorities raided the Lin household and carried off every possession of value. The family was now destitute, and Agatha was forced to return home to take care of her mother.

Soon after, a Catholic priest named Thomas Liu visited Agatha’s home and seeing her piety and deep knowledge of the Bible, he offered her a position teaching the Catholic women in the area. This was something Agatha yearned to do, but her family obligations prevented her from accepting it. Within a short space of time, however, her father died and her mother decided to move in with Agatha’s brother. These sudden developments allowed Agatha to accept the position. She did such a good job that just one year later the Apostolic Administrator of Guizhou Province promoted her to lead the convent in Guiyang.

Agatha was arrested in 1857. When she appeared before the magistrate the wicked man mocked her vow of chastity and insinuated that no young woman of such beauty could possibly remain a virgin. This disgraceful slander angered two of the other prisoners, Lawrence Wang Bing and Jerome Lu Tingmei. They spoke up in defence of Agatha Lin Zhao, and in so doing angered the magistrate. “Stung to fury, he condemned all three to death and they were executed the following day. After death, stripped of her clothes, she was discovered to be indeed a virgin, and the magistrate admitted his mistake.”[1]