1861 - Joseph Zhang Wenlan

July 29, 1861

Yaojiaguan, Guizhou

Joseph Zhang Wenlan. [CRBC]

Zhang Wenlan was a native of Ba County in Sichuan Province. Born into a devout Catholic family in 1831, Zhang attended Catholic seminary in Moping, not far from today’s huge industrial city of Chongqing. He learned basic Latin in the hope of one day being a priest. This never eventuated however, and his education was cut short when he was “expelled for violation of regulations. He regretted his actions which caused also the loss of his vocation.”[1]

A sympathetic priest Father Gu felt sorry for Zhang and secured a job for him as a children’s teacher. Gu reapplied to the seminary on Zhang’s behalf, asking them to forgive Zhang for his prior indiscretions. They reluctantly allowed him to return, but only on probation. After a year’s study of Latin and Philosophy he was assigned to be an assistant to a priest named John Meng. Although there had been such a marked improvement in his behaviour that the teachers now considered Zhang one of their best and most polite students, his scholastic record was below average.

In 1857 the martyrdom of Lu, Wang and Lin took place at Guiyang. John Meng asked Joseph Zhang Wenlan to go and retrieve their bodies and give them proper burial. He travelled to Maokou and collected the remains, and was heard to express how he wished he could also be a martyr for Christ some day. The following winter Zhang was admitted to the large seminary at Yaojiaguan. In 1861 the local officials decided to persecute the seminary. One of the staff members, John Baptist Luo Tingyin, was captured and dragged away to the city. On the road the soldiers met up with Joseph Zhang Wenlan and Paul Chen Changping, who were returning from the town after a day spent buying provisions for the seminary. The soldiers bound the three Christian men and took them to an abandoned temple, where they entertained themselves by torturing their helpless victims for many days. None of the men lost their faith in God.

On July 29th the emperor sent a decree instructing the local magistrate to release the three Christian men. The magistrate was not happy and purposely delayed the publication of the decree so that he could kill Zhang, Luo and Chen. The trio was

“paraded through the main streets on their way to execution, followed by Martha Wang-Luo Mande, who had helped them in prison. All four showed such courage, being able to die for their faith, that people saw only peace and joy on their faces. They prayed up to the very moment they were beheaded.”[2]