1862 - Lucy Yi Zhenmei

February 19, 1862

Kaiyang, Guizhou

Lucy Yi Zhenmei. [CRBC]

Yi Zhenmei was born into a Catholic family in Mianyang, Sichuan Province, on December 8, 1815. She was a pious believer in Christ from an early age, taking the vow of chastity at the age of 12.

When she was 20, Lucy suffered a serious illness and almost died. After she recovered, she was acutely aware of the frailty of life and threw herself into hours of daily prayer and study. Her mother also taught her how to spin yarn, which became a part of her daily routine. Lucy’s devout and humble life was noticed by the local parish pastor, who asked her to teach in the Catholic school at Mianyang. Four years later her family relocated to Chongqing, where a local priest asked Lucy to teach the women of the parish. She did so gladly, refusing to accept any monetary compensation for her work.

A few years later Lucy’s mother died and she moved again, this time to Guiyang in Guizhou Province where her brother was practicing medicine. The church leaders in Guiyang once again were impressed with Lucy’s spiritual fervour: “Full of zeal for spreading the gospel, she went about doing missionary work…[despite] the presence of many bandits.”[1]

In 1862 she was asked to help open a mission at Jiashanlong in Guizhou. A persecution broke out against the Christians at the same time, and four Catholic men were arrested and sentenced to death. On February 18, 1862, “the day of their execution, they met Yi Zhenmei on the road. She was jailed, put on trial that very day and sentenced to death when she refused to renounce her faith. At noon the next day, February 19, 1862, she was beheaded.”[2]