1900 - Maria Zhao Guo, Rosa Zhao, & Mary Zhao

July 28, 1900

Wuqiao, Hebei

Maria Zhao Guo, Rosa Zhao, & Mary Zhao. [CRBC]

Sixty-year-old Maria Zhao Guo had followed Jesus Christ for decades when the Boxers commenced their rampage throughout China. Maria and two of her daughters, Mary Zhao (age 17) and Rosa Zhao (22) decided to flee their home in the village of Zhaojiacun, in Wuqiao County, Hebei Province. On July 28, 1900, the three women tried to hide from the Boxers by jumping into a well. The Boxers pulled them out and tried to make them deny their faith. Rosa, who had been working for the Lord as a catechist, boldly answered them,

“‘We have already made up our minds that we would rather die than deny our faith.’ Then she turned to her mother and sister, telling them to pray to Jesus, asking for help and strength to give up their lives for the faith. At that moment, a man named Zhao Wuhai implored the Boxers to spare their lives. But Rosa told him, ‘Uncle, don’t waste your time trying to save us. Since we want to keep our faith, we are happy to die.’”[1]

Rosa then told their bloodthirsty persecutors that it was inappropriate to die in the village. She asked the men to take them to the cemetery and kill them there. The Boxers did as requested. The three women were decapitated, and their skulls burned to ashes. One of the women in the village said of Rosa Zhao, “She was not only an exemplary catechist, devoted to her work, but a woman pure, serene, full of love, humble, honest and ready for any sacrifice.”[2]