1900 - Peter Li Quanhui & Raymond Li Quanzhen

June 30, 1900

Jiaohe, Hebei

Peter Li Quanhui and Raymond Li Quanzhen. [CRBC]

Two elderly Catholic brothers from Chentun village in Jiaohe County, Hebei Province, were martyred together on June 30, 1900. The 59-year-old Raymond Li Quanzhen had taken his five-year-old daughter, Magdalene, and hidden among the reeds in a nearby marsh. When the Boxers discovered them, Raymond was dragged to the Buddhist temple to worship idols, while Magdalene was taken away by a Buddhist nun. Before being executed, he underwent a terrible ordeal. Raymond had told the Boxers, “We have been Catholics for generations; we do not worship false gods. There is no way for me to give up my religion.”[1]

The Boxers were infuriated by his bold declaration, and spent the afternoon cutting off his ears, burning his skin with incense sticks, and cutting off his arms. It was said that “Blood covered his whole body. Nevertheless, Raymond took all these painful sufferings willingly and never said a word about giving up his faith. When the Boxers saw all the tortures were in vain, they killed him.”[2] Raymond’s elder brother, 63 year-old Peter Li Quanhui, refused to deny his faith and was decapitated.