1952 - Cyril Jarre

March 8, 1952

Jinan, Shandong

Cyril Rudolph Jarre was born in the Germany town of Ahrweiler on February 3, 1878. As a young man he joined the Franciscan order, and was ordained a priest in 1903. His outstanding character and abilities saw him rise through the ranks of the Catholic hierarchy once he had commenced his missionary career in China in 1905. Jarre was appointed Vicar Apostolic of Jinan in Shandong Province in 1929, and in 1946 was appointed Archbishop of Jinan, a role he held until his martyrdom six years later.

Jarre was 74-years-old when the Communists arrested him on June 25, 1951. For the first seven months he was confined to house arrest, before being transferred to prison on October 17th. The authorities knew they had landed a ‘big fish’ and did all they could to make the archbishop confess his ‘crimes’. Managing to keep a calm demeanour despite heartless interrogations and torture, Jarre remained silent to most of his interrogator’s questions, and simply replied, “My answer will come to you from the tomb.”

The aged archbishop soon fell ill because of the lack of sleep and filthy conditions. Despite pouring out his life during 45 years of service for the Chinese people, the Communists refused to give Jarre any medical assistance. Only after his condition worsened and he became afflicted with several illnesses did they allow him to be transferred to a closely-guarded hospital room on February 3, 1952. No priest was allowed near him, but the Chinese sisters, who were working as nurses in the hospital, smuggled the emblems of Communion to his bedside and he was able to partake of bread and wine without the knowledge of the authorities. Even this became impossible towards the end, “when the Archbishop was half paralysed, ate and drank nothing, and could hardly speak.”[1]

Cyril Jarre finally passed away at three o’clock in the afternoon on March 8, 1952. A government doctor diagnosed the cause of death as “pleurisy, bronchitis and high blood pressure.”[2] An enormous crowd attended the funeral. The archbishop’s body “was dressed in red, the colour, the police were informed, of martyrs. They ordered the body to be disinterred and the clothing changed to white.”[3] The police were shocked both at the size of the crowd and the genuine love and emotion they displayed for their fallen leader. During the funeral a member of the new government-sanctioned Catholic Church “beat his breast and confessed himself guilty of having trumped up charges against the Archbishop. He burst out sobbing in front of the coffin, while the Christians who packed the chapel and the adjoining garden chanted the Te Deum.”[4]

Thousands of Chinese, both believers and non-believers, were affected by the life and death of Cyril Jarre. His prediction that his answers would “come from the tomb” proved correct. The Society for the Propagation of the Faith in Rome issued a lengthy statement outlining the death and burial of Archbishop Jarre. In part it said,

“The funeral Mass on Tuesday was attended by almost all the Catholics within walking distance of Hongjialou. Many walked ten and 15 kilometres in order to be present. To the astonishment of the police all the Catholics present at the Mass accompanied the remains to the burial ground. The police were not able to disperse them even by force. Archbishop Jarre died for Church unity. Many think his death marks the death of the ‘reform movement’ in Jinan. Those who accused the Archbishop are derided and laughed to scorn even in the presence of the police.”[5]

1. Monsterleet, Martyrs in China, 63.
2. Monsterleet, Martyrs in China, 63.
3. Royal, The Catholic Martyrs of the Twentieth Century, 332.
4. Monsterleet, Martyrs in China, 63.
5. Catholic Mission Bulletin (No.5, May 1952), 412-413.