1901 - Caio Rastelli

February 28, 1901

Taiyuan, Shanxi

Caio Rastelli.

Caio Rastelli, the first missionary of the Catholic Xaverian Mission to work in China, was born at Ghiara di Fontanellato near the Italian city of Parma, on March 25, 1872. In 1897 Franciscus Fogolla, the Bishop of Shanxi, toured through Europe with several young Chinese Catholics. They promoted their mission to huge crowds at the Turin International Exhibition, and it was there that Rastelli first gave serious thought to becoming a missionary to China. He spoke at length with Fogolla, who encouraged him to come and join the work. The local priest, a man named Conforti, was less than impressed by Rastelli’s commitment, complaining that he wanted him to remain in Italy.

Undeterred, Rastelli boarded a ship to the Orient on March 4, 1899, not expecting to see his homeland again. It was a tearful farewell, with Rastelli’s parents waving goodbye to their beloved son as the ship weighed anchor and pulled away from the dock. Rastelli travelled with another new recruit, Andre Bauer, and also the four young Chinese seminarians who had accompanied Fogolla around Europe. Little did they know that a short time later all six of them would become martyrs for Christ.

After arriving at Taiyuan, Rastelli threw himself into Chinese language study, and did so well that just six months later he was transferred to a remote station in the Luliang mountains, approximately 200 miles (324 km) from the capital. The young Italian left with great excitement, even though the Vicar Apostolic of the province had warned him that “he would suffer much because of the climate, the food, and above all, the loneliness, anxieties and spiritual sufferings.” He replied, “I am leaving for…Paradise! My joy is so great that this journey could not possibly lead me elsewhere except to Heaven. How happy I am to serve the Lord!”[1] Rastelli’s initial excitement was soon tempered when a long drought affected the entire province and people were on the verge of starvation. Rastelli wrote,

“Famine has fallen upon us in the most terrible form…. There is no industry, no work, no food. Wolves prowl around looking for prey; unruly swarms of people roam around everywhere searching for a little food to stave off impending death; they attack wealthy families and take away anything edible; many of these die on the streets, and others, the most timid ones, wait for death at home. Those Christians who previously turned to the priest for help have now set up home in the Church. They have travelled from afar and amid many difficulties to wait for death.”[2]

After little more than a year in Shanxi, Rastelli was forced to flee from the savage Boxers in the summer of 1900. News of the diabolical massacre at Taiyuan on July 9th reached the remote station where Rastelli was living. Shocked and horrified, he decided to flee by disguising himself as a Chinese peasant and carrying a large sack on his shoulders in a bid to obscure his appearance from passers-by. The local magistrate heard of the missionary’s daring escape and sent ten soldiers to capture him. For weeks he avoided arrest, and later wrote:

“I am convinced that the Lord protected me as I travelled by night and day, staying in hotels and in houses; I hid in abandoned caves and walked through crowded squares, but no one ever recognized me. I was so well disguised as a Chinese that perhaps not even you would have recognized me. One of my Chinese priests and three Christians were killed, just two days after my own departure, in the same house where I had stayed for two and a half days; the Lord surely protected me.”[3]

He made his way north across the Yellow River into Shaanxi Province, and ultimately to safety in Inner Mongolia after enduring many hardships. Emaciated and ill, Rastelli was worn out from the stress of his ordeal and contracted a bad fever. During September his life remained in the balance as he slipped in and out of delirium.

While many surviving missionaries returned to their home countries, Rastelli chose to go back to Shanxi at the earliest opportunity. All of his missionary friends had been slaughtered, including Bishop Fogolla. For months Rastelli travelled around the province trying to locate and help those Chinese believers who had survived. His efforts to help were premature, however, as he hadn’t sufficiently recovered from his own sickness, and he again fell gravely ill.

In early February, 1901, Caio Rastelli was diagnosed with typhoid, and on the 28th of the same month, the young Italian died from his exertions while escaping the Boxers the previous summer. He was just 28-years-old.

1. From the profile of Caio Rastelli on the www.xaviermissionaries.org website.
2. Profile of Caio Rastelli on the www.xaviermissionaries.org website.
3. Profile of Caio Rastelli on the www.xaviermissionaries.org website.