(ANS – Rome) – On Sunday October 1, 2000, Holy Year, the Holy Father John Paul II celebrated the Eucharist on the parvis of the Patriarchal Vatican Basilica and proceeded with the Canonization of Blesseds AGOSTINO ZHAO RONG, presbyter, and 119 COMPANIONS, martyrs in China (1648-1930); MARÍA JOSEFA DEL CORAZÓN DE JESÚS SANCHO DE GUERRA (1842-1912), virgin, foundress of the Institute of the Servants of Jesus of Charity; KATHARINE DREXEL (1858-1955), virgin, foundress of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored People; JOSEPHINA BAKHITA (1869-1947), virgin, of the Institute of the Daughters of Charity, Canossians. Among the large group of Chinese martyrs were also St Louis Versiglia and St Callistus Caravario, Salesian Protomartyrs.
In his homily, Pope John Paul II, also a saint today, said in an already weary voice: “The Church today is grateful to her Lord, who blesses her and bathes her in light with the radiance of the holiness of these sons and daughters of China… men and women of all ages and conditions, priests, religious and lay people, who have sealed their own unfailing fidelity to Christ and the Church with the gift of their lives… Also shining in this host of martyrs are 33 missionaries, who left their homeland and sought to enter the Chinese reality, taking on its characteristics with love, in the desire to proclaim Christ and serve that people. Their graves are there, as if to signify their definitive belonging to China, which they, despite their human limitations, sincerely loved, spending their energies for it.”
Louis Versiglia (Oliva Gessi, Pavia, June 5, 1873 – Li Thau Tseui, China, February 25, 1930), entered the Valdocco Oratory at the age of twelve, where he met Don Bosco. Ordained priest in 1895, after having been Rector and Novice Master at Genzano di Roma, he led the First Salesian Missionary Expedition to China in 1906. In 1918, he was appointed Apostolic Vicar of the mission of Shiu Chow and on 9 January 1921 was consecrated bishop. He was a pastor totally dedicated to his flock. He gave the vicariate a solid structure with a seminary, formation houses, residences, and shelters for the elderly and needy. He looked after the formation of catechists with conviction.
Callistus Caravario (Cuorgné, Turin, June 8,1903 – Li Thau Tseui, China, February 25, 1930) was a student at the Valdocco Oratory. While still a cleric, he left for China in 1924 as a missionary. He was sent to Macao, and then for two years to the island of Timor, edifying everyone with his goodness and apostolic zeal. On 18 May 1929, Bishop Versiglia ordained him a priest and entrusted him with the mission of Linchow.
On 25 February 1930, while the two missionaries were travelling by boat on a pastoral visit to the mission in Linchow, they were stopped and arrested by a group of Bolshevik-leaning pirates, who wanted to capture three young catechists who were on the boat. Bishop Versiglia and Fr. Caravario tried with all their might to defend the safety and dignity of the three young Christian women. After being brutally beaten, they were shot in Li Thau Tseui, near the Lin Chow river.
Commemorating the 25th anniversary of the canonization of the Salesian Protomartyrs, in this Holy Year dedicated to hope, reminds us all that “The most convincing testimony to this hope is provided by the martyrs. Steadfast in their faith in the risen Christ, they renounced life itself here below, rather than betray their Lord. Martyrs, as confessors of the life that knows no end, are present and numerous in every age, and perhaps even more so in our own day.” (Spes non Confundit, no. 20).