Lucy Yi Zhenmei ( zh, t=易貞美, s=易贞美, first=t, w=I Chên-mei, p=Yì Zhēnměi; December 9, 1815 – February 19, 1862) was a Sichuanese Roman Catholic saint from

Mianyang Mianyang (; formerly known as Mienchow) is the second largest prefecture-level city of Sichuan province in Southwest China. Located in north-central Sichuan covering an area of consisting of Jiangyou, a county-level city, five counties, and thre ...

Sichuan Province Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

, China. She is the lone woman of the five Guizhou Martyrs, a subset of the much larger

Martyr Saints of China The Martyr Saints of China ( zh, t=中華殉道聖人, s=中华殉道圣人, first=t, p=Zhōnghuá xùndào shèngrén), or Augustine Zhao Rong and his Companions, are 120 saints of the Catholic Church. The 87 Chinese Catholics and 33 Western ...

. She is referred to as ('Blessed Lucy Y') in old French sources.

Life and work

Born on December 9, 1815, she was the youngest member of her family. Lucy was a very pious child, to the extent that she made a commitment to

chastity Chastity, also known as purity, is a virtue related to temperance. Someone who is ''chaste'' refrains either from sexual activity considered immoral or any sexual activity, according to their state of life. In some contexts, for example when mak ...

at the age of 12. As she matured, she developed a love for reading and study. At the age of 20, in the midst of her higher education she grew very ill. After her recovery, Lucy took her spiritual life even more seriously. She devoted herself to the discipline of prayer with great devotion, assuming a way of life much like that of an

ascetic Asceticism (; from the el, ἄσκησις, áskesis, exercise', 'training) is a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from sensual pleasures, often for the purpose of pursuing spiritual goals. Ascetics may withdraw from the world for their p ...

while continuing to assist in the support her family. Her mother taught her how to

spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...

, which also became part of her daily life. After her father died, she lived with her brother and mother, using part of her leisure time to catechise children nearby. The

parish priest A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

, who asked her to teach at the school in Mianyang, noticed her devotion and reliable knowledge of her faith. After four years, her brother went to

Chongqing Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Romanization, alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a Direct-administered municipalities of China, municipality in Southwes ...

to practice medicine, and Lucy and her mother joined him. In Chongqing, the local priest also asked her to help teach the women in their parish. When offered money for her work, she refused to take it and offered her work to God. A few years later, her brother moved to

Guiyang Guiyang (; ; Mandarin pronunciation: ), historically rendered as Kweiyang, is the capital of Guizhou province of the People's Republic of China. It is located in the center of the province, situated on the east of the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau, ...

, during which time her mother died. Full of enthusiasm for spreading the Good News, she went on doing missionary work. However, for her own safety she decided to stay in a

convent A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...

lay Lay may refer to: Places *Lay Range, a subrange of mountains in British Columbia, Canada *Lay, Loire, a French commune *Lay (river), France *Lay, Iran, a village *Lay, Kansas, United States, an unincorporated community People * Lay (surname) * ...

virgins Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...

. Shortly after, her failing health forced her to move back home again. In 1861, Bishop Hu asked her to teach once more at the convent. In spite of opposition from relatives, she returned to work there.

Martyrdom

In 1862, she went with , a missionary priest of

Paris Foreign Missions Society The Society of Foreign Missions of Paris (french: Société des Missions Etrangères de Paris, short M.E.P.) is a Roman Catholic missionary organization. It is not a religious institute, but an organization of secular priests and lay persons ...

, to start a mission in Jiashanlong, but just then the administrator of

Guizhou Province Guizhou (; formerly Kweichow) is a landlocked province in the southwest region of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Guiyang, in the center of the province. Guizhou borders the autonomous region of Guangxi to the ...

, Tian Xingshu, began to stir up hatred against Christians, with the support of the local

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judici ...

. As a result, , , and Néel were all imprisoned and sentenced to death without a formal trial. On February 18, the day of their execution, they encountered Yi Zhenmei on the road. She was also jailed and put on trial that very day and sentenced to death, because she refused to renounce her faith. The following day at noon, February 19, 1862, she was beheaded. Brave believers took the bodies of all five martyrs to Liuchonnguan Seminary grounds for burial.

Veneration

On May 2, 1909,

Pope Pius X Pope Pius X ( it, Pio X; born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto; 2 June 1835 – 20 August 1914) was head of the Catholic Church from 4 August 1903 to his death in August 1914. Pius X is known for vigorously opposing modernist interpretations of C ...

declared Yi and the other four martyrs

blessed Blessed may refer to: * The state of having received a blessing * Blessed, a title assigned by the Roman Catholic Church to someone who has been beatified Film and television * ''Blessed'' (2004 film), a 2004 motion picture about a supernatural ...

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

canonized Lucy Yi Zhenmei and her companions, the

, on October 1, 2000. Her

feast day The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context d ...

is celebrated on February 19 according to the

General Roman Calendar The General Roman Calendar is the liturgical calendar that indicates the dates of celebrations of saints and mysteries of the Lord (Jesus Christ) in the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church, wherever this liturgical rite is in use. These celebra ...

. Lucy Yi Zhenmei is honored (with Agatha Lin Zhao and

Agnes Tsao Kou Ying Agnes Tsao Kou Ying (28 April 1821 – 1 March 1856; also Agnes Kouying Tsao), or Cao Guiying (), was a Qing dynasty Chinese layperson who was martyred for preaching the Gospel in Guangxi. She was canonized a martyr-saint by Pope John Paul II on ...

) with a Lesser Feast on the

liturgical calendar The liturgical year, also called the church year, Christian year or kalendar, consists of the cycle of liturgical seasons in Christian churches that determines when feast days, including celebrations of saints, are to be observed, and which ...

of the

Episcopal Church in the United States of America The Episcopal Church, based in the United States with additional dioceses elsewhere, is a member church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. It is a mainline Protestant denomination and is divided into nine provinces. The presiding bishop o ...

on February 19.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yi, Lucy, Zhenmei 1815 births 1862 deaths 19th-century Christian saints 19th-century executions by China 19th-century Roman Catholic martyrs Sichuanese Roman Catholics Chinese Roman Catholic missionaries Chinese Roman Catholic saints Executed Chinese women Female Roman Catholic missionaries Christian martyrs executed by decapitation People executed by the Qing dynasty by decapitation Roman Catholic missionaries in Sichuan Roman Catholic missionaries in China People from Mianyang Executed Qing dynasty people Executed Chinese people Executed people from Sichuan Christian female saints of the Late Modern era Catholic martyrs Virgin martyrs Anglican saints Christianity in Guizhou

Life and work

Martyrdom

Veneration

See also

References