Peter Sanz (22 September 1680 – 26 May 1747) ( ca, Pere Sans i Jordá, es, Pedro Sans i Jordá) was a Catalan Dominican

friar A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders founded in the twelfth or thirteenth century; the term distinguishes the mendicants' itinerant apostolic character, exercised broadly under the jurisdiction of a superior general, from the ...

who was sent as a missionary

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...

to China. He was declared a

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

and

canonized Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon catalogue of s ...

by the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Early life

Sanz was born 22 September 1680 in Ascó, Ribera d'Ebre, in the Catalan region of Spain. In 1697 he professed religious vows as a member of the Dominican Order in Lerida. After completing his theological studies, he was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

on 22 September 1704.

Mission in China

Sanz later volunteered and was accepted to serve in China. He was sent to the Philippines in 1713 to prepare for this mission, where he studied the

Chinese language Chinese (, especially when referring to written Chinese) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and many minority ethnic groups in Greater China. About 1.3 billion people (or approximately 16% of the ...

for two years. He then entered China with a small band of fellow friars, where he began a ministry which lasted over 30 years. In January 1728, the

Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects (a ...

named him as Coadjutor Vicar Apostolic of Fujian, for which he was consecrated a bishop on 22 February 1730 with the new

titular see A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbis ...

Maurocastrum The town of Maurocastrum (in Byzantine Greek Μαυρόκαστρον "black castle"), also known historically as ''Cetatea Alba'' ( la, Album Castrum, meaning white fortress), was a settlement on the banks of the Dniester River, now the city of Bil ...

by the

Bishop of Nanking The Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Nanjing ( la, Archidioecesis Nanchinensis) (Jiangsu) is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in China. History It was erected as the Apostolic Vicariate of Nanjing ...

, Emmanuel de Jesus-Maria-Joseph, with João de Casal, Bishop of Macau, and Francisco da Purificação da Rocha Froes, Bishop of Beijing, serving as co-consecrators. He succeeded to the office of Vicar in January 1732, upon the death of Magino Ventallol, who had been unable to be consecrated a bishop during the thirteen years of his administration.

Martyrdom

Sanz was arrested by imperial authorities in 1741, along with four other friars. They suffered torture and a long imprisonment in Fuzhou. Finally, on 26 May 1747, Sanz was

beheaded Decapitation or beheading is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and most other animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood, while all other organs are deprived of the ...

at Fuzhou. In October 1748, word came that one of his companions had been named his coadjutor bishop by the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of R ...

. The other friars were executed immediately upon that news.

Beatification and canonization

He and his companions were beatified by

Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII ( it, Leone XIII; born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903) was the head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 to his death in July 1903. Living until the age of 93, he was the second-old ...

on May 14, 1893. They were included among a group of 120 saints known collectively as the

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 ...

who were canonized on 1 October 2000 by

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 ...

. The group was given the feast day of 9 July. Previously, their feast day was kept on June 3, which is still the date kept by Dominicans who follow the

General Roman Calendar of 1960 This article lists the feast days of the General Roman Calendar as approved on 25 July 1960 by Pope John XXIII's ''motu proprio'' '' Rubricarum instructum'' and promulgated by the Sacred Congregation of Rites the following day, 26 July 1960, by t ...

as part of the traditional Dominican Rite, which was in place before the changes that occurred after Vatican II.1959 Saint Dominic Missal
/ref> The keeping of the

is in accordance with the universal permissions which were clarified in Summorum Pontificum.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanz, Peter 1680 births 1747 deaths Spanish Dominicans Dominican missionaries Dominican bishops Dominican martyrs Dominican saints Roman Catholic missionaries in China Catalan Roman Catholic saints People from Ribera d'Ebre 18th-century Roman Catholic bishops in China 18th-century Roman Catholic martyrs 18th-century Christian saints Deaths by decapitation