The Zhengding Missionary Murder is an incident in which nine

Catholic 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 ...

priests were kidnapped and killed in

Zhengding Zhengding (), originally Zhending (), is a county in southwestern Hebei Province, North China, located approximately south of Beijing. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Shijiazhuang, the capital of the province, and h ...

Hebei province Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, an ...

, Republic-era China on October 9, 1937. Frans Schraven (1873-1937)

Details

During the Sino-Japanese war, troops of the

Japanese empire The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II 1947 constitution and subsequent forma ...

progressed to take in the city of Zhengding. Up to 5,000 local residents sought refuge from the local Bishop,

Frans Schraven Frans Schraven (13 October 1873 – 9 October 1937) was a Dutch Catholic Bishop who served as a missionary in China. He died in Zhengding, Hebei, China while attempting to protect the local population during the Sino-Japanese war. Early life ...

. Of those 5,000, it is estimated that 200 young women were amongst those seeking refuge, who were thought to be at risk of being abused as

comfort women Comfort women or comfort girls were women and girls forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Army in occupied countries and territories before and during World War II. The term "comfort women" is a translation of the Japanese '' ia ...

. The clergymen initially resisted the Japanese troops demands and were later abducted and according to reports burned alive. Besides Schraven, those who died were Fathers Gerard Wouters and Antoon Gerts (

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

), Father Thomas Ceska (

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

with Croatian heritage), Fathers Lucien Charny, Eugene-Antoine Bertrand, André Robial (

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

), Brother Wladislaw (

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

) and Anton Biskupits (

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

). The heroic act of the bishop and his priests has led to calls for his

beatification Beatification (from Latin ''beatus'', "blessed" and ''facere'', "to make”) is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their nam ...

and

canonisation 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 ...

as patron saint for victims of

sexual abuse Sexual abuse or sex abuse, also referred to as molestation, is abusive sexual behavior by one person upon another. It is often perpetrated using force or by taking advantage of another. Molestation often refers to an instance of sexual assa ...

Alternate account

The Nantes France Diplomatic Archives holds an official document dated 13 February 1938, in which the Japanese embassy staff in Beijing, Morishima Morito writes to Francis Lacoste of the French Embassy in Beijing. The document reports the results of an investigation made by the Japanese government and describes the detailed and concrete measures taken by the Japanese army to protect the missionaries. In addition, the document alleges that the crime was committed by Chinese military stragglers, and not by Japanese soldiers. It says "We have not found evidence to overturn the results even after the investigation was continued. Therefore, the Japanese government can not bear the responsibility for the incident." A Dutch priest entered the locale three days after the incident and recorded the accounts of people there. "A dozen robbers were all wearing a Japanese military uniform. Rather than a regiment hat, they were wearing a felt hat. (snip) They talked that they were Manchus of 'Red Beard', in other words bandits, and wanted the money to go back to the country."

External links

Monsignore Frans Schraven Foundation

References

{{Reflist 1937 in Christianity 1937 murders in China Christianity in China