Zbigniew Wesołowski SVD (Wei Siqi 魏思齊):

Lecture online: 

“Bingfei meiwei xundaozhe neng bei fengsheng: liang wei zai Zhongguo gengyun de Deji Shengyanhui chuanjiaoshi he xundaozhe shenfu Han Li shenfu (Richard Henle, 1865-1897) yu Neng Fangji shenfu (Franz Xaver Nies, 1859-1897) 并非每位殉道者都能被封圣——两位在中国耕耘的德籍圣言会传教士和殉道者韩理神父（Richard Henle, 1865-1897）与能方济神父 (Franz Xaver Nies, 1859-1897）” (Not Every Martyr Is Canonized – Two German Missionaries and Martyrs of the Society of the Divine Word Who Labored in China, Father Richard Henle [1865–1897] and Father Franz Xaver Nies [1859–1897]).

Organizer: Li Madou Study Centre (Macerata, Italy)

Abstract

This lecture aimed to address a fundamental question: Why were Fathers Richard Henle and Franz Xaver Nies not formally canonized in 2000 alongside the other 120 Chinese martyrs. These two Divine Word Missionaries were – shortly before midnight on November 1, 1897 – killed at the residence of another Divine Word Missionary, Georg Maria Stenz (1869-1928) in Juye (the Juye Incident: Jueye jiao’an鉅野敎案), i.e., in the village Zhangjia (Zhangiazhuang 張家莊). The fixed goal of the attack was Fr. Stenz, who survived unharmed. The Divine Word missionaries insisted the killings were perpetrated by the Big Knife Society, while the authorities categorically denied this. Actually, the two German S.V.D. China missionaries were not among those “foreign missionaries who had committed heinous crimes in China” – so the statement issued by the spokesperson of China’s State Administration for Religious Affairs regarding the Vatican’s canonization process on 1 October 2000. Historically speaking, the martyrdom of Frs. Henle and Nies was immediately exploited for political purposes by the German Empire, leading to the colonization of parts of Shandong Province in China, especially Qingdao. This was an important event in political history at that time! Thus, this also seems to be a main reason that they were not be included in the list of Chinese Martyr Saints in 2000. No wonder that the German historian Heinrich Walle wrote in 2000 an article with an iconic title: „Märtyrer für den deutschen Flottenstützpunkt Tsingtau? − Die Ermordung der Patres Richard Henle SVD und Franz Xaver Nies SVD am 1. November 1897“ (Martyrs for the German naval base at Tsingtau? – The murder of Fathers Richard Henle SVD and Franz Xaver Nies SVD on November 1, 1897). Yes, not every martyr can be canonized!