WHAT GOES AROUND, COMES AROUND
We have all heard of the axioms: “What goes around, comes around!” and “There is nothing new under the sun!” This is so very true—human nature never changes, and the actions of humans essentially remain with their everlasting boundaries. New heresies are merely combinations or modifications of old heresies. Sins are essentially the same, though they might new materials and avenues in which they can be committed—new alcoholic concoctions are invented to feed alcoholism; new foods are invented to feed gluttony; new technological means are invented to feed lust; new fashions come along to feed vanity, etc. The sins remain essentially the same, though they find new feeding grounds.
The same is true for the war between the Church and the world. That enmity will always exist—for the devil is the prince of the world, as Holy Scripture tells us. He will use mankind’s weakness and propensity to sin in his evil plan to try and destroy the Church on earth. The essential methods are the same, though they may make use of new generations and new inventions to try and carry out that evil agenda.
In this month of the Precious Blood, let us take a look at the phenomenal bloody and tortuous battle in China throughout the 1900’s—even to our present day—as a lesson to be learnt and as model of resistance to evil of the world’s attempt to destroy the Church, the Faith and souls. What happened in the not so distant past, will soon happen again—but now on a more global scale. If we know our history, then we will be prepared for our future!
1917—A YEAR FOR CATHOLICS AND COMMUNISTS
1917 was a pivotal year in both the political arena and in the Church. The First World War was devastating Europe, the Communist Revolution exploded in Russia, which would soon set ablaze many parts of the world with the evils of Communism. It was also during 1917 that Our Lady was appearing at Fatima, offering a peace plan to the world. Soon, Our Lady was to raise an army of her own. This army, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin and having as its end spiritual goals, came from Ireland and was known as the Legion of Mary. This Marian army was destined to meet the forces of the revolutionary Communist army on the battlefield of China during the 1950’s.
THE LEGION OF MARY IS BORN AND GROWS
Founded in Dublin in 1921, the Legion of Mary spread its wings in 1927, which was the first year that a branch was started outside Dublin, this being in Waterford. In 1928 the Legion was taken to Glasgow, Scotland and the following year, to England and Wales. From there it spread to India, the United States, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The first Legion envoy left Ireland in 1934 and came to the United States. Two years later, Edel Quinn, a Legionary who is now being considered for sainthood, began her envoyship in missionary Africa, establishing thousands of praesidia before her death in 1944. From 1930 to 1950 over thirty full time envoys were sent throughout the world to found and build up the Legion, During these years envoys labored in Central America, France, Egypt, Israel, Mexico, the Philippines, and China.
THE LEGION ARRIVES
The Legion of Mary arrived China in 1937, but was little known for almost a decade. However, the appointment of Archbishop Riberi as Interuncio to China in 1946 marked the beginning of the spread of the Legion throughout China. The Archbishop had met Edel Quinn while in Africa, and had witnessed what the Legion had accomplished there. Seeing the desperate condition of the Church in China, he asked Fr. Aedan McGrath, a Columban Father, to undertake the work of spreading the Legion. The Internuncio spoke to Father McGrath saying, “Have you realized the impossibility of the situation? Five hundred million people and only 5,000 priests. Even if I doubled and tripled that number the conversion of China is still impossible.” Clearly the Faith and the ideals which this great Archbishop had shone forth.
Fr. Aeden McGrath (pronounced McGRAW) first came to China in 1930, and spent the next fifteen years running from Mao Tse-Tung. Mao had set up a Communist government at Hankow in 1928, and after World War II he extended his rule over most of mainland China.
With the coming of Archbishop Riberi, the Legion was able to operate on a large scale in China. Once Father McGrath was assigned to spread the Legion, he set out immediately and went to Shanghai, Hong Kong, Chungking and other major parts of China. The Legion spread with amazing rapidity. Within one year there were 1,000 praesidia. Within two years, 2,000!
COMMUNISTS TAKE OVER CHINA
By 1949, the Communists were in control of nearly all China and became aware of this rapidly growing movement. They ordered Fr. McGrath to stop his Legion activities in Chungking, but he protested saying that the Legion was a purely spiritual organization. He gave them a copy of the Handbook and invited them to attend a meeting to see for themselves. This they did, and afterwards returned the Handbook, with permission for the Legion to resume its work in Chungking. Their comment was, “This is a great organization, just like Communism.”
It is interesting to note that there are striking similarities between the Legion and International Communism. Each adopted the nomenclature of the Roman legion and both organizations use the terms “praesidium” (the name for their meetings) and “tessera” (the title of their membership cards). Another interesting point is that the color of the Communists is red, and the Legion’s color is red.
When the Communists proclaimed the People’s Republic at Peking in October of 1949, there were 4,000,000 Catholics, 3,080 foreign priests, 2,351 foreign sisters, 2,557 Chinese priests and 5,112 Chinese sisters. But by the end of 1954 only 61 (foreign missionaries) were still in the country of whom 21 were in prison. In 1955 there were still two foreign bishops and 20 priests in China. Of these one bishop and 17 priests were imprisoned. Of the Chinese priests about 500 had been imprisoned.
All remained fairly quiet during the first year of the Communist occupation. But then persecution of the Church began, directed first against foreign missionaries. Priests and sisters were arrested, falsely convicted and expelled from China. Many hundreds were sentenced to long prison terms within the Bamboo Curtain.
THE FORMATION OF ‘PATRIOTIC’ CHURCHES
Up to this point, there had been no unfavorable mention by the Communists of the Legion. Then in the summer of 1950 the Communists proclaimed their intention to establish “Patriotic Churches” which would be run by the government and be separated from Rome. This was called the Three Autonomies Movement and it began on July 28, 1950. “Under the guise of self-rule, self-support and self-propagation they demanded absolute separation of the Chinese Churches from any alignment with foreign congregations.”
These same tactics had been followed in Communist-dominated countries of Europe, since setting up an “independent” church has always signified independence from all control except that of the Communist government. Newspaper propaganda in the official press supported this to such a degree that“for months the Peking People’s Daily devoted daily space to the patriotic obligation of Catholics, throughout China, to participate in the movement.”
The real challenge had come. The Chinese hierarchy refused to support this new movement, and the Legion of Mary set to work informing and instructing the Catholic faithful about the issues at stake in this undermining plot.
COMMUNISTS ATTACK THE CLERGY AND THE LEGION
When the Communists realized that the effort to separate Chinese Catholics from Rome was failing, they began a violent attack in the Communist press directed against Archbishop Riberi, the Catholic Central Bureau and the Legion of Mary. Within a year, the Internuncio was expelled from China and most of the leading priests were jailed, including Fr. McGrath. The Legion came under very fierce attack by the press. Why was the Legion vilified in such a way? The Catholics in China were a small and comparatively uninfluential minority, and the Legion numerically less substantial. Fr. McGrath believes that the main reason was the “part played by the Legionaries in frustrating the Communist plan for a schismatic Catholic Church in China.”
COMMUNISTS TRY TO SUPPRESS THE LEGION
The next Communist move was to suppress the Legion in Tientsin, Shanghai and other centers. Legionaries were ordered to register their names with the police. In Shanghai, where there were fifty-one praesidia, about fifty registration centers were set up, and manned by a highly trained Communist staff who had undergone an intensive training course, which even included study of the Legion handbook. A six foot high notice-board outside each center proclaimed, “Secret Subversive Organization, Legion of Mary-Meaberi Registration Center.” On each side of the notice-board stood soldiers, in full battle attire. Even more alarming was the form which each member was expected to sign. It read:
“I, the undersigned joined the reactionary Legion of Mary on. . . and conducted secret counter-revolutionary and evil activities against the government, the people, and Soviet Russia. I hereby resign from the Legion of Mary and promise never to participate in such activities in the future.”
DAMNED IF YOU DO—DAMNED IF YOU DON'T
To register under these terms was equal to signing one’s death warrant, since with“revolt against the country and having contact with imperialism” there came a punishment of death or life imprisonment. Signing this also meant admitting to the false charges brought against the Legion and removed the member’s name from the ranks of Mary’s army.
Only a handful signed the forms, and most of these later returned and withdrew their registrations. The Legionaries as a body refused to give up their membership. Those in Shanghai wrote a letter, signed in their own blood, to the Bishop of Shanghai. “Monsignor, we will follow you wherever you go,” said the letter. “We are proud to live in this age of persecution and there can be no compromises.”
THOUSANDS OF LEGIONARIES ARRESTED
The refusal of Legionaries to register led to the arrest of thousands. Soon, every Legion officer was in prison. Among these was Johanna Hsiao, a girl in her early twenties, who before being jailed had set up three hundred and sixty-two praesidia in the North of China. She was imprisoned in 1951, and nothing has been heard of her since. Even very young Legionaries showed heroic courage. Led by their 19 year-old President, the members of a Junior praesidium marched down the public streets singing from their St. Matthew’s Gospel, “Blessed are you when they shall persecute and calumniate you and say all that is evil against you untruly in My Name. Be glad and rejoice for your reward is very great in Heaven.”
MASS EXTERMINATION
The total number of those executed by the Communists is almost unbelievable. In the 1950’s Time Magazine estimated that, between the years 1949 and 1952, 20,000,000 people were put to death under Mao Tse-Tung. A recent figure estimates that between the years 1949 and 1970, that number increased to 60,000,000. As for Fr. McGrath, he was released from prison in May, 1954 and saw the state that the Chinese Church was in.
The Communists still pressed on, attempting to establish an independent Church from Rome. Their plans had been frustrated by the faithful priests, bishops and members of the Legion. In 1954, Pius XII wrote the encyclical Ad Sinarum Gentem, which took issue with the three autonomies and strengthened the support against a Reform Church. However, in 1954 and 1955, a new wave of arrests and persecutions assailed the loyal Catholics. The Communists began winning over priests and bishops and by 1957 the Association of Patriotic Priests was founded. The next year, 1958, the Patriotic Church was formally established.
From here on, there would two Catholic Churches in China: one controlled by the government and another one that was driven underground. This, according to prophecies, is what awaits us in the future. Our Lady is our touchstone, keystone and key to the solution. As she herself said at Fatima, speaking of Our Lady of the Rosary, "only she can help you now!"
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