Who Was Saint Barbara Cui Lianshi?

Saints

A married Chinese Catholic laywoman martyred in Hebei province in 1900, during the violent anti-Christian Boxer Uprising.

Saint Barbara Cui Lianshi was a married Catholic laywoman of Hebei province, China, martyred at Liushuitao in June 1900 at around fifty years of age during the Boxer Uprising’s violent campaign against Chinese Christians.

No known portrait of Saint Barbara Cui Lianshi
No portrait or image of Saint Barbara Cui Lianshi is known to survive; this icon marks pages without an identifiable image.

Quick Facts

  • Died: June 15, 1900, Liushuitao, Hejian, Hebei, China (age c. 50)
  • Venerated as: Laywoman and martyr
  • Status: Married

Who Was Saint Barbara Cui Lianshi?

Saint Barbara Cui Lianshi was a married Catholic laywoman living in southeastern Hebei province in northern China. She was killed at Liushuitao in June 1900, at the height of the Boxer Uprising, a violent nationalist and anti-foreign movement that specifically targeted Chinese Christians and foreign missionaries across much of northern China that year.

Historical Setting

The Boxer Uprising of 1899 to 1901 was one of the deadliest episodes for Chinese Christians in the country’s history, as Boxer militias and sympathetic officials killed tens of thousands of converts, along with missionaries, in a matter of months. Hebei province, with its long-established Catholic communities, was among the hardest hit regions.

Why the Church Remembers Saint Barbara Cui Lianshi

Barbara Cui Lianshi is remembered as one of the many Chinese Catholic laywomen who refused to renounce their faith even as violence against Christians swept through their villages during the Boxer Uprising, choosing death over apostasy.

Canonization and Feast Day

No individual canonization record is given in the source. Many martyrs of the 1900 Boxer Uprising in China were canonized together as part of the 120 Martyrs of China by Pope John Paul II on October 1, 2000.

What Catholics Can Learn Today

Barbara Cui Lianshi’s death is a witness to the courage of ordinary Chinese Catholic families who held to their faith even as an entire region turned violently against foreign religion and its converts.

A Prayer to Saint Barbara Cui Lianshi

Saint Barbara Cui Lianshi, faithful laywoman of Hebei who gave your life for Christ, pray for the Church in China and for all Christians who suffer for their faith today. Amen.

Sources

  • Roman Martyrology
  • Acta Apostolicae Sedis on the canonization of the Martyrs of China (2000)
  • records of the Catholic Church in Hebei, China