A Spanish Dominican priest killed at Fuzhou, Fujian province, China, in 1748, part of the Dominican mission martyred a century after the death of Francisco Fernandez de Capillas.

Saint Francisco Diaz del Rincon was a Spanish priest of the Order of Preachers who served as a missionary in the Chinese province of Fujian and was executed at Fuzhou on 28 October 1748, at about thirty-five years of age, during a period of official persecution of Christianity in Qing dynasty China. He was beatified in 1893 and canonised in 2000 among the 120 Martyr Saints of China, alongside his fellow Dominican Francisco Serrano Frias, who was killed in the same period.

Quick Facts

• Born: c. 1713 (Spain)
• Died: October 28, 1748 (Fuzhou, Fujian, China)
• Beatified: 1893
• Canonized: 2000
• Venerated as: Priest, Order of Preachers (Dominicans), martyr

Who Was Saint Francisco Diaz del Rincon?

Diaz del Rincon was a Spanish Dominican who joined the order’s long-established mission in the Chinese province of Fujian, continuing a Dominican missionary presence there that stretched back a full century to the era of Francisco Fernandez de Capillas. He was arrested during a wave of anti-Christian measures under the Qing dynasty, which periodically moved to suppress what officials regarded as a foreign and destabilizing religion, and he was executed at Fuzhou on 28 October 1748 together with his Dominican confrere Francisco Serrano Frias, who at the time held the position of coadjutor vicar apostolic of Fujian.

Historical Setting

Eighteenth-century China under the Qing dynasty alternated between periods of relative tolerance of Christian missionaries, particularly when their scientific and technical knowledge proved useful at the imperial court, and periods of active suppression driven by concerns over foreign influence, converts’ allegiance to a foreign religious hierarchy, and disputes such as the long-running Chinese Rites controversy. The 1748 executions at Fuzhou occurred during one of these harsher periods, targeting the long-standing Dominican mission network in Fujian province specifically.

Why the Church Remembers Saint Francisco Diaz del Rincon

Diaz del Rincon is remembered as part of a Dominican missionary tradition in Fujian that endured for well over a century despite repeated waves of persecution, his own death alongside Serrano Frias illustrating how thoroughly the mission’s leadership, not only its more junior members, could be swept up in a single crackdown. Their joint martyrdom is remembered as one of the significant losses suffered by the Fujian mission during the eighteenth century.

Canonization and Feast Day

Saint Francisco Diaz del Rincon was beatified in 1893 and canonised on 1 October 2000 by Pope John Paul II, together with the full group of the 120 Martyr Saints of China, which spans several centuries of the China mission’s history. Their shared feast is kept on 9 July.

What Catholics Can Learn Today

Diaz del Rincon’s death alongside his fellow missionary Serrano Frias, a century into a mission that had already claimed earlier martyrs, is a reminder that sustained Christian witness in hostile territory is measured not in a single generation but across many, each adding its own cost to a mission whose fruit may take centuries to fully appear. Catholics today can find in the long history of the Fujian mission a model of patient, multi-generational commitment to evangelization.

A Prayer to Saint Francisco Diaz del Rincon

Saint Francisco Diaz del Rincon, Dominican missionary who gave your life for the Gospel at Fuzhou, intercede for the Church in China, which has suffered so much across so many generations for the faith. Grant perseverance to missionaries and to Chinese Catholics alike, and may the long history of sacrifice in Fujian continue to bear fruit. Amen.

Sources

• Vatican.va, canonization records of the 120 Martyr Saints of China
• The Roman Martyrology
• Dominican Order historical archives on the Fujian mission