The eldest of this Hebei group, a Catholic of sixty-seven killed at Daning in Weixian near the close of the 1900 persecution.

Iosephus Wang Rumei was a lay Catholic of Daning in Weixian, southeastern Hebei, killed on 21 July 1900 at sixty-seven years old, among the last recorded deaths of that summer’s Boxer violence in the district. He is one of the 120 Martyrs of China canonized in 2000.

Quick Facts

• Died: 21 July 1900, Daning, Weixian, Hebei, China (age 67)
• Feast Day: 9 July (with the 120 Martyrs of China)
• Beatified: 1955
• Canonized: 1 October 2000

Who Was Saint Iosephus Wang Rumei?

At sixty-seven, Wang Rumei was among the oldest of his region’s martyrs, a Catholic of Weixian county who had already lived out most of a natural lifespan before the persecution of 1900 reached him in its final weeks.

Historical Setting

By late July 1900 the persecution across southeastern Hebei had run for roughly a month, and the pattern of village-by-village killing had reached Weixian on the district’s western edge. Wang Rumei’s age places him among the oldest of the region’s martyrs, a life of some seven decades brought to its end by the same demand made of the youngest.

Why the Church Remembers Saint Iosephus Wang Rumei

The Church remembers in Wang Rumei that fidelity was not a young believer’s virtue alone in Hebei that summer; it was asked of, and given by, Catholics at every stage of life, from teenagers barely past childhood to elders who had kept the faith for generations.

Canonization and Feast Day

The oldest of this Hebei group, Wang Rumei nonetheless received the same formal recognition as his younger companions: beatification in 1955, canonization on 1 October 2000 among the 120 Martyrs of China, and the group’s shared 9 July feast.

What Catholics Can Learn Today

A lifetime of ordinary faithfulness can still end in a single decisive act. Wang Rumei’s long life, ended this way, reminds Catholics that fidelity is asked for at every age and does not retire.

A Prayer to Saint Iosephus Wang Rumei

Saint Iosephus Wang Rumei, faithful across a long life to its very last day, help the old as much as the young to answer for Christ when finally asked. Amen.

Sources

• Butler’s Lives of the Saints, revised edition, entry for the Martyrs of China
• Vatican.va, canonization homily of Pope John Paul II, 1 October 2000
• New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia, background on the Boxer-era persecution of Chinese Catholics