A married Chinese laywoman of Hebei killed in the 1900 Boxer Uprising, canonized among the 120 Martyrs of China.

Saint Maria An Guoshi was a married laywoman of southeastern Zhili, China, killed at Liugongying, Shenzhou, on July 11, 1900, at sixty-three years old, during the Boxer Uprising’s violent persecution of Chinese Catholics. She is venerated among the 120 Martyrs of China, beatified in 1955 and canonized in 2000 by Pope John Paul II, one of many ordinary lay believers of Hebei who died together that summer.

Quick Facts

• Born: c. 1837
• Died: July 11, 1900, age 63
• Place: Liugongying, Shenzhou, Hebei, China
• Venerated as: Married layperson and martyr

Who Was Saint Maria An Guoshi?

Saint Maria An Guoshi was a married Chinese laywoman of southeastern Zhili (present-day Hebei province) killed at Liugongying, Shenzhou, on July 11, 1900, at sixty-three years old, during the violence of the Boxer Uprising against Chinese Christians.

Historical Setting

The summer of 1900 brought devastating, coordinated violence against Catholic villages across Hebei and Shanxi provinces as the Boxer movement, with tacit and sometimes active government support, sought to eliminate foreign and Christian influence from northern China. Entire families and village communities of long-established Catholics were killed within days of one another across the region.

Why the Church Remembers Saint Maria An Guoshi

Maria is remembered as one of the many lay Catholics of Hebei’s Southeastern Zhili district who died together in the summer of 1900, part of the great company of Chinese martyrs whose collective witness marked one of the deadliest anti-Christian persecutions of the modern era.

Canonization and Feast Day

Available records show Maria’s beatification in 1955 and canonization in 2000, when Pope John Paul II canonized her among the 120 Martyrs of China.

What Catholics Can Learn Today

Maria’s death as an older, married laywoman rather than clergy or religious is a reminder that the 1900 persecution in China fell on entire Catholic communities without distinction, and that ordinary family life offered to God can itself become a path to martyrdom.

A Prayer to Saint Maria An Guoshi

Saint Maria An Guoshi, martyr of Hebei, pray for the Church in China and for all Catholic families who live their faith under pressure. Amen.

Sources

• Vatican.va (canonization of the 120 Martyrs of China, 2000)
• The Roman Martyrology