A six-year-old child killed alongside his mother, Saint Lang Yangshi, at Lujiapo, Hebei, during the Boxer Uprising of 1900.

Paulus Lang Fu was six years old when he died with his mother, Saint Lang Yangshi, at Lujiapo in Qinghe, Hebei province, China, on July 16, 1900, during the anti-Christian violence of the Boxer Uprising. He is the youngest of the 120 Martyr Saints of China. Pope Pius XII beatified him in 1955, and Pope John Paul II canonized him in 2000, together with his mother and the wider group.

Quick Facts

• Born: c. 1894, Zhili (present-day Hebei), China
• Died: July 16, 1900, Lujiapo, Qinghe, Hebei, China
• Feast Day: July 9 (with the 120 Martyr Saints of China)
• Family: son of Saint Lang Yangshi
• Venerated as: Child martyr

Who Was Saint Paulus Lang Fu?

Paulus Lang Fu was the young son of Saint Lang Yangshi, killed together with his mother at Lujiapo in Qinghe, Hebei province, on July 16, 1900, at just six years old. He is among the youngest members of the 120 Martyr Saints of China, and the record identifies him primarily through this bond with his mother rather than through any deed or choice a child of his age could be expected to make on his own.

Historical Setting

No martyr in this record was less able to understand or choose the trial that claimed his life than Paulus Lang Fu, killed as a small child during the same Boxer Uprising violence of the summer of 1900 that swept across Hebei province and claimed thousands of Chinese Catholics, adults and children alike, often within their own family groups. His death alongside his mother reflects how the violence of that season frequently struck entire households rather than sparing the very young.

Why the Church Remembers Saint Paulus Lang Fu

The Church includes Paulus Lang Fu among its canonized martyrs not because a six-year-old could make a theological choice for Christ in the way an adult believer does, but because his death, inseparable from his mother’s, is honored as an innocent life taken specifically on account of the family’s Christian identity. His case sits alongside the Church’s long tradition of honoring the Holy Innocents and other child victims of anti-Christian violence as true witnesses in their own right.

Canonization and Feast Day

His youth did not exempt him from the Church’s formal recognition: Pius XII beatified him in 1955, and John Paul II canonized him in 2000 alongside his mother, Lang Yangshi, and the rest of the 120 Martyr Saints of China, whose shared feast falls on July 9.

What Catholics Can Learn Today

There is no way to soften the fact of a child’s violent death, and this page does not attempt to invent courage or understanding Paulus Lang Fu was too young to possess; the Church instead simply honors an innocent life lost to hatred of the faith his family professed. His memory calls Catholics to protect and grieve for children caught in every generation’s violence, and to recognize their deaths as a genuine loss the Church refuses to look away from.

A Prayer to Saint Paulus Lang Fu

Saint Paulus Lang Fu, child taken from the world at only six years old alongside your mother, be near to every child today who suffers for reasons beyond their choosing. Pray for grieving families and for an end to violence against the innocent. Amen.

Sources

• Roman Martyrology, entry for the Martyrs of China
• Vatican.va, canonization records for the 120 Martyr Saints of China (October 1, 2000)