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Saint Paulus Liu Hanzuo

Also known as

Baolu
Paul Lieou

13 February
28 September as one of the Martyrs of China

Profile

Raised in a poor Christian family, Paulus worked as a shepherd in his youth, and had little education. Feeling a call to the priesthood, he entered seminary at age 24; because he had no Latin, he was allowed to study philosophy and theology in Chinese. Ordained in his early 30’s, Father Paulus served as a priest in the apostolic vicariate of Sichuan, China, and worked with the Foreign Mission Society of Paris. Because of the persecution of Christians at the time, he worked as a vegetable seller by day, ministered to covert Catholics by night. He was betrayed to the authorities by a local carpenter; he was in the middle of Mass when found, asked for permission to finish, and when it was done he turned himself over for arrest. He was imprisoned, flogged, and when he would neither pay a bribe nor renounce his faith, he was executed. Martyr.