MAETTfiS
746
MAETYftS
1873. Up to that time in 20 provincee, 3404 had suf-
fered for the faith in exile or in prison; 660 of these had
died; and 1981 returned to their homes. In 1858, 12
Christians, among whom were two chief-baptiserSy
were put to death oy torture. One missionaiy calcu-
lates that in all 1200 died for the faith.
PAoks, Hi$lo%re de la religion chrHienne au J anon (Paiiflt 1809); Valbnttn, BMc^ryvtna (Dordrecht, 1716): MoiiTANns, QetanUchappent Japan (Amiiterdain, 1660): Dblplacb, Lo Caiholicianieau Japan,!, 1640-1603; U, 1603-1640 (BniMeb, 1010); KatKoliocKo M%$o%onen (Freibuig, 1804). See alio works referred to in text.
Louia Delplacb. MnrtytB, The Fortt. See Fobtt Marttbs.
Martjrrs, The Ten Thousand. — On two dayB is a group of ten thousand martvrs mentioned in the Ro- man Martvrology. On 18 Biarch : " At Nicomedia ten thousand holy martjrrs who were put to the sword for the confession of Christ", and on 22 June: " On Mount Ararat the martyrdom of ten thousand holv martyrs who were crucified. '* The first entry, found in an old Greek martyrologv', translated by Cardinal Sirleto and published by H. Canisius, probably notes the venera- tion of a number of those who gave their lives for Christ at the beginning of the persecution of Diocle- tian, in 303 (Acta SS., March, II, 616). That^ the number is not an exaggeration is evident from Eu- sebius ("Hist. Eccl.", VIII, vi), and Lactantius ("De morte persecut.", xv). The entiy of 22 June is based upon a legend (Acta SS., June, V, 151) said to have been translated from a Greek original (which cannot, however, be found) by Anastasius Bibliotheoarius (who died in 886), and dedicated to Peter, Bishop of Sabina (? d. 1221). The legend reads: The emperors Adrian and Antoninus marched at the head of a laige army to suppress the revolt of the Gadarenes and the people of the Euphrates region. Finding too strong an opponent, all fled except nine thousand soldiers. After these had been converted to Christ by the voice of an angel they turned upon the enemy and com- pletely routed tnem. They were then brought to the top of Mount Ararat and instructed in the faith. Wnen the emperors heard of the victorv they sent for the converts to join in sacrifices of thanksgiving to the gods. They refused, and the emperors applied to five tributary kings for aid against the rebels. The kings responded to the call, bringing an immense army. The Christians were asked to deny their faith, and, on refusal, were stoned. But the stones rebounded against the assailants, and at this miracle a thousand soldiers joined the confessors. Hereupon the emper- ors ordered all to be crucified. The Spanish version of the legend makes the martyrs Spaniards converted by St. Hermolaus, a supposed Bishop of Toledo. Many difficulties are created by the legend, it contains so many historical inaccuracies and utterly improbable details. The martyrs are not given by anyone before Petrus de Natalibus, Bishop of Equilio in 1371. The Greeks do not mention them in the Mensea, Meno- logium, or Horolo^um, nor do the Copts or Arme- nians. Surius omitted them in the first and second editions of his " Vitse Sanctorum". Henschenius the Bollandist intended to put the group among the Pr»- termissi. Papebroeck admitted it to the body of the work only on the authority of Radulph de Rivo (Bibl. Patrum, XXVI, Lyons, 1677, 298) and classifies the Acts as apocryphal, while Baronius takes up their defence (Annales Eccl., ad an. 108, n. 2). The ven- eration of the Ten Thousand Martyrs is found in Den- mark, Sweden, Poland, France, SpaixK and Portugal. Relics are claimed by the church of St. Vitus in Prague, by Vienna, Scutari in Sicily, Cuenca in Spain, Lisbon and Coimbra in Portugal.
Dc8 Vaux, Lea dix mille martyro crucifUo our le marU Ararat, tour cuUe et leurB reliquet au pay a <rOueho (BellAme, 1800); Qrosshsdtschi in Ktrehenlex., a. v. Marfuror, oohntauoond; Weber, Die kath. Kirche in Armonien (FreiDun. 1003), 00.
Francis Mebshman.
Martyrg in O&ina.— The first Christian martyra in
China appear to have been the missionaries of Hi
B&liq in Central Asia, Khan-Bdliq (Peking), and
iSaitun (Fu-kien). in the middle of the fourteenth cen-
tnrv. Islam had been introduced into Central Asia,
and in China, the native djmasty of Ming, replacing
the Mongol aynasty of Yuan, had not followed the
policy 01 toleration of their predecessors: the Hun-
garian, Matthew Escandel, oeing possibly ^e first
martyr.
With the revival of the missions in C!hina with Matteo Ricci, who died at Peking in 1610, the blood of martyrs was soon shed to fertilize the evangelical field; the change of the Mins dynasty to the Manchu dy- nasty, giving occasion for new persecution. Andrew Xavier (better known as Andrew Wolfgang) Koffler (b. at Krems^ Austria, 1603), a Jesuit, and companion of Father Michel Bo3rm, in the Kwane-si province, who had been very succeffif ul during the Minf dynasty, was killed by the Manchu invaders on 12 Dec., 1651. On 9 May, 1665, the Dominican, Domingo Coronado, died in prison at Peking. Sometime before, a Span- ish Dominican, Francisco Fernandez, of the convent of Valladolid, had been martyred on 15 Jan. , 1648. Among the martyrs must be reckoned the celebrated Jesuit Johann Adam Schall von Bell (T'ang Jo-wang), who was imprisoned and ill-treated during the Manchu con- quest. They were the first victims in modern times.
After the publication by a lUerato, of a libel against the Christians of Fu-ngan, in Fu-kien, the viceroy of the province gave oroers to inquire into the state of the Catholic religion, the result of which was that a dreadful persecution broke out in 1746, during the reign of the Emperor K'ien lung, the victims of which were all Spanish Dominicans: the following were arrested: Juan Alcober (b. at Girone in 1694); Fran- cisco Serrano. Bishop of Tipasa, and coadjutor to the vicar Apostolic; and Francisco Diaz (b. in 1712, at fci|a); finally tiie vicar Apostolic, Pedro Martyr S&ni (b. m 1680, at Asco. Tortosa), Bishop of Mauncastra, and Joachim Royo (b. at Tervel in 1690) surrendered. After they had been cruelly tortured, the viceroy sen- tenced them to death on 1 Nov., 1746; Sanz was mar- tyred on 26 May 2 1747; his companions shared his faie; the five Domimcan martyrs were beatified by Leo XIII, on 14 May, 1893. shortly after, a fresh persecution broke out in the Kiang-nan province, and the two Jesuit fathers, Antoine-Joseph Henriquez (b. 13 June, 1707), and Tristan de Attimis (b. in Friuli, 28 July, 1707), were thrown into prison with a great number of Christians, including young girls, who were ill-treated: finally the viceroy of Nan-king sentenced to death the two missionaries, who were strangled on 12 Sept., 1748. In 1785, the Franciscan brother, Atto Biagini (b. at Pistoia, 1752), died in prison at Peking.
Persecution was very severe during the Kia K'ing . period (1796-1820); Ix>ui8-Gabriel-Taurin Dufresse (b. at Ville de L4zoux, Bourbonnais, 1751), of the Paris Foreign Missions, Bishop of Tabraca (24 July, 1800), and vicar Apostolic of Sze ch'wan, was be- headcKi in this province on 14 Sept., 1815. In 1819, a hew persecution took place in the Hu-pe Province; Jean-FranQois-Regis Clet (b. at Grenoble, 19 AprU, 1748), an aged Lazarist, was betrayed by a renegade, arreted in Ho-nan, and thrown into prison at Wu ch'ang in Oct., 1819; he was stranglea on 18 Feb., 1820, and twenty-three Christians were, at the same time, sentenced to perpetual banishment; another Lazarist, Lamiot, who had also been arrested, being the emperor's interpreter, was sent back to Peking; the Emperor Kia King died shortly after; Father Clet was beatified in 1900.
Under the reign of the Emperor Tas Kwang, another Lazarist was also the victim of the Mandarin of Hu-pe; also betrayed by a Chinese renegade, Jean-Gabriel Per- boyre (b. at Puech, C!ahors, on 6 Jan., 1802), was trans- feired to Wu ch'ang like Clet; during several months,
