Dear Archbishop Peter Liu, dear brother bishops, dear Msgr. Paul Russell, dear priests and deacons, dear Sisters, dear brothers and sisters:
ˇ@ˇ@ˇ@ˇ§Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit (John 12:24). The Chinese martyrs, these 120 grains of wheat, have grown to become 120 tall trees in the past 10 years. Certainly they have produced much fruit as the number of Chinese people who return to God has increased.
ˇ@ˇ@ˇ§The blood of martyrs is the seed of faith.ˇ¨ The portrait of the Chinese martyrs hanged in front of St. Peterˇ¦s Basilica during their canonization gives a deep impression of this!
ˇ@ˇ@During a Privy Council on March 10, 2000, Pope John Paul II announced at the meeting that the Blessed Chinese Martyrs will be canonized on October 1st. The Chinese people throughout the world were enthusiastic to celebrate this big event. But the enthusiasm has gradually mellowed down. So let us pray that by celebrating its 10th anniversary the devotion and the prayer of everyone to the Chinese Martyrs and Saints will be revived. We unveiled the portraits of the saints before Mass, let us hope especially that we will imitate the saints whose portraits we just saw. After the liturgy, you are invited to stay for a while and have a look at the portraits with reverence and admiration. The collection of portraits is really an outstanding masterpiece of the Church in Taiwan. I hope, they can be exhibited in each diocese so that many people could admire them, get to know the saints and imitate their examples.
ˇ@ˇ@The canonization of the Blessed Chinese Martyrs is a major event in the history of our Church and gives us a great encouragement. In that year, a large delegation could be organized within just a few months to attend the canonization ceremony at St. Peterˇ¦s Square in the Vatican.
ˇ@ˇ@The 120 martyrs and saints include a bishop, priests, seminarians, religious sisters, catechists, a celibate woman, lay people of different profession and ages, boys and girls; among the adults 87 were Chinese and 33 were foreign missionaries.
ˇ@ˇ@I remember the change of weather on the day of canonization in Rome. We had at times rain, at times sunshine. It reminds us that something similar existed during the process of the beatification of the Chinese Martyrs. Therefore, let us cherish even more their veneration and admire their courage in bearing witness for the Truth. They are our models as they sacrificed themselves fearlessly for God.
ˇ@ˇ@During the CRBC Spring Plenary Assembly this year, it was proposed to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the canonization of the Chinese Martyrs Saints by organizing a nation-wide celebration and by using pilgrimage as a means to revive the devotion of the faithful towards the Chinese Martyr Saints, but also by learning from their heroic deeds to bear witness to the faith and to spread the Gospel. Eventually, the suggestions of the Committee for the Promotion of the Devotion to the Chinese Martyr Saints, to celebrate a Mass today (July 10th at Heng Yee Catholic High School) and to revive the devotion to the martyr saints by other similar activities, were accepted.
ˇ@ˇ@The Feast of the Chinese Martyrs and Saints is set on July 9th. The CRBC Commission for Sacred Liturgy already published a booklet entitled ˇ§9-day Novena to the Chinese Martyr Saints and Venerablesˇ¨. We need to strengthen our work of sensitizing and the promotion of the 9-day Novena in order to awaken the consciousness of the faithful in their devotion to the Chinese Martyrs and Saints.
ˇ@ˇ@ˇ§The blood of the martyr saints is the seed of the faith.ˇ¨ The martyr saints used their blood to water the field of the Church, continuously bearing fruit ˇV the new faithful. The Chinese Martyr Saints, soldiers with courageous and moving history, bore witness for Jesus Christ and the Truth in the battlefield of faith and won a glorious victory. In the Catholic Catechism No. 2473 we read ˇ§Martyrdom is the supreme witness given to the truth of the faith: it means bearing witness even unto death. The martyr bears witness to Christ who died and rose to whom he is united by charity.ˇ¨
ˇ@ˇ@Let us thank the Lord for choosing numerous faithful and calling 120 saints to martyrdom. Through the intercession of the Chinese Martyr Saints and through the 150 years of evangelization in Taiwan, let there be more people who obtain the light of faith and who follow Jesus our Savior, and may there soon be local Venerables and Saints in Taiwan. May the Lord grant us abundant grace, help us imitate the Chinese Martyr Saints as our model, and live fully the life of a Christian so that one day we could join them in heaven and have everlasting life.
ˇ@ˇ@Chinese Martyr Saints, pray for us!
(Let us not forget the hard work done by the Commission for the Canonization of Saints of the CRBC, which has accomplished the mission to proclaim the saints alongside with Paul Cardinal Shan, who committed himself entirely to the cause. Special thanks to all of them!)