1993 - Vincent Zhu Hongsheng

July 6, 1993

Shanghai

Vincent Zhu Hongsheng.

Zhu Hongsheng, who later adopted the name Vincent, was born on July 17, 1916. His family were from a long line of devout Catholics, stretching back more than three centuries. It was said of Zhu that “ever since childhood he had loved God with fervent devotion, and had harboured the determination to offer up his entire life to God’s service.”[1]

Vincent’s uncle Zhu Gaimin was one of the first Chinese priests to be consecrated a bishop. When Vincent was just 14-years-old he accompanied his uncle on a trip to Belgium. In 1933 he joined a pilgrimage to Rome, and stayed behind to complete his high school edudation in a Jesuit school. In 1935 Vincent Zhu Hongsheng entered the Jesuit novitiate in Laval, France, being finally ordained a priest on June 24, 1944. Instead of returning to China immediately, however, the globe-trotting Chinese priest spent a year studying theology in Ireland and then went to the United States for more studies.

In 1947 Zhu returned to Shanghai, a city he had seen little of for the previous 14 years. Some friends asked him to consider remaining outside China, as the Red threat was taking over China and many priests and laymen had already been killed for their faith. Zhu did not have to think about it for long—he loved his motherland and was ready to face whatever hardship might come his way. In Shanghai, Zhu was appointed the Dean of Studies at St. Ignatius High School. In 1951 the Communists closed all religious schools, so Zhu was reassigned to serve in the Church of Christ the King.

Zhu was arrested for the first time on October 3, 1953. He spent one year in prison, and was subjected to many cruel tortures because of his refusal to join the government-sanctioned Catholic Patriotic Association. The Communists viewed him as a special threat because of his long time overseas, his abillity to speak several Western languages, and his many contacts with Catholics around the world. When he was released his mother reportedly told him, “Vincent, you are my favourite son, but if one day you should betray the Church, then you would no longer be my son.”[2] He didn’t disappoint her.

After being out of prison for less than a year Zhu was one of more than 1,000 Shanghai Catholics arrested in the crackdown of September 8, 1955. He was never given a trial and was never charged, but in March 1960 he learned that he had been sentenced to 15 years imprisonment. Because of his refusal to ‘reform,’ Zhu’s sentence was extended, and he spent a total of 23 years behind bars.

In November 1978 he was finally released and returned to his home in Shanghai. China had changed markedly during his years of absence, and most of his former friends and colleagues could no longer be located. Zhu tried to maintain a low profile, but on November 19, 1981, he was arrested for the third time and sentenced to another 15 years in prison. For seven more long years Vincent Zhu Hongsheng remained behind bars, his external freedoms stripped away. For all those years he had not been allowed to have a Bible, but he remained in fellowship with the Lord through silent prayer and by singing hymns in his heart. On many occasions he fondly recalled the deep joy he had felt as a little boy in Shanghai, and during his time in the great academic institutions of Europe.

Toward the end of 1987 Zhu’s health took a turn for the worse. His strength left him, but the prison authorities were hesitant to give him medical assistance. Finally, in February 1988, Zhu was in such poor condition that the government granted him temporary medical parole. His condition improved slightly, but in December 1992 he was admitted to hospital with a heart condition.

In mid-February of 1993 the government announced that Vincent Zhu Hongsheng’s original sentence had been annulled—small comfort for a man who had spent three decades in prison. He paid little attention to the effort by officials to espunge the guilt from their hands, for his heart and mind had long been focused on the ultimate goal—Jesus Christ, and he cared little for the ways of the world. One account claims the government had been advised

“by the so-called Patriotic Church to pardon him before his death, lest others could claim Vincent Zhu was a martyr who died a prisoner because of his religion. Abruptly one day, without any explanation or previous notice, they pushed his hospital bed onto the empty fourth floor of the hospital. There with video cameras rolling and reporters and news media taking notes, the Communist officials in the company of the Patriotic Church puppets announced the Communist Government’s mercy in granting him pardon and release.”[3]

On July 6, 1993, the 77-year-old Vincent Zhu Hongsheng died and went to be with the Lord. He was buried in Shanghai on July 10th, with more than 400 people attending the martyr’s funeral.

1. September 8th Editorial Board, Blessings of the Divine Bounty, 98.
2. September 8th Editorial Board, Blessings of the Divine Bounty, 147.
3. September 8th Editorial Board, Blessings of the Divine Bounty, 148.