1911 - Pierre Castanet

November 4, 1911

Huili, Sichuan

Born in 1867 at Bordeaux, France, Pierre Ferdinand Castanet was raised in a Christian household and was familiar with the Bible from an early age. One of his brothers later became a priest, and one of his sisters a nun.

Castanet was consistently the best student in his class. He entered seminary and within a year felt a call to missionary service. He shared it with just one friend, however, as a realization of the sacrifice required had already dawned in his heart. In 1886 Castanet graduated with a degree in the arts. He then entered the Seminary of Bordeaux, and finally the Missions Etrangères de Paris for three years of missionary training. In 1891 the 23-year-old priest made his way to China, where he was appointed to join the work in the southernmost tip of Sichuan Province, south of the town of Huili.

The mission in the mountains of southern Sichuan was strategically placed to reach into the Daliangshan (‘Great Cold Mountains’), the territory of the fierce Nosu tribesmen. At the lower elevations lived Nosu people who had been subjugated by the Chinese, a few smaller tribes, and a growing number of Han Chinese immigrants who had moved into the area. A persecution of Christians in 1895 failed to deter Castanet from his calling. He was appointed regional superior in 1898, and the work under his leadership flourished. Hundreds of conversions were reported annually. The number of Christians doubled from 800 to 1,600 in seven years, and several new stations were opened. It was said of the Frenchman,

“Nobody contributed more effectively that Mr. Castanet to the newly founded Mission. Devoted body and soul to its development, trustful despite great opposition and problems, Castanet walk into its darkest hours faithfully, and died a martyr with the zeal that caused him to tirelessly pursue the reign of God.”[1]

The Catholic work in southern Sichuan suffered its biggest setback not from heathen persecution, but when Protestant missionaries arrived in the area in 1902. An American missionary published literature warning people against the Catholics, and did all he could to win over the new converts that Castanet and his co-workers had brought to the Lord. The dispute even threatened to spill over into violence early in 1905, when an armed group of 200 Protestants surrounded a Catholic festival, demanding recompense for a lawsuit that had been brought by one of their members against a Catholic. The police were called in to intervene, but as the Protestants dispersed, they burned down several Catholic buildings in the area.

When Castanet had first arrived in Huili, the town had no converts and few people seemed interested in the gospel. The resistance gradually broke down, so that by 1911 more than 500 townspeople were being instructed in the faith and several hundred believers had been baptized. It was while ministering in the Huili area that Castanet gained a martyr’s crown. An uprising occurred in which the rebels threatened to kill to all missionaries and their converts. Castanet had heard countless rumours and threats over the years and so paid little attention. Only when a magistrate explained that the rumours were true, and murders were already being committed, did the Frenchman take it seriously. He decided to flee south into Yunnan Province. November 4, 1911, was set as the departure date and a number of Chinese Catholics accompanied him on the journey. Others fled into the mountains where they spent weeks of deprivation before returning home. Leaving Huili before sunrise, Castanet rode for a few hours before he was suddenly surrounded by a mob of angry men. Realizing that

“his progress was blocked, Castanet gave up his mount and started to run, hoping to find refuge in a group of houses he saw nearby. Aware of what was unfolding, the occupants of the houses refused to help the Frenchman and their doors were locked. One of the assassins plunged a knife into Castanet’s left shoulder and he fell in a doorway. The wounded priest was given a drink of water and told by the rebels to get up and come with them. The knife wound had rendered Castanet unable to walk, so the murderers finished him off, stabbing him to death and leaving him in a pool of blood.”[2]

Although the Christians travelling with Castanet managed to escape, the murder signalled the start of widespread devastation for the mission. Catholic communities throughout southern Sichuan were destroyed and many new believers fell away under the pressure.

1. My translation of the Pierre Castanet Obituary in the Archives des Missions Etrangères de Paris, China Biographies and Obituaries, 1900-1999.
2. Pierre Castanet Obituary in the Archives des Missions Etrangères de Paris.