- Born 1834 in Yazhuangtou, Jizhou, Hebei, China
- Death from beheading July 7, 1900, at age 66 in Yazhuangtou, Jizhou, Hebei, China
- Beatified November 24, 1946, by Pope Pius XII along with 120 other Chinese martyrs, including Augustine Zhao Rong
- Canonized October 1, 2000, by Pope John Paul II
The following information is culled from Internet sources. A main source is Meg Hunter-Kilmer’s article on Aleteia.
ST. MARK JI TIANXIANG WAS A DOCTOR in 19th century China and served the poor for free. Mark Ji himself contracted a severe stomach ailment and began taking opium as treatment. He soon became addicted.
Mark Ji went to regular confession, trying to fight his addiction. When his confessor realized that Mark Ji kept confessing the same sin, the priest took this as a lack of a firm purpose of amendment or lacking sorrow. These are necessary for a valid confession, and so Mark Ji was denied absolution.
Rather than becoming despondent and leaving the Church, or giving in completely to his powerlessness over his addiction, Ji continued to attend Mass. He never had a desire to leave the Church, and so he kept returning to Mass and to prayer. He prayed for martyrdom every year in his yearning for Heaven and to be released from the misery of his addiction.
It took 30 years for martyrdom to finally come. Mark Ji spent 30 years without the sacraments, but by some accounts he had finally become clean from opium during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900, and could return to the sacraments of the Church.
He was rounded up with 119 other Chinese Catholics in July 1900, during the anti-foreign, anti-colonial, and anti-Christian Boxer Rebellion. St. Mark Ji Tianxiang did not waver in his proclamation of the Faith. By some accounts he begged the executioners to murder him last, so that each of his children and grandchildren would not die alone, but he would be there to encourage them in their journey to Heaven. St. Mark Ji was beheaded on July 7, 1900, martyred for his Catholic Faith and by some accounts still suffering from active opium addiction.
Join all of us at Intercessory Counseling & Wellness as we ask St. Mark Ji to intercede on our behalf and for all our clients. We pray as we journey through the trials of this life and look forward to meeting St. Mark Ji, and all the saints in Heaven, together with our blessed Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Image courtesy of the Holy Transfiguration Monastery.