Beda Chang

Beda Chang, S.J. or Chang (Tsan-) Cheng-Min ( 1905 – November 11, 1951) was a Chinese Catholic Jesuit priest and martyr who was tortured to death during a wave of persecution by the atheist communist government.

Father Chang was a popular and influential priest and the dean of faculty of arts at Shanghai’s Catholic Aurora University. ^[1]

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Arrest and execution

Because he refused to renounce his faith and to cooperate with the government in their persecution of the Church, Fr. Chang was arrested, imprisoned, tortured and then died. ^[1][2] A Fr. McGrath, who was in the cell opposite of Fr. Chang, reported that he saw the priest languishing and vomiting in the cell for two months before he died.^[3] Catholics reacted with mass protests and turned out in great numbers for his requiem Mass. ^[1]

Aftermath and veneration as martyr

Fr. Chang’s body was returned to the Church on November 12, 1951, the Shanghai Catholics began to venerate him as a martyr, and the communists took great umbrage – religious martyrdom being a source of embarrassment for them.^[1] After his death, the communist government issued a statement denouncing the prayers and Masses for Chang as a “new type of bacteria warfare by the imperialists – a counterrevolutionary mental bacteria.” ^[4]

After the burial the faithful began visiting Fr. Chang’s grave, the police guarded the grave to prevent veneration, but reports of miracles accomplished through the intercession of Fr. Chang began to be reported. ^[2] The communists then admonished Shanghai’s Bishop Kung (himself later imprisoned for 30 years) that he would be held accountable if Fr. Chang’s intercession resulted in any miracles. ^[2]

Times for Catholic in Shanghai did not improve – for example, on September 8, 1955 the government in Shanghai jailed 1,500 Catholics in a single day. ^[5]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Liu , William T. and Beatrice Leung, The Chinese Catholic Church in Conflict: 1949-2001, p. 68, Universal Publishers 2004
2. ^ ^{a b c} 1952 Speech of Archbishop Fulton Sheen at University of Detroit Jesuit High School and Academy
3. ^ Moreau, Theresa Marie Warrior Priest: Father McGrath and the Battle for the Soul of China
4. ^ Weir, Charlene The Wisdom of the Popes, p. 219, 1957 Macmillan
5. ^ Weir, Charlene The Wisdom of the Popes, p. 219, 1957 Macmillan

Further reading

• Father Beda Chang : Witness for Unity, Catholic Truth Society, Hong Kong 1953

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