Paul Liu Hanzuo

Paul Liu Hanzuo was born in 1778 in Sichuan, China. His family was devoutly Catholic. His family was incredibly poor.  He wasn’t able to attend school as a child.  When he was 24 he joined the seminary.  He was allowed to study philosophy and theology in Chinese because he didn’t know Latin. In his 30’s, he was ordained a priest for the congregation of Paris Foreign Missions Society. He was a missionary in Sichuan.  This is now known as the Roman Catholic Diocese of Chengdu.

Christians were persecuted in China then.  He worked selling vegetables during the day so he could offer then Mass at night.  He was turned in to authorities by a local carpenter.  He was arrested while he was offering the mass on August 15, 1817. He was given two choices by government authorities.  He was to either renounce his faith or pay a huge bribe to be released from jail.  He didn’t have enough money to pay the bribe and he refused to renounce his faith.   He was ordered to be executed. The court ordered him strangled to death on February 13, 1818,  at the Square of Execution at the East Gate of Sichuan, China.