Der Märtyrer vom Dongting-See –Pater Abilio Gallego Abad

(Quelle: Institutum Historicum Augustinianum)

Abilio Gallego Abad kam am 22. Februar 1895 in der spanischen Provinz Palencia als Sohn frommer Bauern zur Welt. Bereits mit 16 Jahren trat er in Valladolid in das Noviziat der Augustiner ein. In seiner Studienzeit muss er besonders durch seinen Missionseifer für China aufgefallen sein, der ihm den Spitznamen „El Chino“ (der Chinese) einbrachte. Im März 1921, neun Monate nach seiner Priesterweihe, traf er im Land seiner Träume ein. Die spanischen Augustiner der Provinz vom heiligsten Namen Jesu auf den Philippinen hatten Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts von Papst Leo XIII. das Apostolische Vikariat Nord-Hunan in Zentralchina erhalten. Dort sammelte der junge Ordensmann auf verschiedenen Missionsstationen erste missionarische Erfahrungen, bevor er seine eigenen Posten erhielt. Allgemein war P. Abilio für seine Demut und seine Armut bekannt; er lebte von kleinen Mengen einfachster Nahrung wie einer Handvoll Mais mit etwas Reis. So erhielt er bald den ehrfurchtsvollen Spitznamen „der Arme“. Sein ganzes Leben lang pflegte er eine große Liebe zur heiligen Eucharistie und zur Mutter Gottes. Diese Frömmigkeit und sein hoher aszetischer Zug verbanden sich mit seiner Liebenswürdigkeit und seinem feinen Kunstsinn. Er schrieb Gedichte und Theaterstücke, wobei er letztere als eine besonders geeignete Katechesemethode betrachtete.

Wie viele andere Missionare war Pater Abilio den häufigen Unruhen im China der 1920er Jahre ausgesetzt. In Ganfu wurden einmal seine Kirche und Residenz niedergebrannt, weshalb er nach Hankow flüchten musste. Als er im August 1933 mit seinen Katechisten Andreas Chang und dem Missionsgehilfen Karl von Hwajung nach Yochow zur Feier des Festes des heiligen Augustinus reisen wollte, wurde ihr Segelboot von Räubern überfallen. Andreas Chang und Pater Abilio Gallego wurden gefesselt und von Bord an Land geschleppt, wo beide den Tod fanden. Die Räuber schlitzten dem knienden Pater Abilio die Kehle und den Brustkorb über dem Herz auf. Die Leichen wurden am 25. August von Soldaten am Ufer des Dongting-Sees geborgen und an die Mission in Yochow übergeben, wo ein feierliches Requiem gehalten wurde, bevor man die Särge nach Yalan überführte.

Der Informativprozess für die Diener Gottes Abilio Gallego Abad und Karl Chang wurde im Jahr 2004 in der Diözese Palencia eröffnet.

Fray Martín de Rada, Augustinian pioneer in China

Fr. de Rada came to the Philippines as a missionary in the early 1560s. In light of the Spanish interest in China, he traveled there in 1575 to observe the local customs, summarizing his findings in his work "Relaçion verdadera de las cosas del Reyno de Taibin". A man of great erudition, he collected a number of Chinese books on a variety of topics ranging from medicine to mathematics to religion to better understand the ideas of the people in the Celestial Empire. Some researchers consider his journey the first scientific exploration of China by a European.
Fr. de Rada showed himself open-minded towards societal norms in China, permitting his delegation to do the "kowtow" prostration before the viceregent. He argued that such a sign of respect could contribute to the conversion of this great empire, "which the demon held in its power".
There are some claims on the internet that he proposed the armed conquest of China, but I have found no source to corroborate this. His goals appear to have been strictly missionary.

To celebrate the election of our Holy Father Pope Leo XIV, I plan to write more extensively about the Augustinian missions in China (and possibly beyond) soon.

Über das Missionskreuz

Franziskanermissionare mit Missionskreuz in China

Wenn die Missionare ausziehen in die Heidenländer, so empfangen sie beim Abschied das Missionskreuz, das ihr steter Begleiter bleiben wird. Es ist ihr Buch, um den rechten Missionsgeist zu erlernen, ihr Stolz und ihre Freude, ihre Liebe und Begeisterung, Stab und Stütze, Trost und Zuversicht. Es erzählt ihnen von ihres Heilandes Seelenliebe, seinem Opfergeist, seiner Berufstreue bis in den Tod; von seinem Siege über Tod und Hölle, seinen herrlichen Verdiensten und Erfolgen, seinem Triumph und seiner ewigen Herrlichkeit.

Dieses Kreuz zeigen die Missionare den Heiden und verkünden den staunenden Kindern der Wildnis die Liebe ihres Gottes, der für sie litt und starb. Da wird das Kreuz zu einem Magnet, der die Seelen anzieht und hinzieht zur Liebe Jesu Christi.

 P. Hermann Fischer S.V.D. in „Beispielsammlung aus der Heidenmission für den christlichen Unterricht“

*Natürlich kann man nicht jedes Missionsland als „Wildnis“ bezeichnen. Die Bezeichnung dient zur Veranschaulichung.

Der gestohlene Katechismus bekehrt den Dieb

 

Chinesisches Katechismusposter zum Thema „Du sollst nicht stehlen“
 (Quelle: Chinese Christian Posters)

Die Christen von Sum-si-sein wurden beim Mandarin verleumdet, als seien sie Mitglieder einer geheimen Gesellschaft, deren Zweck auf Umsturz des kaiserlichen Throns gerichtet sei. Um die Sache näher zu untersuchen, begab sich der Mandarin zu den Christen und nahm, um seiner Sache ganz gewiss zu werden, einen Katechismus und eine Übersicht der Beweise für unsere heilige Religion zu sich. Drei Tage las er in diesen Schriften und schickte sie dann durch einen Gerichtsdiener zurück. Dieser an Dieberei gewöhnte Mann behielt den Katechismus für sich, was aber gegen alle Erwartung in Gottes Hand ein Mittel war, den Dieb zu bekehren. Aus Neugier las er in dem gestohlenen Buch; da gingen ihm die Augen auf, das Licht der Wahrheit leuchtete in seine Seele und er wurde ein eifriger Christ.

(Aus: Annalen der Verbreitung des Glaubens, 1864)

Ein Greis sprintet zur heiligen Messe

 Wir haben hier in Noma, so berichtet ein Missionar aus Südafrika, eine kleine Gemeinde von 1200 Christen, die uns vielen Trost bereitet. Der christliche Geist dringt mehr und mehr in sie ein, und die Mission macht wirklich Fortschritte. Der größte Teil unserer Neuchristen beichtet jeden Monat, nur wenige lassen es drei Monate werden; eine gute Zahl geht alle vierzehn Tage zu den Sakramenten. Am ersten Freitag im Monat erscheinen nie weniger als 200 Neuchristen am Tische des Herrn, um die Sühnekommunion des göttlichen Herzens zu empfangen. 

Kürzlich sah ich einen Greis von achtzig Jahren ganz erschöpft herankommen. „Was gibt es, mein Lieber,“ fragte ich ihn, „du scheinst recht müde zu sein?“ „Ja, Pater, ich war noch weit weg, als die Glocke läutete, und aus Furcht, zu spät zu kommen, versuchte ich zu laufen. Ich habe das schon viele Jahre nicht mehr getan. Aber der liebe Gott hat mir geholfen; ich lief, und sieh, nun bin ich gerade zum Beginn der heiligen Messe gekommen.“ Und der Alte strahlte bei diesen Worten vor Freude. Besonderen Eifer zeigten unsere Christen im Rosenkranzmonat. Täglich war die Kirche gefüllt, und zwar bereits morgens zur Sechs-Uhr-Messe, obgleich manche der guten Leute zwei Stunden weit zu gehen hatte. –Wie beschämen diese guten Neuchristen doch so viele Namenchristen in Europa!

(Aus: die katholischen Missionen, 1893)

From Muslim crown prince to Jesuit priest

Muley Muhammad el-Attaz (sometimes styled “el Abbas”) was born in 1631 in the Moroccan city of Fez as the son of the Saadian sultan Abd al-Malik al-Mu'tasim and his Andalusian wife Huali. The young crown prince was an accomplished commander and well-versed in the Quran. Sometime in the 1650s, he attempted to cross the Mediterranean to make the Hajj, but was captured by the Maltese. His captivity was mild and Muley Muhammad received the permission to gather other Muslims around him to explain the Quran to them. Yet when his ransom had been paid by the ruler of Tunis, he refused to return and instead asked to be received into the Catholic Church. On 31 July 1656 the crown prince of the Saddian dynasty was baptized, taking the name Baltasar Loyola de Mendez in honor of Baltasar Mandols, the commander of the Maltese Order who had captured him, and of the great saint on whose feast day he was baptized. Baltasar soon started studying for the priesthood and in 1661 entered the Society of Jesus in Rome.

After his priestly ordination, Fr. Loyola de Mendez worked successfully among the Muslim captives of Genoa, Naples, and other Italian ports, converting up to 2,000 of them. It is said that he even called a notable Muslim scholar from a well-known mosque in Fez to his side, converting him to Christianity. Fr. Baltasar desired to return to Morocco to preach the Gospel there, but was prevented from doing so by the civil war raging against Saadian rule. Instead, the Jesuit general granted him the permission to travel to the Muslim Mughal Empire as a missionary.

While traveling across southern Europe to reach India, the former crown prince garnered much attention among the clergy and the people, who called him the "king of the Jesuits". His meek yet regal demeanor made a lasting impression.

A portrait of Fr. Baltasar Mendez de Loyola, painted secretly without his knowledge

Unfortunately, his life was cut short by a fever he contracted in Madrid, where on his deathbed he converted the Moroccan slave of his doctor. Fr. Baltasar Loyola de Mendez, S.J. died on 15 September 1667. He was buried with royal honors at the behest of the Queen of Spain.

Fr. Baltasar's life soon inspired many plays in the Jesuits' educational institutions an beyond, with Calderón's "El gran príncipe de Fez" being the most famous.

A short missionary history of Afghanistan

 

The coat of arms of the sui iuris mission of Afghanistan. The motto Orietur stella, a star shall rise, is taken from the Book of Numbers, alluding to the Messiah. The processional cross of Herat is shown in the background. (Source: Duneir)

Afghanistan, despite having been called “the crossroads of Asia”, has been one of the least accessible missionary territories for the Catholic Church, as a permanent Catholic presence that engages in missionary work among the peoples of Afghanistan has yet to be established. Nonetheless, the relatively short history of the Church in the Hindu Kush is a fascinating and eventful one.

Uncertain beginnings

There is no conclusive proof of a Catholic presence in the area of modern-day Afghanistan in apostolic times. While the historic region of Bactria, which includes parts of Afghanistan, is said to have been visited by St. Thomas the Apostle, there is no evidence he visited Afghanistan proper. The earliest Christian presence is certainly East Syriac in origin, with the Assyrian Church of the East, also referred to as the Nestorian church, having established dioceses in that part of the Persian Empire in the 5^th century. Herat in western Afghanistan became an important Metropolitan See. The Islamic conquest would reach Afghanistan in 642, although full Islamicization was not completed in most of Afghanistan until centuries later. The Pahlavi inscriptions on the so-called Processional cross of Herat, dating back to the 7^th century, bear testimony to the theological struggle with the new religion from Arabia. “There are no three gods” is one of the affirmations on the cross, countering the prevalent Islamic accusation that Christians are polytheists. By the 14^th century, the Nestorian community had disappeared, and Afghanistan had become nearly entirely Muslim with a small pagan pocket in today’s Nuristan province, which was converted to Islam in the late 19^th century.

The processional cross of Herat (source: Sasanika Project)

 Centuries of sporadic contact

Although Western and Central Asia were visited by Catholic missionaries in the Middle Ages, Afghanistan remained secluded. While both Blessed Oderic of Pordenone and John of Montecorvino visited Persia in the 14^th century, they bypassed Afghanistan in their travels. The first recorded visit of a Catholic missionary to Afghanistan is that of Fr. Antoni de Montserrat, one of the Jesuits who visited the court of the Mughal Emperor Akbar I. Akbar I was friendly towards the European missionaries and asked de Montserrat to accompany him on his military expedition to Afghanistan in 1581. The next year, Fr. de Montserrat’s Portuguese confrere Bento de Góis passed through northern Afghanistan on his way to China. De Góis’ short stay would be the last validated Catholic foray into Afghanistan for nearly 300 years.

Bento de Góis, S.J.

When the British Empire fought the Second Anglo-Afghan War from 1878 to 1880, the Holy See asked the Mill Hill Missionaries to provide the pastoral care for the Catholics among the British soldiers. The plan was for Mill Hill to staff a permanent mission after British victory, but this idea was abandoned and the missionaries withdrew to the British Indian side where they would take over the Apostolic Prefecture of Kafiristan and Kashmir. It would take another 50 years for the next chapter of Church history in Afghanistan to be written—in a most unlikely way.

A 70-year-old parish priest as a one-man missionary expedition

One day in the spring of 1928, the 70-year-old parish priest of St. Peter and Paul in Chicago, Fr. George Blatter, read a story about Afghanistan in a missionary magazine. The thought that there was no missionary in the country and preaching any other religion than Islam would carry the death sentence deeply affected him. Did Christ not command to go and teach all nations? He decided to travel to the forbidden empire to offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass there to pave the way for future missionaries. Fr. Blatter bade leave from his archbishop, Cardinal Mundelein, who gave him his blessing. Finally, on July 23, 1930, after a long trip by sea and land and having to wait to get his documents in order, he was able cross into Afghanistan. Despite many difficulties, such as being spied on, he was able to achieve the goal of his daring journey: celebrate Holy Mass in Afghanistan. Undeterred by the suspicion to which government agents subjected him, he would wear his priestly collar in public and oftentimes the cassock as well.

Fr. Blatter was invited to the Royal Court of King Mohammed Nadir Khan, whose minister of Foreign Affairs listened with interest to the Catholic priest explaining Christianity and suggesting the construction of pharmacies and hospitals. The king himself received him in an audience and wished him well.

After contracting Malaria in September 1930, Fr. Blatter had to leave Afghanistan for good but subsequently traveled to Bangalore in India to report to the Apostolic Delegature, which took steps to provide money for the first permanent missionary in Afghanistan. On January 20, 1932, George Blatter was received by Pope Pius XI in a private audience. He told the Holy Father that he wanted to return to Afghanistan despite his old age. His wish did not come true and Blatter died in Chicago in 1937. Nonetheless, he was instrumental in ushering in the longest continuous Catholic presence in the history of the country.

The Barnabites and the sui iuris mission

Already in the early 1920s, King Ammanullah had shown his willingness to permit European embassies to receive a Catholic priest for their pastoral needs. It appears as if Pope Pius XI seized this opportunity of Blatter’s recent contact with King Mohammed’s court to send a priest to Afghanistan. On 25 January 1931, the “Pope of the missions” wrote to the superior general of the Clerics Regular of St. Paul (Barnabites), Fr. Ferdinando Napoli: “Sons of St. Paul, you must embrace with enthusiasm the opportunity that opens the door for you to evangelize new peoples. You will write one of the most beautiful pages of the history of your congregation, because it is up to you, after twenty centuries of Christianity, to be the first to penetrate this land and bring the light of the Gospel there. It will continue to cost sacrifices, but without sacrifice there are no great works.” The Barnabites would send the learned Fr. Egidio Caspani and who would go on to become the first superior of the US province of the Barnabites. He was accompanied by Fr. Ernesto Cagnacci, who had to hide his priestly identity in Afghanistan and present himself as Fr. Caspani’s “study aide”, as only one official priest was permitted in the country. A chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Divine Providence was built on the premises of the Italian embassy, thus avoiding the diplomatic headaches of building a church on what was considered Muslim territory. Frs. Caspani and Cagnacci served the European community and traveled the land doing research, but did not engage in active missionary ministry. When these first two Barnabites left for the United States, they were replaced by Fr. Giovanni Bernasconi. Caspani would later publish the book “Afghanistan, crocevie dell'Asia“ (Afghanistan, crossroads of Asia), about his experience in the country.

In 1954, the Barnabites were joined by the Little Sisters of Jesus in Kabul, who were going to work as nurses at the government hospital for many decades. Another Catholic presence was that of Fr. Serge de Beaurecueil, O.P., who gave lectures on Islamic mysticism at the University of Kabul and took care of street children. He had to leave Afghanistan when the Soviets invaded in 1983. The first Taliban government would not permit any other Catholic religious than the Little Sisters to work in Afghanistan. The Barnabites had to recall Fr. Giuseppe Moretti, then the only priest in the country.

When the international coalition toppled the Taliban in 2001, a new chapter began for the Church in Afghanistan. Pope John Paul II asked Fr. Moretti to return, and the first Mass in nearly a decade was offered on 27 January 2002 by Fr. Ivan Lai, O.F.M. for ISAF soldiers and civilian personnel of foreign countries. On 16 May 2002, the Pope established a sui iuris mission led by the Barnabites. The number of religious increased moderately, and the Church opened a technical school in Herat. The case of Abdul Rahman, an Afghan man who converted to Catholicism in the 1990s and was sentenced to death for apostasy from Islam by the new Western-backed government in 2006, illustrates the great obstacles to genuine missionary work in the country. Western pressure finally led to his acquittal and exit from Afghanistan.

During the period of heightened Taliban insurgency, there was a ray of hope: On 13 October 2017, on the anniversary of the final apparitions of Our Lady in Fatima, Fr. Giovanni Scalese, the superior of the mission, consecrated the country to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

The current situation

The second Taliban takeover foreseeably brought another end to the Catholic mission in Afghanistan. Fr. Scalese has expressed his desire to return to the country, but the increasingly fanatical stance of the Taliban government makes this prospect highly unlikely. In 2024, Pope Francis called on the international community for the “forgotten” people of Afghanistan as the country was affected by severe floods.

May Afghanistan not be forgotten in the prayers of the Church and her children, so that many a glorious page of Afghan Church history will still be written.

Sources:

Vatican News, “Pope's appeal for Afghanistan helps a 'forgotten' people”
https://www.vaticannews.va/en/church/news/2024-05/last-priest-to-have-been-in-afghanistan-pope-appeal-helps.html

Mill Hill Missionaries, “Part 5: Mission to South Asia”
https://millhillmissionaries.com/our-history/part-5-mission-to-south-asia/

 L’Osservatore Romano,“Non v’è opera grande senza sacrifici” https://www.osservatoreromano.va/it/news/2020-10/quo-248/non-v-e-opera-grande-senza-sacrifici.html

NSC Network, “The Pahlavi inscribed Processional Cross of Herat, Afghanistan  and the Pahlavi Crosses of South India: A Comparative Study of  Religio Cultural traditions  of  the Churches of India and Parthia”’
https://www.nasrani.net/cross-study-religio-cultural-traditions-churches-india-parthia/

Wikipedia, “Mission sui iuris of Afghanistan”
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_sui_juris_d%27Afghanistan

Die Weltmission der katholischen Kirche, 1935 Nr. 3/4