Saint Mary Fan Kun

Saint Maria Fan Kun (1884 in Daji, Hebei, China – June 28, 1900, in Wangla, Hebei) was a saint of the Catholic Church and a martyr. Maria Fan Kun was born in Daji and raised in an orphanage founded by Catholic priests in the village of Wangla. During the Boxer Rebellion, Christians in China were subjected to persecution. On June 24, 1900, rebels seized the village, burned the church, and killed all the Catholics who could not escape. They spared her and three other orphans: Lucia Wang Cheng, Maria Qi Yu, and Maria Zheng Xu. The girls were taken first to Yingjia and later to Mazetang. The Boxer leader proposed marriage to Lucia Wang Cheng, which she refused. At the same time, the rebels attempted to force Maria Fan Kun to marry one of them. This drew condemnation from the rest of the group, who believed their mission was to arrest Catholics and kill those who would not renounce their faith, rather than marry them. Following this incident, the Boxers took the orphans to the village of Mala. The three younger girls cried on the way, and were comforted by Lucia Wang Cheng. Upon arriving in the village of Wangla, all four refused to renounce their faith and were subsequently murdered.