DÍAZ DEL RINCÓN, FRANCISCO, ST.

Dominican priest, martyr; b. Oct. 2, 1713, Ecija, Spain; d. Oct. 28, 1748, Fujian (Fuzhou), China. Son of a wealthy family, Francisco's father tried to persuade him to accept the benefice that belonged to the family rather than joining the mendicant Dominicans. Nevertheless, he was professed a Dominican at Ecija, Spain in 1731. Five years later (1736), he was in Manila, where he studied Chinese in preparation for the mission he had desired from childhood. Finally in 1738 he arrived in the Fujian mission in China, where he labored in secret for eight years. Because his health was frail, when persecution followed the publication of a libel against the Christians of Fujian, he was given permission to return to Manila. He refused to abandon his persecuted flock. He was captured (June 29, 1746) and imprisoned at Fuzhou. He, Francisco Serrano, and Juan alcober were tortured to betray the location of Bishop Pedro sanz. Fr. Joachim Royo Pérez turned himself in to authorities to spare them further torment. All were sentenced to death in December 1746 and branded on the face as criminals. He was strangled one night in his prison cell together with Juan Alcober, Joachim Royo Pérez, and Francisco Serrano to prevent them from converting their jailors. Local Christians collected and preserved their relics. He was beatified May 14, 1893 and canonized (Oct. 1, 2000) by Pope John Paul II with Augustine Zhao Rong and companions.

Feast: June 5.

Bibliography: m. j. savignol, Les Martyrs dominicains de la Chine au XVIII ^e siècle (Paris 1893). h. i. iweins, Le Bx Pierre Sanz et ses quatre compagnons (Ostende 1893). j. m. gonzÁlez, Misiones dominicanas en China, 1700–1750 (Madrid 1952). m. j. dorcy, Saint Dominic's Family (Dubuque 1963), 484–87.

[k. i. rabenstein]