Lei Mingyuan: the Chinese heart of "Anti Japanese War priest"
2022-05-26
In 1937, Japan launched an all-out war of aggression against China in an attempt to "win Shanxi in one month". In October of that year, the Japanese troops attacked Shanxi and the battle of Niangziguan broke out. On October 16, 1937, the Chinese Army confronted the Japanese army in the southeast highland of Jiuguan. The war was terrible and the wounded soldiers on the front line were endless. The troops originally responsible for transporting the wounded soldiers on the front line were unable to rescue them. At this time of crisis, an old man with deep eyes and high nose rushed to the front line with his rescue team. In order to save manpower, they temporarily changed the original stretcher of four people to one of two people, shuttling through the flying gunfire to rescue the wounded soldiers. The old man is the famous "Anti Japanese War priest". Lei Mingyuan is 60 years old this year. In March 1901, Belgian priest Lei Ming boarded the devastated Chinese land in Tianjin. At this time, China was at the crossroads of history after the Boxer Movement. As soon as he arrived in China, he deeply felt the special flavor of the times and began to think and practice the way out of Catholicism in China. Lei Mingyuan first preached in Beijing and Hebei, actively imitated Ricci's cultural adaptation strategy, learned Chinese culture, read Chinese books, used Chinese in daily life, and learned to write with a brush; Wear Chinese clothes, eat and live according to the Chinese lifestyle, and even learn to smoke Chinese dry cigarettes and live like a Chinese. In 1906, Lei Mingyuan was sent to Tianjin to preside over the educational administration. Just arrived in the thundering distance of Tianjin, took off the French flag hanging in the church and replaced it with the Chinese flag. However, Catholicism at this time faced more severe challenges than Catholicism at the end of the Ming Dynasty. After decades of aggression and encroachment on China by Western powers, the contradiction between China and the powers is extremely fierce. At this time, the right of Catholicism in China has been transferred from Portugal to France. The French government regards Catholicism as its sphere of influence, and the church has become a "country within a country". When educating Chinese Clergy and believers, they often elevate the West and belittle China, regard Chinese culture as a backward culture, and suppress the patriotism of Chinese believers. Lei Mingyuan is aware of this serious problem. He will strive to turn Catholicism in China into Chinese Catholicism. In 1916, the "laoxikai" incident occurred in Tianjin, which triggered public protests due to the further expansion of French concessions. In the "laoxikai" incident, the Catholic Church actually became the pioneer of the French colonial authorities. They had many contacts with the French government when building the church. The French consul at that time also said that the church created conditions for them to occupy laoxikai. As a vice bishop, Lei Ming is far from accepting this blatant violation of China's sovereignty, let alone the church as a colonial tool. Despite the Bishop's injunction, he made a public speech calling on China to boycott France with one heart and one mind. Lei Mingyuan also wrote a letter to the French minister, saying that this illegal rampage is not good for France or the church, and hopes that the minister will stop it. After receiving the letter, the French minister warned Lei Mingyuan that if he continued to participate in the matter, he would be expelled from the Lao Xikai area, so the church demoted him and transferred him from Tianjin. Lei Mingyuan knows that China's Catholicism is controlled by the colonists. If the Chinese people cannot obtain the autonomy of the church, Catholicism will never develop healthily in China. Lei Mingyuan stressed that the patriotism of Chinese believers is legitimate. Lei Mingyuan pointed out some sharp phenomena. Missionaries talked about patriotism in two scales. They described Chinese patriotism as "unnatural, noisy", "partial and fierce", "easy to make people crazy", regarded Chinese patriotism as a "defect", while they regarded Western patriotism as "glory". Lei Mingyuan stressed that Chinese Catholics also have patriotic rights and obligations. The church should not only respect this patriotism, but also cultivate this spirit. But Lei Ming was far from naive enough to believe that western missionaries would really cultivate the patriotism of Chinese believers, so he proposed that the Chinese people should be bishops of the Chinese Church themselves. At this time, it has been more than 200 years since the death of Luo Wenzao, the first Chinese bishop, but there is no Chinese bishop. Although there were constant calls to consecrate Chinese bishops, Western missionaries opposed the matter on the grounds of the low quality of Chinese clergy. They also claimed that the appointment of Chinese bishops would lead to the division of the church. What western missionaries and colonists really feared was that the Chinese bishops would make Catholicism out of their control, so they always resisted it. Lei Mingyuan refuted their negative views on Chinese clergy. He listed the bad deeds of foreign bishops and named in detail those Chinese priests with excellent conduct. In order to break through the control of foreign missionaries over Chinese Catholicism, Lei Mingyuan proposed to abolish the right to protect the church. France, which has the right to protect China's religion, coerced Catholicism into its colonial cause, hurting Chinese believers. Lei Mingyuan communicated directly with the Holy See through his friends in the Ministry of missionary affairs of the Holy See, prompting the Holy See to take action. Chinese Catholics need their own bishops. After receiving Lei Mingyuan's suggestion, the Holy See issued an encyclical in 1919. The encyclical almost completely accepted Lei Mingyuan's suggestion. Some bishops even thought that the encyclical was the Latin translation of Lei Mingyuan's letter. The core spirit of the encyclical is to require all localities to promote the localization of Catholicism, and the appointment of Chinese bishops has been put on the agenda. Lei Mingyuan, who has been repatriated to Europe, recommended several Chinese bishops. On October 28, 1926, all preparations were completed. The Holy See consecrated six Chinese priests as bishops. This is the first time that China has a Chinese bishop after Luo Wenzao. The thunder that witnessed this moment was far away, and tears filled my eyes for a long time. In 1927, Lei Mingyuan applied for Chinese nationality. In the last ten years of his life, he devoted himself to the cause of China's war of resistance against Japan. In 1931, when the September 18th Incident broke out, Lei Ming set up a column of "Introduction to Japanese public opinion" in Yishi Bao to actively publicize the Anti Japanese war. Lei Mingyuan made a will and threw himself into the front line of the war of resistance against Japan. In response to the initiative of Ma Xiangbo, a famous Catholic patriot, he established a branch of "intolerant society" in Anguo County, Hebei Province. In 1933, the Japanese army attacked Rehe, and the Great Wall war of resistance against Japan broke out. Lei Mingyuan led the "unbearable people's Association" rescue team to the front line. After the Great Wall war of resistance against Japan ended, he was invited by general song Zheyuan to set up a disabled servicemen's correctional home to take care of the soldiers who were disabled for the country in the war. In 1935, the war of Suiyuan broke out. Lei Mingyuan set up a rescue team of more than 200 people and rushed to the front line. He rushed between the front and rear lines and used his influence to raise money for the ambulance team and buy medical equipment and other materials. In 1937, after the July 7th incident, Lei Mingyuan returned to Anguo from Tianjin, set up an ambulance team again, and personally led the team to the front line. Due to the shortage of manpower, Lei Mingyuan and his rescue team rushed directly to the front line of gunfire. During the Wuxiang campaign, the Japanese army occupied the field hospital of the Chinese army. Lei Mingyuan used his identity to disperse the wounded soldiers and place them in churches and parishioners' homes, and some even hid in caves. After the fall of North China in 1938, the border between Shanxi, Hebei and Henan was repeatedly ravaged by Japanese artillery fire. The scene was tragic. The thunder of life and death on the front line was far away, which won the love and respect of officers and soldiers and the people, and renewed the impression of Catholicism among the Chinese people. On June 24, 1940, Lei Ming died of illness in Chongqing. The priest, who was born in Belgium and later joined the Chinese nationality, with his special love for China, directly promoted the localization process of Catholicism in China and dedicated his life to the great cause of national salvation of the Chinese nation. As he said, "don't look at my eyes, don't look at my nose, look at my heart. It's a true Chinese heart!" (outlook new era)
Edit：Yuanqi Tang Responsible editor：Xiao Yu
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