Father Jacob Huang Guirong, a 90-year-old priest who waited almost half of his life—about 45 years—to be ordained, died in China. He was also imprisoned for more than a decade by the communist regime that still persecuted the faithful.
Asia News reports that Father Jacob, former apostolic administrator of the Archdiocese of Kunming, died on the afternoon of June 16 in Leping County, eastern China.
He was born on 25 July 1933 (or 1932) in Huaping County, Lijiang. He was the youngest son in his Catholic family and had two sisters. He studied at the local parochial school and then entered the Kunming seminary.
In 1949 the communists came to power, which caused them to close the seminary where they trained.
In 1953 and with the permission of Bishop Luis He Dezong, apostolic administrator of Kunming after the forced departure of the French missionary and Archbishop Alexandre Derouineau, Jacob, already around 20 years old, studied theology and philosophy at the cathedral. But two years later he was forced to work in an auto shop.
That did not prevent him from continuing to be an active member of the local Catholic community, so, in 1966 and with the Cultural Revolution, he was arrested and imprisoned for more than 10 years.
The Cultural Revolution was a sociopolitical movement between 1966 and 1976, initiated by Mao Zedong, then leader of the Chinese Communist Party, whose objective was to preserve Chinese communism by eliminating capitalist and traditional elements of Chinese society, to impose Maoism.
In 1978, when he was released from prison, Jacobo returned to work in a workshop, this time for agricultural machinery, in Mile County. When it closed in 1986, he continued living in the village of Xiaomabu, then working as a carpenter and preaching the Gospel.
In 1994, after completing another year of formation with Bishop He Dezong—who was patiently rebuilding the local Church after the Cultural Revolution—he was deemed fit to be ordained a priest.
The long-awaited ordination took place on 4 June 1995 at Zhaotong Cathedral.
The consecrator was Bishop Matteo Chen Muchen, then 92 years old, who would die two years later, in 1997.
Apostolic Administrator He Dezong assigned him to Lefeng Village, Qujing County. In February 2012 and after the death of Fr. Zhang Wenchang, Fr. Jacob became the new apostolic administrator of Kunming.
The situation became complicated when official bodies controlled by the Chinese Communist Party imposed the episcopal ordination of priest Ma Yinglin, without the corresponding authorization from the Vatican.
Pope Francis settled this matter in 2018 when the provisional agreement between China and the Vatican for the appointment of bishops was first signed and Bishop Ma Yinglin was readmitted to the full communion of the Catholic Church, along with six other Chinese bishops. illicitly ordered like him.
In all these circumstances, Father Jacobo remained an exemplary figure for all. The note sent to Asia News notes that “Father Jacobo was a highly respected priest in the Yunnan Church, who lived a simple and hard life, and was meticulous, conscientious and responsible in his pastoral work.”
“In today’s materialistic society, being able to maintain such a state of purity and remain uncontaminated is a miracle given by God to our times,” the note highlights.
Although the Vatican signed an agreement in 2018 with the communist government of China for the appointment of bishops, renewed in 2020 and 2022, persecution against the Catholic Church has continued. In some cases, it has even gotten worse.
In January of this year, Bishop Peter Shao Zhumin, Bishop of Wenzhou, was arrested after refusing to join the Patriotic Association, the organization created by the communist regime to try to control the Catholic Church in China.
Another important Catholic figure in China who is under siege by the regime is Cardinal Joseph Zen ze-king, 92, who was tried and convicted after being accused of collaborating with pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, who were part of the protests of 2019.