Sep 12, 2007 / 08:41 am
A Chinese underground bishop, arrested 11 times by Chinese authorities during his episcopacy, died Sept. 9. He was imprisoned at the time.
Bishop Han Dingxiang of Yong Nian in Hebei Province died at the end of his almost eight years of imprisonment by Chinese authorities at the age of 71.
According to the Cardinal Kung Foundation, the government authority ordered that the bishop’s remains be cremated at approximately 5 a.m. the next morning. His ashes were buried immediately in a public cemetery and no priests or other faithful were allowed to be present at his burial.
With the exception of a few of his very close relatives, who were suddenly summoned by the government authority to his bedside before his death, none of his priests and other faithful were aware of his grave illness or the cause leading to his death. His last request before drifting into a coma was for his congregation to recite more rosaries.