1748 - Francis Serrano

October 28, 1748

Fuzhou, Fujian

Francis Serrano.

Born in Granada, Spain, in 1691, Francis Serrano Frias joined the Dominican Order in his hometown and was considered a holy and virtuous man. In 1725 he departed Spain for the Philippines, and a short time later was reassigned to work in China’s Fujian Province where he was highly respected as a pastor. It was said of Serrano,

“He was gifted with endurance to the extreme, a tremendous personal vitality. In those difficult times, he often had to disguise himself as a peasant, and cross forests and rivers at night in order to administer the Sacraments to the Christians and give them encouragement…. Serrano is a living reminder of death. But he works as energetically as a lion for the benefit of souls.”[1]

Serrano’s success in disguising himself from the authorities finally ended in June 1746. He was arrested and taken to the Fuzhou Prison, where he was interrogated and tortured for the next 28 months. One of his ears was permanently damaged from the beatings he endured. The interrogators were desperate to obtain the names of key Chinese Catholics who had protected Serrano, but he refused to give them any of the information they desired. In those days when a criminal was sentenced to death he was branded across his face. Serrano wrote, “Our hearts exulted. We were branded as slaves of Jesus Christ. Since our great Lord accepts us, these heads of ours are no longer ours any more, but the Lord’s. He can take them whenever he wishes.”[2]

On the night of October 28, 1748, Francis Serrano was put to death by suffocation in his prison cell. He had lived his 57-years to the full, and had spent 23 of those preaching the gospel in China.