CARDINAL KUNG

In his Mission magazine in 1957, Bishop Fulton Sheen wrote: "The West has its Mindszenty, but the East has its Kung. God is glorified in His saints."

Pope Benedict XVI said in May 2007: "It must not be forgotten that many Bishops have undergone persecution and have been impeded in the exercise of their ministry, and some of them have made the Church fruitful with the shedding of their blood "

*Dong Lu was consecrated as the Shrine for Our Lady of China in 1932 by Pope Pius XI.

*Even though the Chinese government tried to stop the annual pilgrimage to Dong Lu, over 100,000 "illegal" underground Catholics braved the physical abuses, roadblocks, and other restrictions to pray at the shrine in May, 1995.

*Holy Mother rewarded the pilgrims with a spectacular apparition on May 23, 1995. This miracle, witnessed by over 30,000 pilgrims, was certified by the Bishop of Baoding.

*Dong Lu is the home to forty of the 120 martyr saints canonized by Pope John Paul II in October 1, 2000.

*In April and May, 1996, the Chinese government mobilized 5000 troops, about thirty armored vehicles, and some helicopters in order to seal off a tiny village called Dong Lu in Hebei province and to destroy a Marian shrine there.

*The Statue of Holy Mary at the Marian shrine in Dong LU was confiscated.

Pope John Paul II had also said in September, 1994: "The great majority of Chinese Catholics, precisely in order to live this fidelity in fullness, have chosen the path of suffering and silence. With deep affection, our hearts turn to these brothers and sisters of ours who suffer great hardship, thankful for their generous and heroic example."