The biography of Mariano Alegria, a prominent missionary in Kweiteh, Henan, China, ceased to be written in his youth, at the age of 45, when his life was cut short in a cruel massacre perpetrated by the Japanese in Manila in 1945.
Mariano Alegria de San José (born December 1, 1899, in Ablitas, Navarre, Spain) was a prominent religious of the Recollect mission in China. He entered the novitiate in 1914 and made his simple profession on December 23, 1915. He continued his formation in theology and, in 1920, made his solemn profession in the convent of Marcilla.
In 1922, he was ordained a priest in the Philippines, where he served as parish priest in Canoan before being called to be part of the first expedition of friars for the China Mission. He arrived in Kweiteh (now called Shangqiu) on April 4, 1924, accompanied by other missionary Recollects.
Father Alegria devoted himself to studying Chinese despite the difficulties and lack of resources. He stood out for his mastery of the language and guided the new religious in their learning. During his first year on the mission, he founded the Chenliku and Ningling missions. After that, he was appointed parish priest of the mission’s central church in Kweiteh, Shangqiu, a position he held until the end of his stay at the mission.
In 1928, he assumed essential responsibilities and was appointed pro-prefect or vicar general by Father Francisco Javier Ochoa, apostolic prefect of the new Prefecture of Kweiteh. He also held the office of provincial religious delegate.
Father Alegría contributed significantly to the missionary magazine “Todos Misioneros” with his chronicles and articles. In addition, he was interim rector of the newly opened minor seminary.
In 1930, Mariano Alegría was left in charge of the Prefecture while Father Ochoa was on vacation and trying to get nuns for the mission. It wasn’t an easy year. The city of Kweiteh was besieged and attacked by the northern army, with only the mission’s headquarters receiving seventeen hits of various kinds.
When, in the late 1930s, there began to be some peace, Father Alegría made an effort to finish building the new church in Kweiteh, which he would bless and dedicate to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
He also purchased an adequate plot of land adjacent to the mission to accommodate the renovated minor seminary.
Father Alegría also collaborated with the School of Catechists as part of the examining board that would grant the candidates’ official graduation of Catechist of the Mission.
After twelve years of constant work and physical and moral suffering, Alegria returned to the homeland to rest. During this time, he said his final farewell to his elderly mother, promoted the missionary cause, and inspired a young religious, Fr. Venancio Martinez, to accompany him to the mission. On his return, the faithful of the mission, who loved him as a father and benefactor, gave him a splendid and unforgettable welcome.
In 1937, the Holy See established the Prefecture of Kweiteh as Apostolic Vicariate and appointed Father Ochoa as Vicar Apostolic. Among the lists presented to the Holy See by the apostolic delegate for the office of prefect, first, and vicar, Father Alegria appeared in both. However, he was not included in either of the two lists presented by the Order. The reason is that the superiors did not want to lose Father Alegria as the religious superior since he was humble, pious, zealous for religious observance, understanding, humane, and prudent.
The Japanese invasion of China marked the time of the Apostolic Vicariate. On May 20, 1938, Japanese planes bombed the city and the mission. Bombs caused significant material damage. All was destroyed. All the mission members, except Fathers Mariano Alegria and Joaquin Peña, took refuge in the Protestant hospital on the town’s outskirts. Fathers Mariano Alegria and Joaquin Peña saw that the Japanese soldiers did not respect the missions or foreigners’ residences; therefore, they decided to take refuge in the hospital. When they were able to return to the mission, they found it stripped of everything.
The destruction of the dams on the Yellow River to stop the Japanese cost the lives of nearly a million people who drowned, and another million had to evacuate and move to Kweiteh to live next to other victims in complete misery, hunger, and extreme insecurity.
Bishop Ochoa clearly understood the new situation and decided that each district should take in as many hungry people as possible and feed them with the money allocated to each of them. The Vicariate fed between 3000 and 3500 people over three months.
On September 3, 1941, Father Mariano Alegria was elected by the Provincial Chapter to be the Prior of the St. Nicholas convent in Manila, so he had to abandon the mission and obediently go to his new assignment.
The departure of Father Alegria caused the relationship between Bishop Ochoa and the missionaries to lose much of its balance since Father Alegria was a counterweight to Bishop Ochoa and, with his mediation, managed to calm most of the tensions and conflicts that arose between them.
On February 19, 1945, Father Mariano Alegria was cruelly murdered along with other Recollect brothers in Manila by the Japanese.
