Lucas Wang’s missionary career unfolded under exhaustive controls and strong pressures that affected the depths of his being, having to live in a sea of doubts.
The Origins of Lucas Wang
Lucas Wang Yong Xiu was born on February 21, 1921, in Luozi Xiang Village, China, Xiayi subprefecture. Catholic since he was a boy, he had the opportunity to meet the missionaries Sabino Elizondo and Julián Sáenz, who evangelized the subprefecture in 1925.
Entry into the Seminary and religious profession
In 1933, Lucas entered the minor seminary of Saint Augustine, in the mission of Kweiteh/Shangqiu. In 1939 he continued his priestly studies at the Regional Seminary of Kaifeng. On September 23, 1943, he entered the Augustinian Recollect novitiate in Kweiteh with the ceremony of taking the habit. After a year of novitiate, he took his vows as an Augustinian Recollect on September 24, 1944.
Priestly Ordination of Lucas Wang
He continued his theology studies at Kweiteh. In March 1948, due to the concern of the provincial on the future of the Chinese seminarians with the arrival of the communists, Lucas Wang was sent along with other seminarians to the Jiangsu province, to the Vicariate of Suchowfu, to be ordained a priest. This is how on June 29, 1948, Lucas Wang, along with Nicholas Shi and Joseph She, received priestly ordination.
On September 7, 1948, Lucas Wang moved to Shanghai and then to Hong Kong, where he joined the other seminarians to complete his studies and attend classes on missiology taught to priests. In December 1949, he moved to Manila.
Father Lucas Wang’s Ministry in Yucheng
When Monsignor Arturo Quintanilla assumed charge of him in the mission after his episcopal consecration, he saw that the communists had not bothered the missionaries much in the city of Kweiteh and allowed religious celebrations. In a situation like this, the bishop asked superiors to send five Chinese priests back to the mission Manila residents: Lucas Wang, José She, José Wang, Marcos She and Pedro Kuo. The Superiors agreed to the request.
In 1950 Father Lucas Wang returned to Kweiteh, but due to problems registering, he was taken to Yucheng, where Father Joseph Shan was. The latter tells how life was there:
Fr. Lucas Wang is living with me in Yucheng. As soon as he arrived, I cut the girl’s hair. “Foreigner” that he brought from Manila because here it would have been a cause of inconvenience more than another thing. He has already managed to register in the Yucheng civil registry. He helps me a lot to make visits to the Christian communities. Help me, likewise, as the best laborer, to carve the vegetable garden. “He is very good and endures all kinds of difficulties very well.
In 1955 Lucas Wang was imprisoned, but he was released in 1957 and sent on the mission of Chutsi. In 1962 some movements were allowed for Catholics, and Father Lucas took the opportunity to carry out a certain apostolate. However, in 1966, the Cultural Revolution once again repressed evangelization, leading Father Lucas to face criticism, slander, humiliating treatment, constant interrogations, and surveillance.
Reopening of the Station Church (Chutsi) and the last years of Lucas Wang
In 1981 the Kweiteh Station Catholic Church was allowed to open and in 1982 reestablished the Patriotic Church. Father Lucas Wang was welcomed and served as vice director in this association at the local level. The relationship between both churches involved many difficulties for both Christians and their pastors. Since then, Father Lucas has worked tirelessly in the Parish of the Immaculate Conception, in the modern area of Shangqiu, the old station. Father Lucas lived a true purgatory. Tears flowed as he remembered the constant intimidation and moral torture of interrogations. He suffered doubts and the pressure of suspicion, but at least in his last years, he could enjoy community life.
On March 13, 2008, at the age of 87, Father Lucas Wang passed away suddenly in Shangqiu due to a heart attack.
