When you meet an exceptional person, the question that arises spontaneously is: What is the reason for this exceptionality? In the case of Nicolás Shi, it must be said the strength of character, deep faith, prudence, apostolic intrepidity, love for the Church, and Augustinian Recollects.
Origins of Nicholas Shi
Nicholas Shi was born on February 3, 1921, in the village of Seliulou in the subprefecture of Zhecheng. Subprefecture that would join the Augustinian-Recollect mission in 1932. Father José Martínez was the first Recollect to arrive there and met Nicolás Shi, who, in at that time, he was almost 11 years old.
Entry into the Seminary and religious profession
A couple of years after his arrival in Seliulou, Father Martínez recruited the little boy. Nicolás Shi was a candidate for the seminary, which he entered together with his countryman José She in 1934.
Nicholas Shi not only learned the Latin language of Saint Augustine but also saw his generous and missionary love reflected daily in the religious men and women of the mission.
On December 30, Nicholas Shi would wear the holy habit of Augustinians together with Joseph Wang. After a long year of novitiate, they finally professed as Augustinian Recollects on January 16, 1940.
After his simple profession, Nicholas Shi was sent to the major seminary of Wuhu, in the province of Anhui, under the tutelage of the Spanish Jesuits, to study philosophy. He returned later to Shangqiu to undertake theological studies.
Priestly ordination of Nicholas Shi
In March 1948, with great concern on the part of the prior provincial about the fate Chinese seminarians could run with the arrival of the communists; Nicholas Shi was sent together with the seminarians who were almost finished with their degrees to the Vicariate from Suchowfu, in the neighboring province of Jiangsu, to be ordained priests. Likewise, on June 29, 1948, Nicolás Shi, together with Lucas Wang and José She, received the presbyterate.
After ordination, after a brief stay of a month and a half in Shanghai, he would return to the mission to take over Chutsi, the station church.
Ministry of Father Nicholas Shi in Kweiteh
1950, Father Nicholas Shi returned to Kweiteh, serving as vice-parish priest and then as parish priest in 1951. Upon his arrival, he noticed that many people who lived near the cathedral lacked the necessary knowledge of Catholic doctrine. With the bishop’s approval, he established the Legion of Mary, of which he was a father and spiritual director for more than a year.
In 1952, the Communist Government declared the Legion of Mary as a reactionary organization and ordered all its members to register with the Government. From that time, Father Nicolás, as director of the Legion, could be summoned at any time, even clandestinely, during the day or night, to be interrogated for hours about the activities of the Legion and the Church. Father Nicholas relates that he preferred to have been imprisoned rather than submit to those interrogations since they were real torture, and he was afraid of losing his sanity. However, despite these sufferings, he was not saddened since he considered it an honor to receive affronts in the name of Christ.
After Joseph Shan’s arrest in 1955, Father Nicholas was appointed vicar General of the Diocese. However, the communist army occupied the bishop’s house, the residence of the parents, the minor seminary, and the houses of the nuns, which made the situation unsustainable. As a result, he was forced to work as an oculist in the unified city hospital.
In 1957, he requested to be transferred to the station church -Chutsi- the only one not busy. The following year, the Government sentenced him to three years of hard labor in a brick factory for being considered a “right-wing bourgeois reactionary.” During that time, he lived in inhumane conditions, doing exhausting and barely getting enough food. In 1961, due to his honesty and good performance during those three years, he was transferred to a clinic to continue working as an eye doctor.
After a year, he managed to return to the station church but was accused again of being a counterrevolutionary and was imprisoned for another two years.
From 1964 to 1976, he lived with his elderly mother, a faithful Christian who supported him in the most challenging moments. During these years, poverty and loneliness were constants in their lives. They lacked money and food, surviving only with the alms of some relatives. They were treated inhumanely and considered enemies of the people. The most painful thing for him as a priest was the inability to celebrate Holy Mass daily, attend sacred functions, or read sacred books. This problematic situation lasted a total of fifteen years.
Rehabilitation and reunion time
After Mao’s death, Deng Xiaoping assumed power in China and rehabilitation of the so-called “rightists.” In 1979, both Father Nicolás Shi and Father José Wang were rehabilitated, thus proving their innocence. This year marked the first reunion between the two connovices after ten years apart.
Despite being rehabilitated, Father Nicolás was not allowed to return to the church of Shangqiu as a priest due to his refusal to join the Patriotic Association. Instead, he was sent to teach English at a high school in Zhechengxian, where he stayed for seven years. During that time, many Christians came secretly to him to receive the sacraments. In the early 1980s, Father Nicolás had the idea of sending a letter to the Philippines, like a shipwrecked man who throws a message into the sea in a bottle. He wrote a letter and sent it to an address he remembered from the Vicarage of Manila, not knowing if anyone would receive it but trusting in the Providence of God.
The letter, written in a poetic tone and speaking only of landscapes and nature so as not to raise suspicions of the vigilantes of the Revolution, was correctly interpreted by the recipient, the vicar of the Philippines, Father Jesús Sobejano. They realized that there were still Augustinian Recollects in China and that the old mission was still active. In this way, fathers Pedro Tung and Pedro Ko, who obtained permission to visit their relatives in China could do so for the first time since 1948 when they left China as seminarians will meet personally with Father Nicolás.
Communion with the Pope, recovery of churches, and public ministry
In 1986, Nicolás Shi was “invited” to a meeting in Beijing with other clergy members. The meeting lasted three months, and it was at that time that Nicolás Shi and José Wang They publicly professed their allegiance to the Pope and refused to join the Patriotic Association.
In 1987, Nicholas Shi retired as a teacher and returned to the city of Shangqiu, the old. Kweiteh’s mission was where he began to dedicate himself to the apostolate. After a year of complex negotiations, the cathedral church and other Mission buildings were returned to the Diocese. However, the Government did not legally recognize the status of the cathedral as a temple due to Father Nicholas’s refusal to establish the Patriotic Church there. Therefore, all religious activities carried out in the Cathedral were considered “illegal,” according to the government.
The Government repeatedly prohibited Father Nicolás from carrying out these activities and punished him by imposing fines and requiring him to write self-incriminations. However, Father Nicolás did not pay attention to the prohibitions or the penalties, and he never wrote a word accusing himself without caring about the danger of being arrested. Despite the obstacles and threats from the government, Father Nicolás received a magnificent response from the faithful and the simple people, who gave him the strength to work tirelessly in the spiritual reconstruction of the Church after the spiritual desert of the cultural revolution.
The consecration of Father Nicholas Shi as Bishop of Shangqiu/Kweiteh
The consecration of Father Nicholas Shi as Bishop of Shangqiu/Kweiteh was a process complete with reluctance and fear. Father Nicolás considered that, although necessary, it was dangerous, and he preferred to wait for a more favorable opportunity. Furthermore, he felt unworthy of assuming such a position and feared the possible consequences that this could have for both him and the faithful of the Diocese.
Finally, thanks to the insistence of the missionaries and the people of the Diocese, Father Nicholas Shi was appointed bishop of Shangqiu/Kweiteh and consecrated as such on May 8, 1991, having complied with all the canonical steps required by the Order before the Holy See.
The Government did not cease to exert more and more pressure on him and to threaten him in various forms until 1999. May 13, 1999, marked a significant milestone since, after decades of clandestinity, Monsignor Nicolás finally obtained legal recognition from the Government. In 1998, the Government notified its decision to establish the Patriotic Church and demanded that Monsignor Nicolás Shi register his Diocese.
Having consulted the Holy See about how to resolve this problem, the Monsignor decided Nicholas that for the good of the Church, it was best to ask to be recognized as a legal bishop in China but permanently preserve his fidelity to the Holy See and the Pope.
The last years of Monsignor Nicolás Shi
The mission lived a second spring. As a bishop, he was in charge of acting as well as a teacher of novices and professed, giving religious instruction to the religious Recollects and the Augustinian Recollect Missionary nuns. Nicholas was an example of religious life and a magnet for vocations: About twenty Augustinians recollect religious and around 25 Augustinian Recollect missionaries of Chinese origin owe their vocations to the motivating example and the attractiveness of the coherent and happy life of the holy bishop.
Nicolás restored community life, which he would never abandon until his death. He loved the community and knew how to build and live in it with his priests, with men and women religious, in a clear example of an Augustinian community where everything was common. He left a structured Diocese with priests and professed Augustinian Recollects, many missionary Augustinian Recollects nuns, and several thousand Christians.
His death on September 16, 2009, left a lasting legacy, and his figure will continue to be remembered as a role model and an example of life for all Augustinians Recollects. His life and testimony inspire us to be brave and faithful in our faith and to love and serve the Church and one’s community with passion and dedication.
