John Alcober

John Alcober (Spanish: Juan Alcober Figuera, ; 1694 – October 28, 1748) was a Spanish missionary in China during the 18th century. He died in 1748 and was ultimately canonized.

Life

    Born in Granada, Spain, in 1694, Juan Alcober (also known as Juan Alcobel Figuera) joined the Dominican Order when he was aged just 13. In 1718, after ten years of study, Alcober was ordained a priest. The Dominicans at the time were responsible for Catholic work in the Philippines, and many priests were sent to those islands to propagate the gospel. Alcober arrived in the Philippines in 1725.

    To start with Alcober was assigned to a pastoral ministry among Chinese immigrants in the town of Binondo. This work allowed him to study Chinese and prepare for a ministry in China, which he commenced in 1728 at the age of 33. Most of the Chinese immigrants in the Philippines spoke the various Min Chinese dialects of Fujian Province, so he soon found himself at home in the coastal province.

    After the edict against Christianity the situation became dangerous for Alcober and his fellow missionaries. Chinese believers courageously sheltered him in their homes, and he moved about from one place to another to evade detection. On one occasion soldiers were closing in on a village where Alcober was hiding, so an ingenious plan was devised to place him inside a coffin and stage a mock funeral. The ‘mourners’ carried the coffin to safety right through the lines of the unsuspecting soldiers.

    On another occasion Alcober was disguised as a peasant water-seller, which enabled him to travel from village to village encouraging the believers. Troops came to the place where he was hiding, so he climbed into a tree. As the night wore on, Alcober realized he would need to spend the whole night in the tree. When the missionary quietly said his evening prayer he was surprised to hear someone else praying. His friend Francis Serrano was hiding on a different limb in the same tree!

    Finally Alcober was discovered and was sent to prison in Fuzhou on June 26, 1746. He was tortured mercilessly, and hoped death would come quickly. As Alcober awaited his sentence he wrote, “Expectantes beatam spem et adventum gloriae magni Dei” (Awaiting the blessed hope and the coming glory of our Mighty God).

    For more than two years this humble Spanish priest was cruelly incarcerated, until the sentence of death by strangulation was carried out on October 28, 1748. He died alongside his Spanish compatriot Francis Diaz. Later, one of their executioners described the martyrdoms of Alcober and Diaz:

“When I received the order to kill the two Europeans, Alcober and Diaz, I called two guards and my brother to help me carry it out. As we approached them, we saw them praying. They urged us to follow the law of God. We tied a rope around their necks and began to spin them around until they strangled to death. They died praying, welcoming death peacefully.”

Canonization

    He was beatified on May 14, 1893, by Pope Leo XIII and canonized along with other martyrs of China on October 1, 2000, by Pope John Paul II

 

约翰·阿尔科伯（西班牙语：Juan Alcober Figuera，1694 年 – 1748 年 10 月 28 日）是 18 世纪在中国的西班牙传教士。他于 1748 年去世，最终被封为圣人。

生平

  1694 年，胡安·阿尔科伯（又名胡安·阿尔科贝尔·菲格拉）出生于西班牙格拉纳达，年仅 13 岁时就加入了道明会。1718 年，经过十年的学习，阿尔科伯被任命为神父。当时道明会负责菲律宾的天主教工作，许多神父被派往这些岛屿传播福音。阿尔科伯于 1725 年抵达菲律宾。

  一开始，阿尔科伯被指派在岷伦洛镇的中国移民中进行牧师工作。这项工作使他能够学习中文，为在中国传教做准备，1728 年，33 岁的他开始了传教生涯。菲律宾的大多数中国移民都说福建省的各种闽南语，所以他很快就在这个沿海省份找到了归属感。

  在反基督教法令颁布后，阿尔科伯和他的传教士同伴们的处境变得危险起来。中国信徒勇敢地将他藏在家中，他则四处迁徙以躲避侦查。有一次，士兵们正在逼近阿尔科伯藏身的村庄，于是他们想出了一个巧妙的计划，将他放在棺材里，举行一场模拟葬礼。“送葬者”将棺材抬到安全的地方，穿过毫无戒心的士兵队伍。

  还有一次，阿尔科伯伪装成农民卖水者，这样他就可以从一个村庄到另一个村庄鼓励信徒。军队来到了他藏身的地方，于是他爬上了树。夜幕降临，阿尔科贝尔意识到自己需要在树上度过一整夜。当这位传教士安静地做晚祷时，他惊讶地听到了其他人在祈祷。他的朋友弗朗西斯·塞拉诺就躲在同一棵树的另一根树枝上！

  最终，阿尔科贝尔被发现，并于 1746 年 6 月 26 日被送往福州监狱。他遭受了无情的折磨，希望死亡能尽快到来。在等待判决期间，阿尔科贝尔写道：“Expectantes beatam spem et adventum gloriae magni Dei”（等待我们全能上帝的祝福和即将到来的荣耀）。

  这位谦逊的西班牙牧师被残酷地监禁了两年多，直到 1748 年 10 月 28 日被判处绞刑。他与他的西班牙同胞弗朗西斯·迪亚兹一起死去。后来，其中一名刽子手描述了阿尔科贝尔和迪亚兹的殉道经历：

  “当我接到杀死阿尔科贝尔和迪亚兹这两个欧洲人的命令时，我叫了两个警卫和我的兄弟来帮我执行。当我们走近他们时，我们看到他们在祈祷。他们敦促我们遵守上帝的律法。我们把绳子绑在他们的脖子上，开始旋转他们，直到他们被勒死。他们在祈祷中死去，平静地迎接死亡。”

封圣

  1893年5月14日，他被教皇利奥十三世列为真福，2000年10月1日，他与其他中国殉道者一起被教皇约翰保罗二世封为圣人