The First Bishop of the Diocese of Meixian, Kaying, China, Monsignor Francis Xavier Ford MM., was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Austin Brendan Ford and Elizabeth Rellihan Ford, on January 11, 1892, and attended the Cathedral College in Elmhurst, Queens. When he reported to the Maryknoll Seminary in Ossining on September 14, 1912, he became the first student of the fledgling Maryknoll and again the first person to matriculate in this institution. Ordained to the priesthood on December 5, 1917, he became one of the first four American Catholic priests to arrive in China in 1918.
Serving in Yeongkong, Southern China, in 1921, he opened the first Maryknoll Seminary in China. He was named Apostolic Prefect of the new mission at Kaying in Northern Guangdong in 1925, and was appointed Bishop of the Titular See of Etenne and Apostolic Vicar of Kaying in 1935. He received his episcopal consecration on September 21, of that year from Bishop James Anthony Walsh MM.,
In twenty years of ministering to the Chinese in the Diocese of Kaying, Ford increased his flock from 9,000 to 20,000, and built schools, hostels and churches. He was chairman of the Chinese Catholic Welfare Conference for Southern China and played an important role in establishing the first overseas convent for Maryknoll sisters. When the Second World War started, Kaying was surrounded by hostile Japanese troops. Nevertheless, the Bishop remained at his post, aiding Chinese guerrillas, helping downed Allied airmen escape, relieving war refugees in distress.
In December 1950 the Communists placed Bishop Ford and his secretary, Sister Joan Marie Ryan, under house arrest and charged them with espionage. Though never tried, Ford was taken from his home four months later and publicly paraded, beaten and degraded in some of the cities in which he had done mission work since 1918. His treatment at the hands of the Communists is attested to by Sister Joan Marie.
In one town, a Communist-orchestrated mob beating was so intense that even Ford's Communist guards fled. Though knocked to the ground repeatedly, Ford continued to walk calmly through the crowd until his guards returned. In another town, his neck was bound with a wet rope which almost choked him as it dried and shrank. Another rope was made to trail from under his gown like a tail. To humiliate them both, the Communists forced him to undress before Sister Joan Marie. The last time Sister Joan Marie saw Ford alive was in February 1952, just before he died. She reported that his hair had turned completely white and he was so emaciated that a fellow prisoner remarked that he looked "like a sack of potatoes".
Ford died in prison in Guangzhou, Canton, on February 21, 1952, aged 60. He was the first American Roman Catholic Bishop and fourth American civilian known to have died in the prisons of the Chinese Communists.
Ford's diocese would have been the first Maryknoll territory to be turned over to the native clergy had the Communists not suppressed the local Catholic community. Ford was Maryknoll's first martyr, and the first to be martyred at the hands of Chinese Communists. He was buried in a potter's field with a simple marker upon the grave. Later, the field reverted to a rice paddy, all grave markers long removed or destroyed. Today, an apartment complex occupies the land that held his earthly remains. What happened to the holy relics of that site is unknown, though some Maryknollers familiar with the area still consider it holy ground.
In 1952 the Maryknoll Fathers in Hong Kong founded a co-educational primary school, and named it Bishop Ford Memorial School. The school was the first founded by the Maryknoll Fathers in Hong Kong after the Second World War, and is now managed by the Diocese of Hong Kong.
The canonization cause for Bishop Ford has been introduced and the late Auxiliary Bishop Ignatius A. Catanello of Brooklyn, New York, was the first promoter of the cause.
Bishop Ford is the cousin of another Roman Catholic Maryknoll martyr, Sister Ita Ford MM., who was tortured, raped and murdered in El Salvador by members of a military death squad along with fellow Catholic missionaries Maura Clarke MM., laywoman Jean Donovan, and Dorothy Kazel OSU., on December 2, 1980. She had previously worked with the poor and war refugees as a Maryknoll Sister missionary in Bolivia and Chile.
Serving in Yeongkong, Southern China, in 1921, he opened the first Maryknoll Seminary in China. He was named Apostolic Prefect of the new mission at Kaying in Northern Guangdong in 1925, and was appointed Bishop of the Titular See of Etenne and Apostolic Vicar of Kaying in 1935. He received his episcopal consecration on September 21, of that year from Bishop James Anthony Walsh MM.,
In twenty years of ministering to the Chinese in the Diocese of Kaying, Ford increased his flock from 9,000 to 20,000, and built schools, hostels and churches. He was chairman of the Chinese Catholic Welfare Conference for Southern China and played an important role in establishing the first overseas convent for Maryknoll sisters. When the Second World War started, Kaying was surrounded by hostile Japanese troops. Nevertheless, the Bishop remained at his post, aiding Chinese guerrillas, helping downed Allied airmen escape, relieving war refugees in distress.
In December 1950 the Communists placed Bishop Ford and his secretary, Sister Joan Marie Ryan, under house arrest and charged them with espionage. Though never tried, Ford was taken from his home four months later and publicly paraded, beaten and degraded in some of the cities in which he had done mission work since 1918. His treatment at the hands of the Communists is attested to by Sister Joan Marie.
In one town, a Communist-orchestrated mob beating was so intense that even Ford's Communist guards fled. Though knocked to the ground repeatedly, Ford continued to walk calmly through the crowd until his guards returned. In another town, his neck was bound with a wet rope which almost choked him as it dried and shrank. Another rope was made to trail from under his gown like a tail. To humiliate them both, the Communists forced him to undress before Sister Joan Marie. The last time Sister Joan Marie saw Ford alive was in February 1952, just before he died. She reported that his hair had turned completely white and he was so emaciated that a fellow prisoner remarked that he looked "like a sack of potatoes".
Ford died in prison in Guangzhou, Canton, on February 21, 1952, aged 60. He was the first American Roman Catholic Bishop and fourth American civilian known to have died in the prisons of the Chinese Communists.
Ford's diocese would have been the first Maryknoll territory to be turned over to the native clergy had the Communists not suppressed the local Catholic community. Ford was Maryknoll's first martyr, and the first to be martyred at the hands of Chinese Communists. He was buried in a potter's field with a simple marker upon the grave. Later, the field reverted to a rice paddy, all grave markers long removed or destroyed. Today, an apartment complex occupies the land that held his earthly remains. What happened to the holy relics of that site is unknown, though some Maryknollers familiar with the area still consider it holy ground.
In 1952 the Maryknoll Fathers in Hong Kong founded a co-educational primary school, and named it Bishop Ford Memorial School. The school was the first founded by the Maryknoll Fathers in Hong Kong after the Second World War, and is now managed by the Diocese of Hong Kong.
The canonization cause for Bishop Ford has been introduced and the late Auxiliary Bishop Ignatius A. Catanello of Brooklyn, New York, was the first promoter of the cause.
Bishop Ford is the cousin of another Roman Catholic Maryknoll martyr, Sister Ita Ford MM., who was tortured, raped and murdered in El Salvador by members of a military death squad along with fellow Catholic missionaries Maura Clarke MM., laywoman Jean Donovan, and Dorothy Kazel OSU., on December 2, 1980. She had previously worked with the poor and war refugees as a Maryknoll Sister missionary in Bolivia and Chile.
The First Bishop of the Diocese of Meixian, Kaying, China, Monsignor Francis Xavier Ford MM., was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Austin Brendan Ford and Elizabeth Rellihan Ford, on January 11, 1892, and attended the Cathedral College in Elmhurst, Queens. When he reported to the Maryknoll Seminary in Ossining on September 14, 1912, he became the first student of the fledgling Maryknoll and again the first person to matriculate in this institution. Ordained to the priesthood on December 5, 1917, he became one of the first four American Catholic priests to arrive in China in 1918.
Serving in Yeongkong, Southern China, in 1921, he opened the first Maryknoll Seminary in China. He was named Apostolic Prefect of the new mission at Kaying in Northern Guangdong in 1925, and was appointed Bishop of the Titular See of Etenne and Apostolic Vicar of Kaying in 1935. He received his episcopal consecration on September 21, of that year from Bishop James Anthony Walsh MM.,
In twenty years of ministering to the Chinese in the Diocese of Kaying, Ford increased his flock from 9,000 to 20,000, and built schools, hostels and churches. He was chairman of the Chinese Catholic Welfare Conference for Southern China and played an important role in establishing the first overseas convent for Maryknoll sisters. When the Second World War started, Kaying was surrounded by hostile Japanese troops. Nevertheless, the Bishop remained at his post, aiding Chinese guerrillas, helping downed Allied airmen escape, relieving war refugees in distress.
In December 1950 the Communists placed Bishop Ford and his secretary, Sister Joan Marie Ryan, under house arrest and charged them with espionage. Though never tried, Ford was taken from his home four months later and publicly paraded, beaten and degraded in some of the cities in which he had done mission work since 1918. His treatment at the hands of the Communists is attested to by Sister Joan Marie.
In one town, a Communist-orchestrated mob beating was so intense that even Ford's Communist guards fled. Though knocked to the ground repeatedly, Ford continued to walk calmly through the crowd until his guards returned. In another town, his neck was bound with a wet rope which almost choked him as it dried and shrank. Another rope was made to trail from under his gown like a tail. To humiliate them both, the Communists forced him to undress before Sister Joan Marie. The last time Sister Joan Marie saw Ford alive was in February 1952, just before he died. She reported that his hair had turned completely white and he was so emaciated that a fellow prisoner remarked that he looked "like a sack of potatoes".
Ford died in prison in Guangzhou, Canton, on February 21, 1952, aged 60. He was the first American Roman Catholic Bishop and fourth American civilian known to have died in the prisons of the Chinese Communists.
Ford's diocese would have been the first Maryknoll territory to be turned over to the native clergy had the Communists not suppressed the local Catholic community. Ford was Maryknoll's first martyr, and the first to be martyred at the hands of Chinese Communists. He was buried in a potter's field with a simple marker upon the grave. Later, the field reverted to a rice paddy, all grave markers long removed or destroyed. Today, an apartment complex occupies the land that held his earthly remains. What happened to the holy relics of that site is unknown, though some Maryknollers familiar with the area still consider it holy ground.
In 1952 the Maryknoll Fathers in Hong Kong founded a co-educational primary school, and named it Bishop Ford Memorial School. The school was the first founded by the Maryknoll Fathers in Hong Kong after the Second World War, and is now managed by the Diocese of Hong Kong.
The canonization cause for Bishop Ford has been introduced and the late Auxiliary Bishop Ignatius A. Catanello of Brooklyn, New York, was the first promoter of the cause.
Bishop Ford is the cousin of another Roman Catholic Maryknoll martyr, Sister Ita Ford MM., who was tortured, raped and murdered in El Salvador by members of a military death squad along with fellow Catholic missionaries Maura Clarke MM., laywoman Jean Donovan, and Dorothy Kazel OSU., on December 2, 1980. She had previously worked with the poor and war refugees as a Maryknoll Sister missionary in Bolivia and Chile.
Serving in Yeongkong, Southern China, in 1921, he opened the first Maryknoll Seminary in China. He was named Apostolic Prefect of the new mission at Kaying in Northern Guangdong in 1925, and was appointed Bishop of the Titular See of Etenne and Apostolic Vicar of Kaying in 1935. He received his episcopal consecration on September 21, of that year from Bishop James Anthony Walsh MM.,
In twenty years of ministering to the Chinese in the Diocese of Kaying, Ford increased his flock from 9,000 to 20,000, and built schools, hostels and churches. He was chairman of the Chinese Catholic Welfare Conference for Southern China and played an important role in establishing the first overseas convent for Maryknoll sisters. When the Second World War started, Kaying was surrounded by hostile Japanese troops. Nevertheless, the Bishop remained at his post, aiding Chinese guerrillas, helping downed Allied airmen escape, relieving war refugees in distress.
In December 1950 the Communists placed Bishop Ford and his secretary, Sister Joan Marie Ryan, under house arrest and charged them with espionage. Though never tried, Ford was taken from his home four months later and publicly paraded, beaten and degraded in some of the cities in which he had done mission work since 1918. His treatment at the hands of the Communists is attested to by Sister Joan Marie.
In one town, a Communist-orchestrated mob beating was so intense that even Ford's Communist guards fled. Though knocked to the ground repeatedly, Ford continued to walk calmly through the crowd until his guards returned. In another town, his neck was bound with a wet rope which almost choked him as it dried and shrank. Another rope was made to trail from under his gown like a tail. To humiliate them both, the Communists forced him to undress before Sister Joan Marie. The last time Sister Joan Marie saw Ford alive was in February 1952, just before he died. She reported that his hair had turned completely white and he was so emaciated that a fellow prisoner remarked that he looked "like a sack of potatoes".
Ford died in prison in Guangzhou, Canton, on February 21, 1952, aged 60. He was the first American Roman Catholic Bishop and fourth American civilian known to have died in the prisons of the Chinese Communists.
Ford's diocese would have been the first Maryknoll territory to be turned over to the native clergy had the Communists not suppressed the local Catholic community. Ford was Maryknoll's first martyr, and the first to be martyred at the hands of Chinese Communists. He was buried in a potter's field with a simple marker upon the grave. Later, the field reverted to a rice paddy, all grave markers long removed or destroyed. Today, an apartment complex occupies the land that held his earthly remains. What happened to the holy relics of that site is unknown, though some Maryknollers familiar with the area still consider it holy ground.
In 1952 the Maryknoll Fathers in Hong Kong founded a co-educational primary school, and named it Bishop Ford Memorial School. The school was the first founded by the Maryknoll Fathers in Hong Kong after the Second World War, and is now managed by the Diocese of Hong Kong.
The canonization cause for Bishop Ford has been introduced and the late Auxiliary Bishop Ignatius A. Catanello of Brooklyn, New York, was the first promoter of the cause.
Bishop Ford is the cousin of another Roman Catholic Maryknoll martyr, Sister Ita Ford MM., who was tortured, raped and murdered in El Salvador by members of a military death squad along with fellow Catholic missionaries Maura Clarke MM., laywoman Jean Donovan, and Dorothy Kazel OSU., on December 2, 1980. She had previously worked with the poor and war refugees as a Maryknoll Sister missionary in Bolivia and Chile.
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