Biography
Paulus Wu Wanshu
About Paulus Wu Wanshu
Paulus Wu Wanshu was a young Chinese Catholic killed during the Boxer violence of 1900. The Chinese Martyrs parish in Markham records his birth year as 1884 and his age at death as sixteen. Its account places him within the Wu family, which sought refuge at Xiaoluyi when attacks spread through Hebei.
The family’s flight did not bring safety. They were discovered and killed on June 29, 1900. The parish account remembers nine members of the family dying together and identifies the older Paulus Wu Anju as Wanshu’s grandfather. These details preserve a brief account of a household caught in persecution; they do not provide a fuller record of Wanshu’s childhood or daily life.
Per Einar Odden’s church biography also places Wanshu among the younger members of this family. It recounts that they acknowledged their Christian faith when challenged. The account associates their beatification in 1955 with the group of Léon-Ignace Mangin and his companions, whose deaths occurred during the same period of violence.
Wanshu was canonized with Augustine Zhao Rong and the other Chinese martyrs on October 1, 2000. His place in that group preserves his individual name alongside those of people of different ages and callings.
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