“My life, consists of speaking about Jesus. I have nothing else to say or do. My whole life, every single day, is dedicated to telling others about Jesus. Everyone.”

The Underground Church in China consists of Catholics who refused to join the state-controlled Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association. Those in secret are loyal to the Pope and Universal Church yet it costs them their liberty. They celebrate sacraments in hidden chapels, move from house to house to avoid surveillance, and raise their children knowing that Baptism might one day demand blood.

Jia Zhiguo was born on May 1, 1935, in Wuqiu Village of Jinzhou City, of Northwest China, to a Catholic family. The region is where Catholic faith has endured waves of persecution and from his youth, Jia learned that the Cross was not an ornament but a destiny.

He was raised and nurtured among the Vincentian friars who inspired a vocational calling with him.

At the age of 28 he became a seminarian which is when his biggest problems began to start. Under the Maoist repression, he endured multiple prison terms for refusing to break communion with Rome. He worked as forced labor in remote, cold, and hostile areas and spent 15 years in confinement with brutal interrogations. At times his cell was filled with a pool of water as torture, leaving him crippled with pain, yet he would not deny the Vatican.

He was released from prison and ordained 2 years later.

In 1981, in secret, he was consecrated as Bishop by Bishop Joseph Fan Xueyan of Baoding, who was one of the last Chinese bishops appointed by Pope Pius XII, and had also spent 15 years in prison.

As part of the underground Church, he shepherded the faithful of Zhengding without recognition, protection, or freedom of movement. He had a missionary spirit, and for the following 40 years he promoted priestly training, cared for children with disabilities, and maintained communion with Rome. His people, numbering more than one and a half million, looked to him for guidance as they also shared the same pains.

He knew that persecution, with patience, preached more eloquently than speeches and his flock loved him for that serenity.

He had founded an orphanage for abandoned children, and it operated for 30 years under the quiet works of underground clergy. The authorities demolished it in 2020 for lacking state approval. He answered with prayer, not protest.

He had lost count of how many times he’d been arrested.

He died on October 29, 2025 at the age of 90 while under house arrest.

He bore imprisonment, torture, and solitude for loyalty to the Church but yet the Vatican has offered no tribute, no acknowledgement, and not even a prayer of public record. The underground Catholic Church feels abandoned by Rome, especially under the Sino-Vatican agreement, which grants the CCP authority to appoint bishops.

“All we needed was to have God in our heart. So it is His doing, not mine.”

For God’s Glory.