A few weeks ago I received an unexpected package in the post. It contained two purple stoles, an alb, an amice, and an assortment of slightly tired purificators and corporals for the altar. And a letter.
The author – I’ll call her Mary – explained that the linen and vestments had belonged to Bishop John Han Dingxiang of the Diocese of Yongnian in China. Bishop Han had spent more than 30 years in various forced labour camps and prisons, first as a layman and then as a bishop, for his love for Christ and his loyalty to the Catholic Church. When he was dying in September 2007, still in police detention, he was allowed a hastily arranged visit from his family, but not from a priest who could give him the Last Sacraments. The authorities cremated his body within hours of his death and buried his ashes by night in a public cemetery.
