St. Francis was born in Baquerin de Campos and entered the Dominican Order at the age of 17. He was ordained as a priest in the city of Manila, Philippines, where he was sent to do missionary work. After 10 years of preparation for a mission to China, he finally arrived in the Province of Fujian in 1642. Francis and his companions were so successful in preaching the gospel there that they had to establish a community of the Dominican Third Order right away. However, the new Chinese dynasty governing the country was hostile to Christianity and immediately began to persecute the Christians. In 1647, he was captured while returning from Fu-an, where he was gone to administer the sacraments to sick people. While in the local prison, he suffered all sorts of torture and hardships, but also converted some of the guards. After his refusal to abandon the Catholic faith, he was sentenced to death by decapitation in 1648. He thus became the first martyr to shed his blood for Jesus in China.
