CALVARY IN CHINA

by Rev. Robert W.-M.M. Greene ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 27, 1953

This is a horrible and gripping story of the personal experiences of a Roman Catholic priest under the Communist regime in China. Father Greene was a Maryknoll missioner and was stationed in the village of Tung-an in South China when the Communists took over that part of the country. Father Greene spares none of the gruesome details as he relates how at first he was subjected to ""house arrest"" and was visited there almost daily by individuals and groups who searched his house for incriminating evidence and subjected him to endless questioning in the effort to prove that he was in reality an American spy. Finally, he was dragged off to the prison that had been set up in his own church building. There followed months of torture, attempts at ""brain-washing"", repeated efforts to secure from the priest a confession that he had been a spy and that the Legion of Mary which he had organized was in reality an instrument for espionage. Finally, on Easter Sunday a public trial was held at which a procession of witnesses denounced him as a spy before a mob of several thousand people all howling for his execution. Chief among the witnesses against him was his former cook who had been a devoted and loyal follower for years. But brain-washing had been successful and his denunciation of his former master and Spiritual Father was complete and very dramatic. Father Greene was condemned to death and he welcomed the sentence as relief from the torture and suffering which had been inflicted upon him and which had left him broken in body and mind if not in spirit. At the last moment the sentence of death was commuted and he was banished from the country, presumably on the theory that he could then bear testimony to the glories of Communism in hopelessly imperialistic America. The testimony is here, complete and devastating. How this victim of Communist hatred sustained his spirit though the months of his trials and persecution is a testimony to the vitality of his religious faith. An important document for the understanding of the Communist state of mind and the lengths to which their hatred of America can carry them. It is the sort of book you cannot put down until you have finished it. It should have a very good sale.

Pub Date: March 27, 1953

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Putnam

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1953

Categories: NONFICTION