HEAVENLY
BRICKS

The opium epidemic in China, spurred on by British trade, plagued the country for over 100 years, leading to countless lives ruined or outright lost, and two actual wars. But amidst that, St. Mark Ji Tianxiang, an addict for 30 years of his life, found a way to love God deeply despite being denied Eucharist due to his addiction. Lifetime:  1834 to 1900 Region:  Hengshui, Hebei, China Patronages:  Drug addicts Iconograpy:  Opium pipe; Long mustache; Palm of martyrdom Feast Day: June 9 Before he became addicted to opium, Mark Ji was a doctor. Born to a Christian family and raised Christian himself, he wanted to help where he could, and even treated poor people in his clinic for free. Sadly, when Mark Ji was in his mid 30s, he contracted a serious illness, and prescribed himself opium as a treatment. At the time, the effects of opium were not yet known, and it was a common medicine for many illnesses. As was the case for many, he became addicted to the drug. Through the...

St. Mark the Evangelist is most famous for authoring the Gospel book that bears his name, but there are actually three to four different accounts of relevant people named "Mark" in the early church. Besides the gospel author, there is also a man referred to as "John Mark" in the book of Acts, and a Mark who is the cousin of Barnabas in the Epistles. Finally, Mark is mentioned alongside Luke in 2 Timothy. These Marks could be anywhere from all one person to four different people, but the two main traditions either interpret them as one or two individuals. The Catholic church distinguishes between Mark the Evangelist, and John Mark as two separate people. Lifetime:  5 to 68 Region:  Alexandria, Egypt Patronages:  Barristers; Venice; Egypt Iconograpy:  Writing in a scroll or book; Winged lion Feast Day: April  25 As with many saints of the very early church, not much is known about Mark's life. Instead, I'll focus on how he is depicted in iconography, some of t...