In 2023 a paperback of 205 pages was published entitled ‘Ways of Confucius and Christ: From Prime Minister to Benedictine Monk.’ It is actually a biography of Lu Zhengxiang, born in Shanghai in 1871. H entered the diplomatic corps and served the Russian Tsar. In 1919, he participated in the Paris conference for peace from which the Treaty of Versailles was published. He married a Catholic woman who died in 1927, but because of her influence he became interested in the Catholic faith, and he too converted. He served as a Minister of Foreign Affairs and on two occasions he was Prime Minister of the Chinese Republic. After 1949, during the Chinese Civil War, China became a Communist country. When he retired as Prime Minister, Lu inquired about joining a religious order, and ended up joining the Benedictines, taking the name Pierre-Celestin Lu OSB, becoming even an Abbot, which let him use the Bishop’s crosier. Abbot Lu died in 1949.
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