[1][2] She is one of the group known as the Martyr Saints of China who were canonised by Pope John Paul II on 1 October 2000.

She was born Anna Catharina Dierkx on 8 March 1866 in Ossendrecht, North Brabant, Netherlands.

She worked in a chicory-processing factory and in domestic service before joining the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary in Antwerp in 1893 and taking the name Marie-Adolphine.

The converted chapel was first opened in 1954 and in 1966 the neighbouring building was purchased and demolished so that the Adolphineplein could be extended.

[13] Her religious name appears as Maria, Marie or Mary, with or without a hyphen, Adolphine or Adolfine; her birth surname is spelled Dierkx, Diercks, Dierks, Dirks; she was Anne or Anna, Catharina or Catherine, known as Kaatje, or Judoca (her mother's name).