The district of Moxi was part of the Apostolic Vicariate of Lhasa (now Diocese of Kangding) erected on March 27, 1846, with the brief Ex debito from Pope Gregory XVI.

[5] The same year (1930), a Spanish Franciscan from Pego, Alicante, Pascual Nadal Oltra [es], joined the Mission of Moxi working as a stonemason and sculptor.

Mao wanted to meet all the missionaries who had been stationed there, including two who were not far away tending the leper colony — Oltra and an Italian Franciscan friar, Epifanio Pegoraro from Montecchio Maggiore.

[8][9] The Valencian Franciscan friar José Miguel Barrachina Lapiedra stated in his book Fray Pascual Nadal y Oltra: Apóstol de los leprosos, mártir de China, that the communist soldiers looted the residence and arrested the friars and sisters after entering the leper colony.

[12] Days later, on December 4, 1935, the army reached Leang Ho Kow [zh], Tsanlha, where the two Franciscans were beheaded with a sword before the astounded gaze of several neighbors, who witnessed the execution from their homes.

According to the Valencian Franciscan historian Benjamín Agulló Pascual, during the investigation in China, they encountered great difficulties in accessing new oral and written testimonies, due to the opposition of the country's authorities.

Sister Xie Yuming was severely beaten by a group of unknown assailants and had to be hospitalized, while Father Huang Yusong suffered minor injuries.

After the attack, many parishioners gathered to protest in front of St. Anne's Church and expressed their disapproval of the methods used by those who sponsored the assailants.

The church owns and maintains a clergy house and dormitories for male and female students attending catechism classes.