A sermon he heard at age 15 inspired today’s saint to become a
missionary in China. There he met a brutal death on a cross for refusing to
renounce his faith.
Born in France in 1802, Jean-Gabriel became a Vincentian
priest. He displayed so many gifts and had such fine personal and
spiritual qualities that, for a time, his religious order kept him busy closer
to home.
He finally received permission to begin his missionary endeavors
in 1835. After a 1,000-mile trip by boat and foot across three provinces, he
arrived in central China. In one early letter written to his community in Paris
he described himself as a curious sight: “my head shaved, a long pig-tail,
stammering my new languages, eating with chopsticks.”
He soon joined the Vincentians in helping to rescue abandoned
Chinese children and in educating them in the Catholic faith. He
was arrested in 1839 under an edict that banned Christianity. He was tortured
and interrogated for months. Almost one year later he was executed by
strangling while hanging on a cross.
St. Jean-Gabriel was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1996.
Chinese government officials denied permission for any public Mass
commemorating the new saint.
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