Saint John Gabriel Perboyre

Life story

John Gabriel Perboyre was born on 6 January 1802 at Puech, in Quercy, southern France, to a devout farming family. He entered the Congregation of the Mission of St Vincent de Paul (the Vincentians, or Lazarists) in 1818 and was ordained a priest in 1825. He taught and served as director of the seminary at Saint-Flour and then as deputy director of the congregation's seminary in Paris.

He had long wished to be a missionary, and in 1835 he was allowed to sail for China, reaching Macau and then entering the mainland. He worked in Henan province and then in Hubei, learned Chinese, taught catechism and looked after small Christian communities, at a time when Christianity was still forbidden.

In the autumn of 1839 he was denounced by a man seeking a reward and was arrested. He was taken before several courts, interrogated and beaten more than once, but would not renounce his faith. In the end he was condemned to death and strangled at Wuchang on 11 September 1840, together with some other prisoners.

He was the first martyr of the Congregation of the Mission in China. He was beatified in 1889, and John Paul II canonised him on 2 June 1996. His feast is kept on 11 September. He is the best known Vincentian martyr, and his memory is kept in his native Quercy and throughout the Vincentian family.

Works and witness

• Entered the Vincentians in 1818, ordained in 1825
• Taught and directed seminaries in France
• Went to China in 1835
• Arrested in the autumn of 1839
• Executed by strangulation at Wuchang in 1840

Saints from the same country

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Saint Louis IX of France, Saint Joan of Arc, Saint Francis de Sales

References

• Martyrologium Romanum
• Dicastery for the Causes of Saints – biographical profile
• Acta Apostolicae Sedis

Written by Anawim from documented history. Some details about ancient saints rest on tradition and are marked as such.