Saint Joseph Freinademetz
South Tyrolean missionary who spent nearly thirty years in Shandong
- Rank
- Saint
- Kind
- Priest, Missionary
- Life
- 1852 – 1908
- Era
- 20th century
- Feast
- 29 January
- Countries
- Italy, China
Life story
Josef Freinademetz was born on 15 April 1852 at Oies, in the Badia valley of South Tyrol, then part of the Austrian empire, to a farming family. He studied at Brixen and was ordained a priest in 1875. After a few years as a parish priest he asked to be sent abroad and was accepted into the Society of the Divine Word, founded by Arnold Janssen at Steyl in the Netherlands.
In 1879 he went to China with Johann Baptist Anzer, first to Hong Kong and then to southern Shandong. He learned Chinese, went on foot from village to village, founded Christian communities and trained catechists. He worked for many years around Puoli, in hard conditions: poverty, disease and social unrest.
In 1898 he was made provincial superior of the Society of the Divine Word in China. He also worked through the Boxer Uprising period, and urged the priests and brothers to respect Chinese culture. He spent most of his life there and never returned to his homeland.
He died of typhus on 28 January 1908 at Taikia in Shandong, after caring for the sick. He was beatified in 1975, and John Paul II canonised him on 5 October 2003 together with Arnold Janssen and Daniel Comboni. His feast is kept on 29 January. In his homeland of South Tyrol he is a well-known figure; his Ladin-speaking birthplace of Oies keeps his memory.
Works and witness
- Ordained a priest in 1875
- Went to China in 1879 with Johann Baptist Anzer
- Worked in southern Shandong for nearly thirty years
- Provincial superior of the SVD in China from 1898
- Canonised in 2003
Saints from the same country
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.