இன்றைய புனிதர்கள் ஜீன் 05

 Bl. Franciscan Martyrs of China

Feastday: June 5

Death: 1900

Twenty-nine Franciscans and Franciscan tertiaries who became victims of the Boxer Rebellion. They represent more than 100,000 Christians of China who were martyred in the reign of Empress Tz'u hsi. These martyrs are recorded as being slain in the palace of the viceroy of Taiyuan-fu of Xian-fu Province. The martyrs are: Bishop Gregory Grassie, Bishop Francis Fognolla, Father Elias Facchini, Father Theodore Balat, Father Franco Benedictine hermit. He was born in Castel Regni, in Abruzzi, Italy. Entering the Benedictine monastery at Colimento, he lived as a her­mit there for twenty years. He spent the last decade and a half of his life at Asserigo.

This article is about the Catholic martyrs of the 17th to 20th centuries. For other Christian martyrs in China, see Chinese Martyrs.

The Martyr Saints of China (traditional Chinese: 中華殉道聖人; simplified Chinese: 中华殉道圣人; pinyin: Zhōnghuá xùndào shèngrén), or Augustine Zhao Rong and his Companions, are 120 saints of the Catholic Church. The 87 Chinese Catholics and 33 Western missionaries[1] from the mid-17th century to 1930 were martyred because of their ministry and, in some cases, for their refusal to apostatize.

Many died in the Boxer Rebellion, in which anti-colonial peasant rebels slaughtered 30,000 Chinese converts to Christianity along with missionaries and other foreigners.

In the ordinary form of the Latin Rite, they are remembered with an optional memorial on 9 July.

The 17th and 18th centuries

On 15 January, 1648, during the Manchu Invasion to Ming China, Manchu Tatars, having invaded the region of Fujian and Francisco Fernández de Capillas, a Dominican priest aged 40.[2] After having imprisoned and tortured him, they beheaded him while he recited with others the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary. Father de Capillas has since been recognised by the Holy See as the protomartyr of China.

After the first wave of missionary activities in China during the late Ming to early Qing dynasties, the Qing government officially banned Catholicism (Protestantism was considered outlawed by the same decree, as it was linked to Catholicism) in 1724 and lumped it together with other 'perverse sects and sinister doctrines' in Chinese folk religion.[3]

While Catholicism continued to exist and increase many-fold in areas beyond the government's control (Sichuan notably), and many Chinese Christians fled the persecution to go to port cities in Guangdong or to Indonesia, where many translations of Christian works into Chinese occurred during this period, there were also many missionaries who broke the law and secretly entered the forbidden mainland territory.[3] They eluded Chinese patrol boats on the rivers and coasts; however, some of them were caught and put to death.

Towards the middle of the 18th century five Spanish missionaries, who had carried out their activity between 1715 and 1747, were put to death as a result of a new wave of persecution that started in 1729 and broke out again in 1746. This was in the epoch of the Yongzheng Emperor and of his successor, the Qianlong Emperor.

Peter Sanz, O.P., bishop, was martyred on 26 May 1747, in Fuzhou.

All four of the following were killed on 28 October 1748:

Francis Serrano, O.P., vicar apostolic and bishop-elect

Joachim Royo, O.P., priest

John Alcober, O.P., priest

Francis Diaz, O.P., priest.

Early 19th-century martyrdoms

A new period of persecution in regard to the Christian religion occurred in the 19th century.

While Catholicism had been authorised by some Chinese emperors in the preceding centuries, the Jiaqing Emperor published, instead, numerous and severe decrees against it. The first was issued in 1805. Two edicts of 1811 were directed against those among the Chinese who were studying to receive sacred orders, and against priests who were propagating the Christian religion. A decree of 1813 exonerated voluntary apostates from every chastisement – that is, Christians who spontaneously declared that they would abandon their faith – but all others were to be dealt with harshly.

In this period the following underwent martyrdom:

Peter Wu, a Chinese lay catechist. Born of a pagan family, he received baptism in 1796 and passed the rest of his life proclaiming the truth of the Christian religion. All attempts to make him apostatize were in vain. The sentence having been pronounced against him, he was strangled on 7 November 1814.

Joseph Zhang Dapeng, a lay catechist, and a merchant. Baptized in 1800, he had become the heart of the mission in the city of Guiyang. He was imprisoned, and then strangled to death on 12 March 1815.

Also in the same year, there came two other decrees, with which approval was given to the conduct of the Viceroy of Sichuan who had beheaded Monsignor Dufresse, of the Paris Foreign Missions Society, and some Chinese Christians. As a result, there was a worsening of the persecution.

The following martyrs belong to this period:

Gabriel-Taurin Dufresse, M.E.P., Bishop. He was arrested on 18 May 1815, taken to Chengdu, condemned, and executed on 14 September 1815.

Augustine Zhao Rong, a Chinese diocesan priest. Having first been one of the soldiers who had escorted Monsignor Dufresse from Chengdu to Beijing, he was moved by his patience and had then asked to be numbered among the neophytes. Once baptized, he was sent to the seminary and then ordained a priest. Arrested, he was tortured and died in 1815.[4]

John da Triora, O.F.M., priest. Put in prison together with others in the summer of 1815, he was then condemned to death, and strangled on 7 February 1816.

Joseph Yuan, a Chinese diocesan priest. Having heard Monsignor Dufresse speak of the Christian faith, he was overcome by its beauty and then became an exemplary neophyte. Later, he was ordained a priest and, as such, was dedicated to evangelisation in various districts. He was arrested in August 1816, condemned to be strangled, and was killed in this way on 24 June 1817.

Paul Liu Hanzuo, a Chinese diocesan priest, killed in 1819.

Francis Regis Clet of the Congregation of the Mission (Vincentians). After obtaining permission to go to the missions in China, he embarked for the Orient in 1791. Having reached there, for 30 years he spent a life of missionary sacrifice. Upheld by an untiring zeal, he evangelised three immense Chinese provinces: Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan. Betrayed by a Christian, he was arrested and thrown into prison where he underwent atrocious tortures. Following sentence by the Jiaqing Emperor he was killed by strangling on 17 February 1820.

Thaddeus Liu, a Chinese diocesan priest. He refused to apostatize, saying that he was a priest and wanted to be faithful to the religion that he had preached. Condemned to death, he was strangled on 30 November 1823.

Peter Liu, a Chinese lay catechist. He was arrested in 1814 and condemned to exile in Tartary, where he remained for almost twenty years. Returning to his homeland he was again arrested, and was strangled on 17 May 1834.

Joachim Ho, a Chinese lay catechist. He was baptised at the age of about twenty years. In the great persecution of 1814 he had been taken with many others of the faithful and subjected to cruel torture. Sent into exile in Tartary, he remained there for almost twenty years. Returning to his homeland he was arrested again and refused to apostatize. Following that, and the death sentence having been confirmed by the Emperor, he was strangled on 9 July 1839.

John Gabriel Perboyre, C.M., entered the Vincentians as a high school student. The death of his younger brother, also a Vincentian priest, moved his superiors to allow him to take his brother's place, arriving in China in 1835. Despite poor health, he served the poverty-stricken residents of Hubei. Arrested during a revival of anti-Christian persecution, upon imperial edict, he was strangled to death in 1840.

Augustus Chapdelaine, M.E.P., a priest of the Diocese of Coutances. He entered the Seminary of the Paris Foreign Missions Society, and embarked for China in 1852. He arrived in Guangxi at the end of 1854. Arrested in 1856, he was tortured, condemned to death in prison, and died in February 1856.

Lawrence Bai Xiaoman, a Chinese layman, and an unassuming worker. He joined Blessed Chapdelaine in the refuge that was given to the missionary and was arrested with him and brought before the tribunal. Nothing could make him renounce his religious beliefs. He was beheaded on 25 February 1856.

Agnes Cao Guiying, a widow, born into an old Christian family. Being dedicated to the instruction of young girls who had recently been converted by Blessed Chapdelaine, she was arrested and condemned to death in prison. She was executed on 1 March 1856.

Martyrs of Maokou and Guizhou

Saint Paul Chen

Three catechists, known as the Martyrs of Maokou (in the province of Guizhou) were killed on 28 January 1858, by order of the officials in Maokou[citation needed]:

Jerome Lu Tingmei

Laurence Wang Bing

Agatha Lin

All three had been called on to renounce the Christian religion and having refused to do so were condemned to be beheaded.

In Guizhou, two seminarians and two lay people, one of whom was a farmer, the other a widow who worked as a cook in the seminary, suffered martyrdom together on 29 July 1861. They are known as the Martyrs of Qingyanzhen (Guizhou):

Joseph Zhang Wenlan, seminarian

Paul Chen Changpin, seminarian

John Baptist Luo Tingyin, layman

Martha Wang Luo Mande, laywoman

In the following year, on 18 and 19 February 1862, another five people gave their life for Christ. They are known as the Martyrs of Guizhou.

Jean-Pierre Néel, a priest of the Paris Foreign Missions Society,

Martin Wu Xuesheng, lay catechist,

John Zhang Tianshen, lay catechist,

John Chen Xianheng, lay catechist,

Lucy Yi Zhenmei, lay catechist.

19th-century social and political developments

In June 1840, Qing China was forced to open the borders and afforded multiple concessions to European Christian missions after the First Opium War, including allowing the Chinese to follow the Catholic religion and restoring the property confiscated in 1724.[3] The 1844 treaty also allowed for missionaries to come to China, provided if they come to the treaty ports opened to Europeans.

The subsequent Taiping Rebellion significantly worsened the image of Christianity in China. Hong Xiuquan, the rebel leader, claimed to be a Christian and brother of Jesus who received a special mission from God to fight evil and usher in a period of peace. Hong and his followers achieved considerable success in taking control of a large territory, and destroyed many Buddhist and Taoist shrines, temples to local divinities and opposed Chinese folk religion.[3] The rebellion was one of the bloodiest armed conflicts in human history, accounting for an estimated number of 20–30 million deaths. As missionary activities became increasingly associated with European imperialism, violence against missionaries arose.[3]

In 1856, the death of missionary Augustus Chapedelaine trigged a French military expedition during the Second Opium War, which China lost. The resulting Treaty of Tientsin, granted Christian missionaries the freedom of movement throughout China and the right to land ownership.[3]

As missionaries started to build churches or schools in offensive locations like old temples or near official buildings, tensions with the local Chinese population arose. The missionaries also abolished indigenous Chinese Catholic institutions that had survived the imperial ban.[3] In some regions, Catholic missionaries started "quarantining" new Chinese converts from the hostile social environment as they see the mission as "enclaves of Christianity in an alien world". The separation sparked conspiracy theories about the Christians and eventually accumulated in the massacre of 60 people in a Catholic orphanage.[3] In comparison, Protestant missions were less secretive and treated more favorably by the authorities.[3]

Chinese literati and gentry produced a pamphlet attacking Christian beliefs as socially subversive and irrational. Incendiary handbills and fliers distributed to crowds were also produced, and were linked to outbreaks of violence against Christians. Sometimes, no such official incitement was needed in order to provoke the populace to attack Christians. For example, among the Hakka people in southeastern China, Christian missionaries frequently flouted village customs that were linked with local religions, including refusal to take part in communal prayers for rain (and because the missionaries benefitted from the rain, it was argued that they had to do their part in the prayers) and refusing to contribute funds to operas for Chinese gods (these same gods honoured in these village operas were the same spirits that the Boxers called to invoke in themselves, during the later rebellion).[3]

Catholic missions offered protection to those who came to them, including criminals, fugitives from the law, and rebels against the government; this also led to hostile attitudes developing against the missions by the government.[3]

Boxer Rebellion

And so passed an era of expansion in the Christian missions, with the exception of the period in which they were struck by the uprising by the "Society for Justice and Harmony" (commonly known as the "Boxers"). This occurred at the beginning of the 20th century and caused the shedding of the blood of many Christians.

It is known[citation needed] that mingled in this rebellion were all the secret societies and the accumulated and repressed hatred against foreigners in the last decades of the 19th century, because of the political and social changes following the Second Opium War and the imposition of the so-called unequal treaties on China by the Western Powers.

Very different, however, was the motive for the persecution of the missionaries, even though they were of European nationalities. Their slaughter was brought about solely on religious grounds. They were killed for the same reason as the Chinese faithful who had become Christians. Reliable historical documents provide evidence of the anti-Christian hatred which spurred the Boxers to massacre the missionaries and the Christians of the area who had adhered to their teaching. In this regard, an edict[citation needed] was issued on 1 July 1900, which, in substance, said that the time of good relations with European missionaries and their Christians was now past: that the former must be repatriated at once and the faithful forced to apostatize, on penalty of death.

Following the failure of the Boxer Rebellion, China was further subject to Western spheres of influence, which in turn led to a booming conversion period in the following decades. The Chinese developed respect for the moral level that Christians maintained in their hospital and schools.[3] The continuing association between Western imperialism in China and missionary efforts nevertheless continued to fuel hostilities against missions and Christianity in China. All missions were banned in China by the new communist regime after the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950, and officially continue to be legally outlawed to the present.

As a result, the martyrdom took place of several missionaries and many Chinese who can be grouped together as follows:

a) Martyrs of Shanxi, killed on 9 July 1900 (known as the Taiyuan massacre), who were Franciscan Friars Minor:

Gregorio Grassi, bishop

Francis Fogolla, bishop

Elias Facchini [fr], priest

Théodoric Balat [fr], priest

Andrew Bauer [fr], religious brother;

b) Martyrs of Southern Hunan, who were also Franciscan Friars Minor:

Anthony Fantosati [fr], bishop (martyred on 7 July 1900)

Joseph Mary Gambaro [fr] priest (martyred on 7 July 1900)

Cesidio Giacomantonio [fr], priest (martyred on 4 July 1900)

To the martyred Franciscans of the First Order were added seven Franciscan Missionaries of Mary, of whom three were French, two Italian, one Belgian, and one Dutch:

Mary Hermina of Jesus (in saeculo: Irma Grivot)

Marie de la Paix Giuliani (in saeculo: Mary Ann Giuliani)

Maria Chiara Nanetti (in saeculo: Clelia Nanetti)[5]

Marie of Saint Natalie (in saeculo: Joan Mary Kerguin)

Marie of Saint Just (in saeculo: Ann Moreau)

Marie-Adolphine (in saeculo: Ann Dierk)

Mary Amandina (in saeculo: Paula Jeuris)

Of the martyrs belonging to the Franciscan family, there were also eleven Secular Franciscans, all Chinese:

John Zhang Huan, seminarian,

Patrick Dong Bodi, seminarian,

John Wang Rui, seminarian,

Philip Zhang Zhihe, seminarian,

John Zhang Jingguang, seminarian,

Thomas Shen Jihe, layman and a manservant,

Simon Qin Chunfu, lay catechist,

Peter Wu Anbang, layman,

Francis Zhang Rong, layman and a farmer,

Matthew Feng De, layman and neophyte,

Peter Zhang Banniu, layman and labourer.

To these are joined a number of Chinese lay faithful:

James Yan Guodong, farmer,

James Zhao Quanxin, manservant,

Peter Wang Erman, cook.

When the uprising of the Boxers, which had begun in Shandong and then spread through Shanxi and Hunan, also reached South-Eastern Tcheli (currently named Hebei), which was then the Apostolic Vicariate of Xianxian, in the care of the Jesuits, the Christians killed could be counted in thousands. Among these were four French Jesuit missionaries and at least 52 Chinese lay Christians: men, women and children – the oldest of them being 79 years old, while the youngest were aged only nine years. All suffered martyrdom in the month of July 1900. Many of them were killed in the church in Zhujiahe Village, in which they were taking refuge and where they were in prayer together with the first two of the missionaries listed below:

Leo Mangin [fr], S.J., priest

Paul Denn [fr], S.J., priest

Rémy Isoré, S.J., priest

Modeste Andlauer [fr], S.J., priest

Besides all those already mentioned who were killed by the Boxers, there were the following:

Alberic Crescitelli, a priest of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions of Milan, who carried out his ministry in Southern Shaanxi and was martyred on 21 July 1900

Later martyrs

Some years later, members of the Salesian Society of St John Bosco were added to the considerable number of martyrs recorded above:

Luigi Versiglia, bishop

Callistus Caravario, priest

They were killed together on 25 February 1930, at Li-Thau-Tseul.

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Saint Boniface

புனிதர் போனிஃபாஸ் 

( St. Boniface )

ஆயர்/ மறைசாட்சி :

பிறப்பு : 675

டெவன், இங்கிலாந்து

இறப்பு : 5 ஜூன் 754 (அகவை 79)

ஃப்ரிஸியா (Frisia)

ஏற்கும் சமயம் :

ரோமன் கத்தோலிக்க திருச்சபை

ஆங்கிலிக்கன் திருச்சபை

லூதரன் திருச்சபை

நினைவுத் திருநாள் : ஜூன் 5

வின்ஃப்ரிட் அல்லது வின்ஃப்ரித் (Winfrid, Wynfrith) என்பது இவரது திருமுழுக்கு பெயர் ஆகும். இவரது ஐந்தாம் வயதில் துறவிகள் சிலர் இவரது குடும்பத்தை சந்திக்க வந்தனர். அப்போது வின்ஃப்ரிட், தாமும் ஓர் துறவியாக வேண்டுமென்று ஆசைபட்டார். தமது 7ம் வயதில் வீட்டின் அருகிலிருந்த ஒரு துறவற மடத்தில் சேர்ந்து கல்வி கற்றார்.

சிறந்த அறிவாளியும், புனிதருமான துறவி ஒருவர், இவருக்கு கல்வி கற்றுக் கொடுத்தார். வின்ஃப்ரிட் (போனிஃபாஸ்) தமது படிப்பை முடித்தபின் அதே பள்ளியில் ஆசிரியராக பணியாற்றினார். அப்போது முதன்முதலாக இலத்தின் இலக்கணத்தை ஆங்கிலேயருக்கெனத் தயாரித்தார்.

பின்னர் தமது 30ம் வயதில் குருவாக திருநிலைப் படுத்தப்பட்டார். அதன் பின் வின்ஃப்ரிட் (போனிஃபாஸ்) ஜெர்மனி நாட்டில் மறைபரப்பு பணிக்கு இறைவன் தம்மை அழைப்பதாக உணர்ந்தார். இதனால் 716 ல் ஜெர்மனி வந்தார். பின்னர் அங்கு மறைபரப்பு பணிக்கான சூழ்நிலை இல்லை என்பதால், மீண்டும் தாயகம் திரும்பினார்.

திருத்தந்தையின் ஆசீரோடு போனால் பயன் உண்டு என்று நினைத்து, உரோமை சென்றார். திருத்தந்தை இவரது பெயரை "போனிஃபாஸ்" என்று மாற்றினார். புதிய பெயருடன் ஜெர்மனியில் உள்ள ஹெஸ் (Hess) என்ற பகுதிக்கு சென்றார். அவர் சென்ற நேரத்தில் கொடிய அரசன் ராட்போர்ட் என்பவன் இறந்தான். அவனை அடுத்து வந்த அரசன் இவரிடம் அதிக அன்பு காட்டினார். இதனால் 3 ஆண்டுகள் பிரிஸ்லாந்தில் கடுமையாக உழைத்து மறைபரப்பு பணியை ஆற்றினார்.

இவரின் புனிதமான பணியை பார்த்த குருக்கள் இவரை ஆயராக தேர்ந்தெடுக்க முடிவு செய்தனர். ஆனால் போனிஃபாஸ் அதை ஏற்றுக் கொள்ளவில்லை. இதனால் இவர் 722ல் உரோமுக்கு செல்ல இவருக்கு கட்டளை பிறப்பிக்கப்பட்டது. அங்கே அவர் ஆயர் பதவிக்கு உயர்த்தப்பட்டார். இவருக்கு மறைபரப்பு பணியை ஜெர்மனி முழுவதும் பரப்ப பொறுப்பு வழங்கப்பட்டது. திருத்தந்தை, அரசன் சார்லஸ் மார்ட்டலுக்கு (Charles Martel) கொடுத்தனுப்பிய பரிந்துரைக் கடிதம் இதற்கு மிக உதவியாக இருந்தது.

இதன் அடிப்படையில் ஜெர்மனி முழுவதும் இருந்த மூட நம்பிக்கைகளையும், தவறான கொள்கைகளையும் கூண்டோடு அழிக்க அவருக்கு துணிச்சல் ஏற்பட்டது. ஒருமுறை மக்கள் அனைவரையும் ஒன்றாக கூட்டி, அவர்கள் தெய்வமாக வழிபட்டு வந்த ஒரு வளர்ந்த மரத்தின் முன் நிற்க வைத்து, அம்மரத்தை ஒரு கோடாரி வைத்து வெட்டினார். அம்மரம் 4 துண்டுகளாக பிரிந்து விழுந்தது. இதனால் கடவுளின் சினம் பேராபத்துடன் வரப்போகிறது என்று அம்மக்கள் கதிகலங்கினர்.

எந்த வித ஆபத்தும் இல்லாமற் போகவே, அவர்கள் நம்பிய தெய்வங்கள் பயனற்றவை என்ற முடிவுக்கு வந்தனர். அதன்பின் அவர்கள் கடவுள் ஒருவரே என்பதை உணர்ந்தனர். அம்மக்களை மனமாற்றியபின் அவர் அங்கிருந்து துரிஞ்சியா பகுதிக்கு மறைபரப்பு பணிக்கு சென்றார். அங்கிருந்த மக்கள் குருக்களுக்கு பல தொல்லைகளை கொடுத்தனர்.

இதனால் இங்கிலாந்திலிருந்து ஏராளமான துறவிகளையும், கன்னியர்களையும் அழைத்து வந்தார். 731ல் திருத்தந்தை 2ம் கிரகோரி இறந்தார். அதன்பின் வந்த திருத்தந்தை 3ம் கிரகோரி, போனிஃபாசுக்கு கூடுதல் அதிகாரங்களை வழங்கி, மறைபரப்பு பணியை திறம்பட தொடர ஊக்கமூட்டினார்.

741ல் மன்னன் சார்லஸ் மார்ட்டலுக்குப் பின், அவரின் மகன்கள் பெப்பின், கார்ல்மென் ஆட்சிக்கு வந்தனர். இவர்களும் போனிஃபாசுக்கு பல சலுகைகளை வழங்கினர். அப்போது இருமுறை ஆயர் பேரவைகளை கூட்டினார். அதன்வழியாக திருச்சபையில் இருந்த பலதரப்பட்ட ஊழல்களை களைந்தார். திருச்சபையில் புதிய இரத்தத்தைப் பாய்ச்சினார். மைன்ஸ்-ஐ (Mainz) தலைநகராகக் கொண்டு, அவர் கர்தினால்களின் அதிகாரங்களுடன் பணியில் ஈடுபட்டார். போனிஃபாசுக்கு மறைபரப்பு பணிக்கு மிக உதவியாய் இருந்த மன்னன் கார்லமென் காலமானார். இதனால் மனமுடைந்த போனிஃபாஸ் துறவுமடம் போக விரும்பி, அங்கு தனிமையை நாடினார். அப்போது அரசன் பெப்பின் இரு நாடுகளையும் ஒன்றிணைத்தான்.

இப்பணி போனிஃபாசுக்கு தன் பணியை எளிதாக ஆற்ற மிகவும் உதவியாயிருந்தது. ஆயர் அப்போது வயது முதிர்ந்தவராக இருந்தார். இதனால் எல்லா விதங்களிலும் தனக்கு உதவியாக இருந்த "லல்" (Lall) என்பவரிடம் தன் பொறுப்புகள் அனைத்தையும் ஒப்படைத்தார்.

பின்னர் தன் கையால் முதன்முதலாக திருமுழுக்கு பெற்ற பிரீஸ்லாந்து மக்களிடையே சென்று மறைபரப்பு பணியை தொடர்ந்தார். பிரிஸ்லாந்தின் வடகிழக்கு பகுதியில் இருள் மங்கிக்கிடந்தது. அம்மக்கள் ஆயரில்லா ஆடுகளை போல இருந்தனர். அப்போது தமது 73ம் வயதில் அம்மக்களை ஒன்றாக கூட்டி கிறிஸ்து உயிர்ப்பு விழாவிற்கு அடுத்த ஞாயிறன்று ஞானஸ்நானம், உறுதிபூசுதல் கொடுக்க "டொக்கு" என்ற இடத்தில் ஏற்பாடு செய்தார். புதிய கிறிஸ்தவர்களின் வருகைக்காக தம் குடிசையில் காத்துக் கொண்டிருக்கும் போது, சில முரடர்களால் தாக்கப்பட்டார். ஆயரின் உடன் பணியாளர்கள் அவரை காப்பாற்ற முயன்றனர்.

ஆனால் "கிறிஸ்துவுக்காக உயிரைக் கொடுப்போம்" என்று ஆயர் போனிஃபாஸ் கூறும் போதே, முதல் அடி அவர் மேல் விழ, ஆயரின் உயிர் பிரிந்தது. அவரோடு இணைத்து உடன் இருந்தவர்களும் கொல்லப்பட்டனர். இன்று இத்தனை நூற்றாண்டுகளாக ஜெர்மனியும், ஃபிரான்சும் ஆழமான விசுவாசமுள்ள நாடுகளாக காட்சியளிக்கின்றன என்றால் அதற்கு அடித்தளமிட்டவர், இரத்தம் சிந்தி உரமிட்டவர் புனித போனிஃபாஸ் என்பதை எவராலும் மறக்க இயலாது.

Also known as

• Apostle of Germany

• Boniface of Crediton

• Boniface of Mainz

• Winfrid, Winfried, Wynfrith

Profile

Educated at the Benedictine monastery at Exeter, England. Benedictine monk at Exeter. Missionary to Germany from 719, assisted by Saint Albinus, Saint Abel, and Saint Agatha. They destroyed idols and pagan temples, and then built churches on the sites. Bishop. Archbishop of Mainz. Reformed the churches in his see, and built religious houses in Germany. Ordained Saint Sola. Founded or restored the dioceses of Bavaria, Thuringia, and Franconia. Evangelized in Holland, but was set upon by a troop of pagans, and he and 52 of his new flock, including Saint Adaler and Saint Eoban were martyred.

Once in Saxony, Boniface encountered a tribe worshiping a Norse deity in the form of a huge oak tree. Boniface walked up to the tree, removed his shirt, took up an axe, and without a word he hacked down the six foot wide wooden god. Boniface stood on the trunk, and asked, "How stands your mighty god? My God is stronger than he." The crowd's reaction was mixed, but some conversions were begun.

One tradition about Saint Boniface says that he used the customs of the locals to help convert them. There was a game in which they threw sticks called kegels at smaller sticks called heides. Boniface bought religion to the game, having the heides represent demons, and knocking them down showing purity of spirit.

Born

c.673-680 at Crediton, Devonshire, England

Died

• martyred 5 June 754 at Dokkum, Freisland (modern Nederlands)

• interred at monastery at Fulda, Germany

Blessed Malgorzata Szewczyk

Also known as

• Sister Lucja

• Margherita Lucia Szewczyk

• Mother of the Poor and Orphans

Profile

Born to a deeply religious family, she was orphaned young (her father died when Malgorzata was seven, her mother when she was nine) and leaned on her faith; the Eucharist became the center of her faith the rest of her life. At age 20 Malgorzata became a Franciscan tertiary, making her initial vows on 24 August 1878. Spiritual student of Blessed Honorat Kozminski beginning c.1880. She began a personal ministry of caring for sick and neglected elderly women, letting the homeless ones move in with her. This work attracted other women, and with Blessed Honorat, she organized them into the Daughters of the Sorrowful Mother of God, also known as the Seraphic Sisters, founded formally on 18 April 1881. In 1891 she moved to the Galicia region of eastern Europe and built a monastery in Oswiecim, Poland, which became the motherhouse of the Daughters and a hub of care for abandoned and sick people, orphans, and for religious education. She worked for two years in the Holy Land where she cared for sick pilgrims. The Daughters full pontifical approval from Pope Pius XII on 3 March 1953, and continue their good work today with hundreds of Sisters in dozens of houses.

Born

c.1828 in Szepetówka, Khmelnytskyi, Russian empire (in modern Ukraine)

Died

5 June 1905 in the convent of the Daughters of the Sorrowful Mother of God in Nieszawa, Aleksandrów, Poland of natural causes

Beatified

• 9 June 2013 by Pope Francis

• beatification recognition celebrated by Cardinal Angelo Amato at the Sanktuarium Bozego Milosierdzia, Kraków-Lagiewniki, Poland

• the beatification miracle involved the 1975 cure of severe pneumonia in a nun

Patronage

Daughters of the Sorrowful Mother of God

Blessed Meinwerk of Paderborn

Also known as

• Meginwerk

• Builder Bishop (nickname referring to the number of construction projects)

Profile

Son of Imad, Count of Tesiterbant and Radichen, he was born to the Immedinger nobility; related to the Saxon royal family. Studied in the German cities of Halberstadt and Hildesheim; schoolmate of Saint Bernward of Hildesheim. Priest. Canon at Halberstadt. Chaplain at the court of Otto III. Bishop of Paderborn, Germany, consecrated on 13 March 1009; he served for 27 years during which he was known for founding monasteries and other construction works. He divided the diocese into parishes, helped build many of the parish churches, and travelled throughout the region, insisting on adherence to discipline by priests and monks. He brought in teachers in agriculture, mathematics and the sciences to teach the laity in the cathedral school. Travelled to Rome, Italy for the coronation of Henry II.

Died

• 1036 of natural causes

• buried in the crypt of the church at Abdinghof Abbey

• relics enshrined in Abdinghof on 25 April 1376

• relics transferred to Busdorf, Germany in 1803 when Abdinghof was secularized

Blessed Ferdinand of Portugal

Also known as

Ferdinand the Prince

Profile

A prince, the son of King John I of Portugal. He grew up in the royal court, but spent his free time in prayer and helping the poor. Though a layman, he was offered a cardinalate by Pope Eugene IV; he declined. In 1437, with his brother Henry, he commanded an expedition to Morocco against the Moors. The Portuguese were defeated at Tangiers; Ferdinand offered himself as a hostage to secure the cession of Ceuta to the Moors. Ferdinand was thrown into a dungeon at Fez, Morroco where he survived five years of abuse and torture. The writer Calderon made him the hero of the drama, El Principe Constante.

Born

1402 at Santarem, Portugal

Died

• 1443 in prison in Fez, Morocco of maltreatment

• interred in the royal crypt at Batalha

Beatified

1470 by Pope Paul II

Saint Franco of Assergi

Profile

Benedictine monk at the monastery of San Giovannia Battista at Lucoli, Italy for 20 years. Lived for several years as a hermit near the monastery. Hermit in the mountains of Assergi, Italy.

In addition to his reknown for being pious and prayerful, there is a healing spring in the mountains that emerged when Franco prayed for a water supply. He is reported to have rescued a baby in swaddling clothes from a wolf. When he found that he was drawing too much attention (and company) from the locals, he moved into a cave with a mother bear and three cubs, and was left alone.

Born

at Castel Regni, Abruzzi, Italy

Died

c.1275 of natural causes

Canonized

1757 by Pope Benedict XIV (cultus confirmation)

Patronage

Assergi, Italy

Saint Ðaminh Huyen

Also known as

Dominic

Additional Memorial

24 November as one of the Martyrs of Vietnam

Profile

Married layman in the apostolic vicariage of Central Tonkin (in modern Vietnam). Fisherman by trade. Father. Imprisoned, tortured and executed in the persecutions of emperor Tu Duc. He spent his time in prison encouraging other prisoners to keep their faith. Martyr.

Born

c.1817 in Ðong Thành, Thái Bình, Vietnam

Died

burned alive on 5 June 1862 in Nam Ðinh, Vietnam

Canonized

19 June 1988 by Pope John Paul II

Saint Ðaminh Toai

Also known as

Dominic

Additional Memorial

24 November as one of the Martyrs of Vietnam

Profile

Married layman in the apostolic vicariage of Central Tonkin (in modern Vietnam). Fisherman by trade. Father. Imprisoned, tortured and executed in the persecutions of emperor Tu Duc. He spent his time in prison encouraging other prisoners to keep their faith. Martyr.

Born

c.1811 in Ðong Thành, Thái Bình, Vietnam

Died

burned alive on 5 June 1862 in Nam Ðinh, Vietnam

Canonized

19 June 1988 by Pope John Paul II

Saint Illidius of Clermont

Also known as

Allyre, Alyre, Allirol, Allirand, Allirot, Illide, Illidio, Ilidius

Profile

Fourth Bishop of Clermont (formerly Averna), Auvergne, France. He worked to establish Clermont as a center of religious teaching and devotion in the region. Cured the daughter of the Emperor Maximus at Trier (in modern Germany). Highly venerated by Saint Gregory of Tours. The petrified mineral springs and Benedictine abbey in Clermont are named for him.

Died

• 5 June 385 of natural causes

• relics at the ancient Benedictine abbey of Saint Allyre in the suburb of Clermont, France

Patronage

Clermont, France

Saint Eutichius of Como

Also known as

Eutichio

Profile

Hermit. Priest. Bishop of Como, Italy in 525. He had such a dedication to the contemplative prayer life that he led his diocese from a hermitage outside the city.

Born

482

Died

• 5 June 539 in Como, Italy of natural causes

• buried in the basilica of San Abbondio

• relics transferred to a raised sarcophagus behind the high altar at the church of Saint George in Como

• relics later moved to a side chapel of the church

Saint Dorotheus of Tyre

Also known as

Doroteo

Profile

Priest, scholar, and author at Tyre, Lebanon. Driven into exile during the persecutions of Diocletian, but later returned. Bishop of Tyre. Attended the Council of Nicaea in 325. Driven into exile at Odyssopolis, Thrace by Julian the Apostate. There the 107 year old priest was arrested, beaten, and murdered for his faith. Martyr.

Born

c.255

Died

martyred c.362

Blessed Adalbert Radiouski

Also known as

Albert

Profile

Premonstratensian monk. Canon and then prior of the Premonstratensian monastery of Saint Vincent in Wroclaw, Poland where he insisted on proper monastic discipline. He took to the streets to defend his house against attacks by Protestants.

Born

15th century in Poland

Died

• 1527 in Wroclaw, Poland

• relics enshrined in the Premonstratensian monastery of Saint Vincent in Wroclaw

Saint Genesius, Count of Clermont

Profile

Born to the nobility, the son of Audastrius and Tranquilla. Miracle worker in his youth, restoring sight to the blind, healing the lame. Built and richly endowed several churches and religious houses. Friend of Saint Bonitus, Bishop of Clermont, and of Saint Meneleus, Abbot of Menat.

Died

• 725 of natural causes

• buried at Combronde

Saint Luke Loan

Also known as

Luca Vu Bá Loan

Profile

Priest in the apostolic vicariate of West Tonkin (modern Vietnam). Arrested and martyred in one of the waves of anti-Christianity.

Born

c.1756 at Phú Ða, Vietnam

Died

beheaded on 5 June 1840 in Hanoi, Vietnam

Beatified

5 June 1986 by Pope John Paul II (decree de signis)

Canonized

19 June 1988 by Pope John Paul II

Saint Sanctius of Córdoba

Also known as

Sancho, Sancius, Sancio

Profile

Lifelong layman and Christian. Captured by the Moors as a prisoner of war, he was taken to Córdoba, Spain, educated at the Moorish court, and enrolled in the guards of the Emir. Martyred when he refused to convert to Islam.

Born

in Albi, France

Died

impaled in 851 at Córdoba, Spain

Blessed Adam Arakawa

Profile

Married layman catechist martyr in the diocese of Funai, Japan.

Born

c.1551 in Arima, Hyogo, Japan

Died

5 June 1614 in Shiki, Amakusa, Nagasaki, Japan

Beatified

24 November 2008 by Pope Benedict XVI

Saint Eobán of Utrecht

Also known as

Eobáno, Eobánus

Profile

Benedictine monk. Priest. Evangelized Freisland with Saint Boniface and Saint Willibrord of Echternach. Appointed bishop of Utrecht, Netherlands by Saint Boniface. Martyr.

Born

Ireland

Died

martyred 5 June 754 at Dokkum, Freisland (modern Netherlands)

Saint Adaler of Erfurt

Also known as

Adelario, Adolar

Profile

Evangelized Freisland with Saint Boniface. Martyr.

Born

Irish

Died

5 June 754 at Dokkum, Freisland (in modern Netherlands)

Saint Claudius of Egypt and Companions

Profile

Born to the nobility, he was martyred with 194 fellow Christians; no other information about him, and none of the names of his companions have come down to us.

Died

Egypt

Saint Gregorio of Lilybaeum

Profile

Priest. Bishop of Lilybaeum, Sicily (modern Marsala). Martyred in the persecutions of Tircano.

Died

beheaded, date and location unknown

Saint Hadulph

Also known as

Hathawulf

Profile

Benedictine monk. Travelled, worked and martyred with Saint Boniface.

Died

5 June 754 at Dokkum, Freisland (modern Netherlands)

Saint Austrebertus of Vienne

Profile

Bishop of Vienne, France from 726 till 742. Supported the missionary work of Saint Boniface.

Died

742

Saint Waccar

Profile

Benedictine monk. Travelled, worked and martyred with Saint Boniface.

Died

martyred 5 June 754 at Dokkum, Freisland (modern Nederlands)

Saint Gundekar

Profile

Benedictine monk. Travelled, worked and martyred with Saint Boniface.

Died

5 June 754 at Dokkum, Freisland (modern Nederlands)

Saint Elleher

Profile

Benedictine monk. Travelled, worked and martyred with Saint Boniface.

Died

5 June 754 at Dokkum, Freisland (modern Nederlands)

Saint Tudno of Caernarvon

Profile

Llandudno in Wales is named after him.

Died

6th century

Saint Felix of Fritzlar

Profile

Monk at Fritzlar, Germany. Martyred by a pagan mob.

Died

c.790

Saint Privatus of Africa

Profile

Martyr.

Died

somewhere in Africa, date unknown

Saint Evasius of Africa

Profile

Martyr.

Died

somewhere in Africa, date unknown

Martyrs of Caesarea

Profile

A group of Christians who converted together, were imprisoned together, tortured together, and martyred together. We know nothing more about them but their names - Cyria, Marcia, Valeria and Zenaides.

Died

Caesarea, Palestine, date unknown

Martyrs of Egypt

Profile

A group of Christians martyred together in the persecutions of Galerius Maximian. The only other information was have is three of their names - Apollonius, Marcian and Nicanor.

Died

in Egypt, date unknown

Martyrs of Perugia

Profile

A group of Christians martyred together in the persecutions of Decius. We know little more than their names - Cyriacus, Faustinus, Florentius, Julian and Marcellinus.

Died

beheaded in 250 in Perugia, Italy

Martyrs of Rome

Profile

26 Christians martyred together. We have no details about them but their names – Candida, Castula, Fappa, Felician, Felicitas (2 of), Felicula, Fortunatus, Gagus, Gregor, Hilarius, Ingenuus, Juliana, Martialis, Maurus, Mustilus, Nicander, Prima, Rogata, Rutianus, Sacrinus, Saturnin, Secundian, Secundus, Urbicus, Victurus

Died

• Rome, Italy, date unknown

• relics transferred to Antwerp, Belgium, date unknown