| Saint Joseph Freinademetz | |
|---|---|
Josef Freinademetz, China missionary |
|
| Born | April 15, 1852 Oies, Badia, Dolomites |
| Died | January 28, 1908 (aged 55) Taikia, South Shandong |
| Honored in | Roman Catholic Church |
| Beatified | 19 October 1975 by Pope Paul VI |
| Canonized | October 5, 2003 by Pope John Paul II |
| Feast | January 28 |
Saint Joseph Freinademetz (Chinese name: 若瑟聖福 / 若瑟圣福, pinyin: Shèngfú Ruòsè) (April 15, 1852 - January 28, 1908) as a member of the Society of the Divine Word, was a missionary in China.
Contents |
Freinademetz was born the fourth child of Giovanmattia and Anna Maria Freinademetz[1] in Oies a section of the town of Badia in the southern Dolomites, which was then part of Austria and now part of Italy. He studied theology in the diocesan seminary of Brixen and was ordained priest on July 25, 1875. He was assigned to the community of San Martin de Tor, not far from his own home.
During his studies and the three years in San Martino, Freinademetz always felt a calling to be a missionary. He contacted Arnold Janssen, founder of the mission house Society of the Divine Word in Steyl, Netherlands. With the permission of his parents and his bishop, he moved to Steyl in August 1878, where he received training as a missionary.
In March 1879 he and his confrere Johann Baptist von Anzer boarded a ship to Hong Kong, where they arrived five weeks later. They stayed there for two years. Freinademetz was based in Sai Kung until 1880[1][2] and set up a chapel on the island of Yim Tin Tsai in 1879.[3] In 1881 they moved to the province South Shantung that they were assigned to. At the time of their arrival, there were 12 million people living in this province, of which 158 had been baptized.
Freinademetz was very active in the education of Chinese laymen and priests. He wrote a catechetical manual in Chinese, which he considered a crucial part of their missionary effort. In 1898, he was sick with laryngitis and tuberculosis, so Anzer, who had become bishop, and other priests convinced him to go to Japan to recuperate. He returned, but was not fully cured. When his bishop had to leave China for a journey to Europe in 1907, the administration of the diocese was assigned to Freinademetz.
There was an outbreak of typhus in this time, and he helped wherever he could, until he himself became infected. He returned to Taikia, South Shandong, where he died. He was buried in Taikia, at the twelfth station on the Way of the Cross.
Freinademetz and Arnold Janssen were canonized on October 5, 2003 by Pope John Paul II, as was Daniele Comboni, an important missionary in Africa.
The Saint Joseph Freinademetz congregation in Beijing is a German speaking catholic church-congregation for people staying in Beijing and being linked with Europe (for example foreign passport holders).
During the early 1980 there are holy masses celebrated in German language by Jesuit-padre Prof. Franz-Anton Neyer. He was head for German studies at Sophia University in Tokyo in the 1980s and 1990s and traveled for each holy mass to Beijing. After 1987 a German speaking priest lived in Beijing area and offered church services in German language regularly. The German ambassador Hanspeter Hellbeck and his administration team welcomed all German speaking Catholics warmly in the embassy. In the following year the congregation developed and growth. First highlights in those early days:
At the end of the 1990s the German priest left Beijing and the congregation was served by the German father Birtel (and later father Rotermann) in Manila (Philippines). In this heard times it was even possible to celebrate a first holy communion and offer church services in Beijing frequently.
In 2001 a working group ‘congregation council’ was found and ecumenical collaboration with the German speaking Protestant Congregation in Beijing (EGDS) and its father Heinke became stronger and stronger. Both congregations set up an ecumenical bible study group, an ecumenical choir and an ecumenical Taize-fellowing group. Several ecumenical church services during a year and organizing an ecumenical bible’s day became usual events in Beijing.
The congregation attended also the annual conference of German speaking fathers in Asia and organized these for about 10 participants in spring 2010 in Beijing. Further highlight during the history:
Being a religious home for German speaking Christians in Beijing and establish a bit of German culture in China were the major goals for founding St. Joseph Freinademetz congregation. It is a bridge head and contact point for all foreigners visiting Beijing or living or working in the municipal’s area.
First of all, the congregation offers every second Saturday evening a holy mass in the German embassy. But also the other catholic sacraments are offend to German speaking foreigners. Every autumn groups with candidates for first holy communion and confirmation were formed. Baptism, wedding, confession and extreme unction are offered on demand after contact with our father Michael-Heinrich Bauer. Furthermore the congregation participates at the cultural life in Beijing’s German community.
The congregation’s patron Joseph Freinademetz came in 19th century as missioner to China and beared witness for Jesus Christ in particularly in Shandong Province.[5] The congregation commits to his tradition and peaceful guide and intends to stay together in harmony with other Christian congregations in China and Beijing and follow up ecumenism. Therefore there are good and strong relations to the German speaking protestant church in Beijing,[6] to the local arch bishop of Beijing, to several catholic congregations of foreigners in Beijing and other Christian congregations in China.[7]
Finally St. Joseph Freinademetz congregation matches the recent religious situation within Peoples’ Republic of China.