Vincentian Missionaries in China and Asia Infographic

1. 1769
He entered the Congregation of the Mission
(Vincentians)
1791
His petitions to go to China as a missionary
finally went through.
A confrere, in writing about Father Clet's
assignment to China, noted:
"He has everything you could ask for:
holiness, learning, health and charm."
1792
Arrived in Jiangsi in October and was the
only European in the area
1793
• Father Clet joined two Chinese confreres in
the Hebei Province
• He became superior of an international
group of Vincentian missioners
• He pastored an area of 270 thousand
square miles
• Developed standards so that there would
be a uniform approach to ministry
(sacramental and catechetical) among
the missioners.
1818 to 1835
He was a missionary in his own country
1826
He was ordained as a priest and was in
charge with the formation of
seminarians
1835
He arrived in Macau, Father Perboyre
was smuggled in a junk to go to China
1837-38
He preached, taught catechism and
administered sacrements
1839
• Renewed outbreak of persecution
during the reign of the Manchurian
emperor, Qianlong (1736-1795), which
had forbidden the Christian religion
in 1794.
• Outbreak of the “Opium war”
• Father Perboyre was caught
1840
He was found guilty of preaching
Christianity and condemned to death.
September 11
Father Perboyre was executed
Andrew Fong, a catechist who had
aided Father Perboyre in his
imprisonment, retrieved his body and
buried it in the same cemetery where
Blessed François-Regis Clét, C.M.
was buried. Later, his body was
returned to the Vincentian
Motherhouse in Paris
1889
Father Perboyre was beatified by
Pope Leo XIII
June 2nd 1996
Father Perboyre was canonized as
Saint John Gabriel Perboyre, C.M.
by Pope John Paul II
V Înti M iо i &
M ty Ch a d Asia
St. François-Régis Clet
Date of birth: 1748
Place of birth: Grenoble, France
Died: 1820
Canonised: October 1, 2000
Feast Day: February 18
“It was the plan of the deceased Monsieur Vincent,
our blessed father, that I should go even to China.”
— Fr. Nicolas Etienne, a missionary in Madagascar, wrote to St Vincent’s successor
René Alméras, asking for a mandate to preach the gospel everywhere in the world.
1664
J u 15
1659
Septemb 20
Bac t
Fr. Nicolas Etienne, died as a martyr there shortly after he wrote to Fr. Alméras.
He helped finance the first journey of the missionaries to China.
Wh wа the st m iо to Ch a?
In 1697, Propaganda Fide called them to go to China.
When he was still a seminarian, he offered the Congregation a foundation out of his own family
patrimony that would produce a significant annual interest for the support of the mission
in Madagascar.
Nicolas put a clause in the contract stating that if the mission in Madagascar should cease, the
annual revenues should be used for other missions outside France. In 1674, the mission in
Madagascar closed. In 1692, Monsieur Jolly, the third Superior General of the Congregation,
decided to use the funds for China.
1697
Fe u 10
February 10
The first Vincentian missionary, Fr Luigi Antonio Appiani together with Fr John
Muellener, a diocesan priest set off for China.
Piо M iо i Ch a
St. Fr ço -Rég Clet
St. Je Ga i P b re
St. François-Régis Clet
f b h
St. Vincent de Paul,
St. François-Regis Clét, C.M.,
St. Jean-Gabriel Perboyre, C.M.
1811
• Anti-Christian persecutions in China
intensified
• Christians being accused of inciting
rebellion against the ruling dynasty
• He endured abuse and attacks
which forced him to find refuge
in the mountains
1819
• He and a Chinese confrere became
fugitives with a reward on their heads
1820
January 1
He was found guilty of deceiving the
Chinese people by preaching Christianity
and was sentenced to strangulation on a
cross
February 18
After approval of his sentence by the
Emperor, Father Clet was executed
His body was buried on a hillside.
Several decades later, it was returned
to the Vincentian Motherhouse in Paris
and and is now honored at St. Lazare.
St. Jean Gabriel Perboyre, C.M.
Date of birth: 1802
Died: 1840
Feast Day: 11 September
Frédéric-V Înt Lebbe
1877
Born in Ghent, Belgium
1895
Entered the Vincentian
seminary of St. Lazare, Paris
1901
Assigned to the vicariate
apostolic of Beijing
1912
He and Ying Lianzhi launched
the first Catholic weekly
newspaper
1915
Published the first Catholic daily,
Yi Shih Pao (The social welfare) with
some Catholic Chinese.
Known for its independant outlook and
credible reporting, it became the most
widely circulated publication in
northern China
1916
Anthony Cotta and him openly
denounced the attempt by the French
consul in Tianjin to annex to the French
concession but were refused grant
1920-1927
Helped launch the priests' Society of
Auxiliaries of the Missions and the
Women Lay Auxiliaries of the Missions
in Europe
1926
Continued to lobby the Vatican to reform
the China mission. As a result, he
obtained the ordination of six Chinese
bishops (Zhu Kaimin, Cheng Hede,
Chen Guodi, Zhao Huaiyi, Hu Ruoshan
and Sun Dezhen) by Pope Pius XI in Rome
1928
Took up Chinese
nationality. He founded
The Little Brothers of
St. John the Baptist,
and The Little Sisters
of St. Therese of
the Child Jesus
1931
During the
Sino-Japanese war, he organised
stretcher-bearer corps
1940
Caught in a tension between Chiang
Kai-shek and Mao Zedong, he was
captured by Communists
June 24.
Passed on on the feast of St John
the Baptist and St. Jean Gabriel
Perboyre, C.M.
At the age of 12, after
reading a book on the
life and martyrdom of
the Vincentian missionary
Jean-Gabriel Perboyre,
Lebbe took Vincent as
his name and decided
to go to China as
a Vincentian priest.
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