Show Notes
It's a Feria, 4th Class, with the color of Green. In this episode: the meditation: "Christian Hope", today's news from the Church: "700 Traditional Pilgrims at the Feet of Our Lady of Częstochowa", a preview of this week's episode of The SSPX Podcast: "What Is the Difference Between a Priest and a Bishop?", and today's thought from the Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.
Have feedback or questions about the DD or our other shows? [email protected] Sources Used Today:
"Christian Hope" — From the Assumption to Adventhttps://angeluspress.org/products/from-trinity-sunday-to-the-assumption
"700 Traditional Pilgrims at the Feet of Our Lady of Częstochowa" (FSSPX.news) https://fsspx.news/en/news/poland-700-traditional-pilgrims-feet-our-lady-czestochowa-60973
The SSPX Podcast: "What Is the Difference Between a Priest and a Bishop?" (SSPX Podcast) View on YouTube Listen & Subscribe on SSPXpodcast.com
The Spiritual Life — Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre (Angelus Press) https://angeluspress.org/products/spiritual-life-archbishop
Please support our new project, the Archbishop Lefebvre Biography Audiobook: Learn more:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-Wp4MQdK2o Donate:https://sspx.gifts/audiobook
Saint John Gabriel Perboyre spent years dreaming about the missions in China before he ever imagined he would actually go there.
He was born in 1802 in a small farming village in southern France, one of eight children. As a boy, John Gabriel wasn't originally planning to become a priest. He accompanied his younger brother to a school run by the Vincentians and intended to stay only long enough to help him settle in.
Instead, John Gabriel discovered his own vocation.
He entered the Congregation of the Mission, founded by Vincent de Paul, and was ordained in 1826. His great desire was to become a missionary in China, partly inspired by his younger brother Louis, who had volunteered for the Chinese missions but died during the voyage.
John Gabriel asked to take his place.
His superiors initially refused because his health seemed too fragile.
Eventually, they changed their minds.
In 1835, he sailed for China. After months at sea, John Gabriel entered the country disguised in Chinese clothing, learned the language, and began traveling between scattered Catholic communities. Missionary life meant long journeys, unfamiliar food, hiding from authorities, hearing confessions, celebrating Mass secretly, and teaching Catholics who might see a priest only occasionally.
Then, in 1839, persecution intensified.
John Gabriel was betrayed for money, arrested, and dragged from prison to prison. Authorities repeatedly demanded that he renounce Christianity. When he refused, he was beaten and tortured.
One detail of his imprisonment is particularly striking.
His captors tried to force him to trample on a crucifix.
He wouldn't do it.
Eventually John Gabriel was condemned to death. On September 11, 1840, he was taken to an execution ground near Wuchang and strangled on a wooden cross-like structure.
The resemblance to the Passion of Christ was not lost on later Catholics.
His body was eventually recovered by Christians and buried in China. Years later, his remains were returned to France and placed in the Vincentian motherhouse in Paris, where they can still be venerated today.
There's also a fascinating family detail. John Gabriel wasn't the only Perboyre drawn toward religious life. Several of his siblings entered religious communities, and the brother whose death opened the way for John's mission to China had wanted exactly the same vocation.
John Gabriel finally reached the country he had prayed to serve, but he spent only a few years there.
It was enough.
In 1996, he became the first canonized saint among the missionaries martyred in China.
Saint John Gabriel Perboyre, missionary of China and courageous imitator of the Crucified Christ, pray for us.
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