Augustin Schoeffler
Saint Augustin Schoeffler | |
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Saint Augustin Schoeffler.
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Martyr | |
Born | 22 November 1822 Mittelbronn, France |
Died | 1 May 1851 (aged 28) Son Tay, Vietnam |
Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church |
Beatified | 7 May 1900 by Pope Leo XIII |
Canonized | 19 June 1988, Rome, Italy by John-Paul II |
Major shrine | Mittelbronn, France |
Feast | May 1 (May 2 locally in France) |
Patronage | Metz Seminary |
Augustin Schoeffler (1822–1851) was a French saint and martyr in the Roman Catholic Church and a member of the Paris Foreign Missions Society. He was a priest in Lorraine who joined the Foreign Missions of Paris.[1] He worked as a missionary to Indochina and was one of two French missionaries killed in northern Vietnam between 1847 and 1851.[2] At the time, it was illegal to proselytize in Vietnam.
His feast day is May 1 (May 2 locally in France).[1]
Contents
Early life and education
Augustin Schoeffler was born on the 22 of November, 1822, in Mittlebronn, France.[3] He was baptized the next day. From 1834-1842 he studied at the minor seminary of Pont-à-Mousson and the college of Phalsbourg. From 1842-1846 Schoeffler studied Philosophy at the major seminary of Nancy. On the 5 October 1846, he began training in the Seminary of Foreign Missions of Paris. On May 29, 1847 Augustin Schoeffler was ordained a priest in Paris.[4]
Missionary Life
- November 18, 1847: left Antwerp for Tonkin.
- July 6, 1848: arrived in Tonkin.
- 1848-1851: Worked as missionary while learning the Vietnamese language.
- Spring 1850: Left for the north of the country where his bishop gave him the task of evangelizing to Son Tay.
- March 1, 1851: Schoeffler was arrested.
- March 5, 1851: Schoeffler was found guilty of proselytizing.
- May 1, 1851: Schoeffler was beheaded at Son Tay.[4]
As Father Schoeffler walked to his place of execution, a placard, which read, "He preached truly the whole charge of preaching the religion of Jesus. His crime is patent. Let Mr. Augustin be beheaded, and cast into a stream."[5] was carried before him. Augustin Schoeffler's head was thrown into the Red River, and was never recovered.[3] The crowd rushed to collect relics. Some even uprooted the grass that was stained with his blood.[6] His body was buried on the site of his execution. Two days later, local Christians exhumed the body and reburied it in a Christian village nearby.[3]
Sainthood
On September 24, 1857, Augustin Schoeffler was declared Venerable by Pope Pius IX. He was beatified by Pope Leo XIII on May 7, 1900. He was made a saint by Pope John Paul II on June 19, 1988.
Relics
As of May 10, 2009 a relic of Augustin Schoeffler can be found at the Assumption Grotto Church in Detroit, Michigan.[7] Descendants of Schoeffler's family live in the area and attend the church.[8]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Société des Missions Etrangères de Paris (French)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Assumption Grotto News
- ↑ Te Deum laudamus!
External links
- (French) Archives of the Paris Foreign Missions Society
- http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/51590
- http://www.op-stjoseph.org/dom-images/pdf-files/witnesses.pdf
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- Articles with French-language external links
- Pages with broken file links
- 1822 births
- 1851 deaths
- People from Moselle
- 19th-century Christian saints
- 19th-century executions by Vietnam
- 19th-century Roman Catholic martyrs
- Christian missionaries in Vietnam
- French people executed abroad
- French Roman Catholic saints
- Vietnamese Roman Catholic saints
- Martyred Roman Catholic priests
- Paris Foreign Missions Society
- Christian martyrs executed by decapitation
- People executed by Vietnam by decapitation
- French people executed by decapitation
- 1851 in Vietnam
- Executed people from Lorraine