John Gabriel Perboyre, CM (french: Jean-Gabriel Perboyre; 1802–1840) was a French priest of the Congregation of the Mission, who served as a

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...

in China, where he suffered

martyrdom A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

. He was

canonized Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon catalogue of s ...

in 1996 by Pope

John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

Life

Early life

Perboyre was born in 1802 at Le Puech (now in the commune of Montgesty), Lot, France, one of eight children born to Pierre Perboyre and Marie Rigal, who ran a farm. (Five of them would enter either the Vincentian Fathers or the Daughters of Charity.) He led a routine childhood and youth, displaying no particular religious fervor. This changed in 1816, however, after his younger brother, Louis, was accepted into the Vincentian

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy ...

recently founded in

Montauban Montauban (, ; oc, Montalban ) is a commune in the Tarn-et-Garonne department, region of Occitania, Southern France. It is the capital of the department and lies north of Toulouse. Montauban is the most populated town in Tarn-et-Garonne, ...

by their uncle, Jacques Perboyre, C.M. John Gabriel was asked by their parents to accompany his brother until he had adapted to his new environment. To his surprise, John Gabriel felt drawn to follow this life himself. When the teachers at the minor seminary saw Perboyre's intelligence and piety, they suggested that he enroll formally in the seminary. He wrote to his father, offering to return to help on the farm should his father wish, but indicating that he felt that he was called to serve as a priest. His parents gave him their blessing and full support in this.

Religious life

Perboyre entered the

novitiate The novitiate, also called the noviciate, is the period of training and preparation that a Christian ''novice'' (or ''prospective'') monastic, apostolic, or member of a religious order undergoes prior to taking vows in order to discern whether ...

of the Congregation of the Mission (Lazarists) at the minor seminary of

in December 1818. On the feast of the Holy Innocents 1820, he made the four promises of the Congregation, hoping to serve in its overseas missions. He was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform ...

to the priesthood on 23 September 1825, in the chapel of the Daughters of Charity, by Louis Dubourg, PSS, newly installed as the

Bishop of Montauban The Roman Catholic Diocese of Montauban ( Latin: ''Dioecesis Montis Albani''; French: ''Diocèse de Montauban'') is a diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in France. The diocese is coextensive with Tarn-et-Garonne, and is cu ...

, and on the following day he celebrated

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different ele ...

for the first time. In 1832 he was assigned by the superiors of the Congregation to supervise the novitiate in Paris. Perboyre had been held back from his longing to serve in China by his poor health. His brother Louis, on the other hand was sent to China. Unfortunately he died in the course of the journey there. This prompted John Gabriel to volunteer to replace his brother. He was approved for this, with the hope that the sea voyage would improve his health.

Missionary

Perboyre arrived in

Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...

in August 1835, where he began the study of the Chinese language. On 21 December 1835, he began his journey to

Ho-Nan Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is als ...

in China, the mission assigned him, in a

junk ship A junk (Chinese: 船, ''chuán'') is a type of Chinese sailing ship with fully battened sails. There are two types of junk in China: northern junk, which developed from Chinese river boats, and southern junk, which developed from Austronesian ...

. The journey took him five months, which required months of recovery. He then proceeded to spend the rest of his time of service serving the poverty-stricken people of the region. In January 1838, he was transferred to the mission of

Hubei Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The p ...

. In September 1839, persecutions against Christians broke out in Hubei, and Perboyre was one of the first victims. In 1839 the

viceroy A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the French word ''roy'', meaning " ...

of the province began a persecution and used the local mandarins to obtain the names of priests and

catechist Catechesis (; from Greek language, Greek: , "instruction by word of mouth", generally "instruction") is basic Christian religious education of children and adults, often from a catechism book. It started as education of Conversion to Christian ...

s in their areas. In September 1839, the Mandarin of Hubei, where there was a Vincentian mission center, sent soldiers to arrest the missionaries. Perboyre was meeting informally with some other priests of the region when the soldiers arrived to seize them. The priests scattered and hid, but one catechist, under torture, gave away where Perboyre was hiding. He was stripped of his garments and clothed with rags, bound, and, over the course of time, was dragged from tribunal to tribunal. At each trial, he was treated inhumanly. Finally, he was taken to

Wuchang Wuchang forms part of the urban core of and is one of 13 urban districts of the prefecture-level city of Wuhan, the capital of Hubei Province, China. It is the oldest of the three cities that merged into modern-day Wuhan, and stood on the ri ...

, and after torture, was condemned to death. The sentence was confirmed by an imperial edict in 1840, and on 11 September of that year, Perboyre was led to death with seven criminals. He was strangled to death on a cross at Wuchang. His body was retrieved and buried in the mission cemetery by a catechist.

Veneration

After the obligatory waiting period of five years after death for seeking a person's canonization had expired, a cause for him was introduced to the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of R ...

. He was

beatified Beatification (from Latin ''beatus'', "blessed" and ''facere'', "to make”) is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their n ...

Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII ( it, Leone XIII; born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903) was the head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 to his death in July 1903. Living until the age of 93, he was the second-ol ...

in 1889, and later canonized by

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

in 1996 on 2 June. In the meantime, his remains were returned from China to France, where they were entombed for

veneration Veneration ( la, veneratio; el, τιμάω ), or veneration of saints, is the act of honoring a saint, a person who has been identified as having a high degree of sanctity or holiness. Angels are shown similar veneration in many religions. Etym ...

in the chapel of the Vincentian Motherhouse in Paris,

Saint Vincent de Paul Chapel Saint Vincent de Paul Chapel is a Roman Catholic chapel in Paris, 6th arrondissement, 95 rue de Sèvres. It is dedicated to saint Vincent de Paul (1581–1660) where his remains are venerated in a silver reliquary (made by Charles Odiot) above t ...

Prayer of St. John Gabriel Perboyre to Jesus

Saint John Gabriel Perboyre composed this prayer in the 19th century. This transformational prayer builds towards Saint Paul's statement in

Galatians Galatians may refer to: * Galatians (people) * Epistle to the Galatians, a book of the New Testament * English translation of the Greek ''Galatai'' or Latin ''Galatae'', ''Galli,'' or ''Gallograeci'' to refer to either the Galatians or the Gauls in ...

2:20: "I live – now not I – But Christ lives in me".''Galatians: Free in Christ'' by Kevin Perrotta 2006 page 53 :O my Divine Saviour, :Transform me into Yourself. :May my hands be the hands of Jesus. :Grant that every faculty of my body :May serve only to glorify You. :Above all, :Transform my soul and all its powers :So that my memory, will and affection :May be the memory, will and affections :Of Jesus. :I pray You :To destroy in me :All that is not of You. :Grant that I may live :But in You, by You and for You, :So that I may truly say, :With St. Paul, :"I live – now not I – :But Christ lives in me".

Notes

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Perboyre, Jean-Gabriel 1802 births 1840 deaths People from Lot (department) Vincentians 19th-century French Roman Catholic priests French Roman Catholic missionaries Roman Catholic missionaries in China People executed by the Qing dynasty French people executed abroad People executed by ligature strangulation 19th-century Roman Catholic martyrs Canonizations by Pope John Paul II French Roman Catholic saints 19th-century Christian saints Vincentian saints Executed people from Midi-Pyrénées French expatriates in China