Maurice Tornay, CRSA (31 August 1910 – 11 August 1949) was a Swiss Catholic priest of the

Canons Regular of Saint Augustine The Canons Regular of St. Augustine are Catholic priests who live in community under a rule ( and κανών, ''kanon'', in Greek) and are generally organised into religious orders, differing from both secular canons and other forms of religious ...

– of the Hospitallers of Saint Nicholas and Grand-St-Bernard of Mont Joux branch – who served as part of the missions in China and

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...

. He fought against

anti-Catholic Anti-Catholicism is hostility towards Catholics and opposition to the Catholic Church, its clergy, and its adherents. Scholars have identified four categories of anti-Catholicism: constitutional-national, theological, popular and socio-cul ...

religious persecution in independent Tibet and was ambushed and murdered by

Tibetan Buddhist Tibetan Buddhism is a form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet, Bhutan and Mongolia. It also has a sizable number of adherents in the areas surrounding the Himalayas, including the Indian regions of Ladakh, Darjeeling, Sikkim, and Arunachal Prades ...

monks of the

Karma Kagyu Karma Kagyu (), or Kamtsang Kagyu (), is a widely practiced and probably the second-largest lineage within the Kagyu school, one of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The lineage has long-standing monasteries in Tibet, China, Russia, M ...

sect from the Karma Gon Monastery while he travelled to

Lhasa Lhasa, officially the Chengguan District of Lhasa City, is the inner urban district of Lhasa (city), Lhasa City, Tibet Autonomous Region, Southwestern China. Lhasa is the second most populous urban area on the Tibetan Plateau after Xining ...

disguised as a pilgrim to appeal directly to the

Dalai Lama The Dalai Lama (, ; ) is the head of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. The term is part of the full title "Holiness Knowing Everything Vajradhara Dalai Lama" (圣识一切瓦齐尔达喇达赖喇嘛) given by Altan Khan, the first Shu ...

for

religious toleration Religious tolerance or religious toleration may signify "no more than forbearance and the permission given by the adherents of a dominant religion for other religions to exist, even though the latter are looked on with disapproval as inferior, ...

to be granted to the

Catholic Church in Tibet The Catholic Church is a minority religious organization in Tibet, where Tibetan Buddhism is the faith of the majority of people. Its origin dates from the 17th century, when António de Andrade, a Portuguese Jesuit through , introduced Catholici ...

. He was

beatified Beatification (from Latin , "blessed" and , "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 name. ''Beati'' is the ...

on 16 May 1993 after

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

confirmed that the late priest had been killed "in odium fidei" ('out of hatred of the faith').

Life

Maurice Tornay was born in

Valais Valais ( , ; ), more formally, the Canton of Valais or Wallis, is one of the cantons of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of thirteen districts and its capital and largest city is Sion, Switzer ...

in Switzerland on 31 August 1910 as the seventh of eight children to Jean-Joseph Tornay and Faustina Dossier. Two sisters were Josephine and Anna while a brother of his was Louis. He was

baptized Baptism (from ) is a Christian sacrament of initiation almost invariably with the use of water. It may be performed by sprinkling or pouring water on the head, or by immersing in water either partially or completely, traditionally three ...

on 13 September 1910 and made his

First Communion First Communion is a ceremony in some Christian traditions during which a person of the church first receives the Eucharist. It is most common in many parts of the Latin tradition of the Catholic Church, Lutheran Church and Anglican Communion (ot ...

in 1917. His childhood saw signs of disposition to a pious life and one based on doing the work of

God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

. On one particular evening his mother told him and his sister Anna of the life of

Agnes of Rome Agnes of Rome (21 January 304) is a virgin martyr, venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church, Oriental Orthodox Churches, Oriental Orthodox Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church, as well as the Anglican Communion and Lutheranism, Lutheran Chu ...

. In 1925 he commenced high school at Saint Maurice and was there until 1931. In his free time he took friends to the chapel where he would read them passages from the works of

Francis de Sales Francis de Sales, Congregation of the Oratory, C.O., Order of Minims, O.M. (; ; 21 August 156728 December 1622) was a Savoyard state, Savoyard Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Geneva and is a saint of the Catholic Church. He became n ...

and

Thérèse of Lisieux Thérèse of Lisieux (born Marie Françoise-Thérèse Martin; 2 January 1873 – 30 September 1897), religious name, in religion Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, was a French Discalced Carmelites, Discalced Carmelite who is widely v ...

's . He wrote to a provost to request admittance to the

Canons Regular The Canons Regular of St. Augustine are Catholic priests who live in community under a rule ( and κανών, ''kanon'', in Greek) and are generally organised into Religious order (Catholic), religious orders, differing from both Secular clergy, ...

and he was admitted into 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 ...

on 25 August 1931. After a team of missionaries left for China in January 1933 he was disappointed that he did not have his chance to go with them. He was diagnosed with a stomach ulcer in January 1934 and had to follow a special diet – he would skip this diet while in the missions; this also prompted an operation and a subsequent period of rest. He had recovered enough to make his vows on 8 September 1935. In 1936 he requested once more to be assigned to the missions in China – and left alongside Cyrille Lattion (1909–1997) and Nestor Rouiller – and spent a month and a half before arriving in China. In

Weixi Weixi Lisu Autonomous County is an autonomous county of Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, in northwest Yunnan province, China. The titular ethnic group is the Lisu people. Geography Weixi Lisu Autonomous County borders Shangri-La City across ...

Yunnan Province Yunnan; is an inland Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces ...

, he completed his theological studies and his studies in local languages. To his brother Louis he sent a letter stating: "I will never return". He and his three companions also underwent courses with a doctor and a dentist. The path to the priesthood was now open for him and he travelled for over two weeks to

Hanoi Hanoi ( ; ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Vietnam, second-most populous city of Vietnam. The name "Hanoi" translates to "inside the river" (Hanoi is bordered by the Red River (Asia), Red and Black River (Asia), Black Riv ...

in Vietnam where he received

ordination Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

on 24 April 1938 from Bishop François Chaize; he wrote to his parents: "Your son is a priest!". He then received the task of teaching

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

in Houa-Lo-Pa. In March 1945 saw him appointed as the

parish priest A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Church at Yerkalo in southeast Tibet. He braved the dangers of the

monks who were not fond of missionaries or of ethnic Tibetan Christians in general. The local lamas broke into his residence on the morning of 26 January 1946 and confiscated the church while forcing him into exile. He took up brief residence in Pame, China, (with an old drunkard) and learned of the anti-religious situation back in his parish from parishioners who came in through Pame on business. The lamas threatened him with death if he did not break off contact with his old parish while in May 1946 he received a letter from the Governor of Chamado who promised protection and inviting the priest to return to his parish. But on 6 May 1946 he set off though Gun-Akhio stopped him: "Stop! You are forbidden to go further". He asked the Apostolic Nuncio to China

Antonio Riberi Antonio Riberi (15 June 1897 – 16 December 1967) was a Monegasque prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as the fifth apostolic nuncio to Ireland and later as the nuncio to Spain from 1962 until his death. He was elevated to the cardina ...

for his assistance and the latter advised him to meet with the

14th Dalai Lama The 14th Dalai Lama (born 6 July 1935; full spiritual name: Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, shortened as Tenzin Gyatso; ) is the incumbent Dalai Lama, the highest spiritual leader and head of Tibetan Buddhism. He served a ...

. He decided that he would travel to

to seek an audience with the latter to ask him for an edict of tolerance that would protect the regional Christians. On 10 July 1949 he joined a caravan of merchants and undertook the trip that would last two months and he shaved his beard and put on a Tibetan dress to avoid detection though was recognized during a brief stop. He was forced to leave the caravan though managed to rejoin it and said to his companion Doci: "We must not be afraid ... We will die for the Christians". Four armed lamas burst from the bush in the Tothong forest which prompted the priest to speak with them: "Don't shoot! Let's talk!" but two shots rang out and Doci was shot dead. More shots killed the priest on 11 August 1949. His remains were buried though transferred in 1985.

Beatification

The beatification process opened in the two cities of

Kangding Kangding ( zh, c=康定), also known as Dartsedo (), is a county-level city and the seat of Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan province of Southwest China. Kangding is on the bank of the Dadu River and has been considered the his ...

and

Sion Sion may refer to * an alternative transliteration of Zion People * Sion (name) or Siôn, a Welsh and other given name and surname, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Shion or Sion, a Japanese given name Plac ...

in an informative process that opened in 1953 and concluded its business on 31 March 1963 while being titled as a

Servant of God Servant of God () is a title used in the Catholic Church to indicate that an individual is on the first step toward possible canonization as a saint. Terminology The expression ''Servant of God'' appears nine times in the Bible, the first five in ...

at the onset of the process. His spiritual writings received the approval of theologians on 5 January 1965 while an apostolic process was later held; the

Congregation for the Causes of Saints In the Catholic Church, the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, previously named the Congregation for the Causes of Saints (), is the dicastery of the Roman Curia that oversees the complex process that leads to the canonization of saints, passi ...

validated these processes on 27 April 1990. The dossier – known as the

Positio A ''positio'' (short for the Latin ''positio super virtutibus'': "position on the virtues") is a document or collection of documents used in the process by which a Catholic person is declared Venerable, the second of four steps on the path to can ...

– was submitted to

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

in 1990 for assessment which allowed for theologians to meet on 28 February 1992 to approve the cause while the cardinal and bishop members followed suit on 16 June 1992.

approved the fact that the slain priest was killed in hatred of his Christian faith which allowed for the pope to preside over his 16 May 1993 beatification. The current

postulator A postulator is the person who guides a cause for beatification or canonization through the judicial processes required by the Catholic Church. The qualifications, role and function of the postulator are spelled out in the ''Norms to be Observed i ...

of the cause is the Rev. Emilio Dunoyer.

Celebration

The official date for the celebration of this Blessed is 12 August. Also, every year on this date, many friends of the Blessed come to La Rosière, the Blessed's birthplace, to celebrate a local mass in his memory. In 2021, a new chapel and a space recalling his life were dedicated to him inside the church of

Orsières Orsières is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Entremont (district), Entremont in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Valais in Switzerland. History Orsières is first mentioned in 972 as ''Pons Ursarii''. In medie ...

References

External links

Hagiography Circle
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tornay, Maurice 1910 births 1949 deaths 20th-century venerated Christians 20th-century Roman Catholic martyrs 20th-century Swiss Roman Catholic priests Augustinian canons Beatifications by Pope John Paul II Roman Catholic missionaries in Tibet Roman Catholic missionaries in China Martyred Roman Catholic priests People from Valais Swiss Roman Catholic missionaries Swiss beatified people Victims of anti-Catholic violence Violence against Christians Swiss people murdered abroad People murdered in China Roman Catholic Diocese of Kangding Catholic Church in Yunnan Persecution by Buddhists

Life

Beatification

Celebration

See also

References

External links