Rémy Isoré, SJ was a French

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

priest who was martyred during

Boxer Rebellion The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, was an anti-foreign, anti-imperialist, and anti-Christian uprising in North China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by the Society of Righteous and Harmonious F ...

in China. He was declared a

saint In Christianity, Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of sanctification in Christianity, holiness, imitation of God, likeness, or closeness to God in Christianity, God. However, the use of the ...

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 ...

in 2000.

Early life and education

Isoré was born in Bambecque, France on 22 January 1852. He studied to become a priest for his own diocese in the diocesan seminary at

Cambrai Cambrai (, ; ; ), formerly Cambray and historically in English Camerick or Camericke, is a city in the Nord department and in the Hauts-de-France region of France on the Scheldt river, which is known locally as the Escaut river. A sub-pref ...

. He decided to join

Society of Jesus The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 ...

and so joined the Jesuit seminary at Saint-Acheul. He taught in the secondary school and also studied Theology in Jersey.

Mission in China

Remy had asked his superiors to send him to

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

, but he was sent to China to evangelize. He arrived in China in 1882. On 31 July 1886, Isoré was ordained a priest. After ordination he worked in many different roles in China.

Martyrdom

Isoré was stationed at Weixian, in

Zhili Zhili, alternately romanized as Chihli, was a northern administrative region of China since the 14th century that lasted through the Ming dynasty and Qing dynasty until 1911, when the region was dissolved, converted to a province, and renamed ...

Tianjin Tianjin is a direct-administered municipality in North China, northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the National Central City, nine national central cities, with a total population of 13,866,009 inhabitants at the time of the ...

at the time of rise of

. After hearing news of the rebels heading to his parish, he went to the nearby Jesuit mission in village of Wuyi. Modeste Andlauer was in charge of this mission. Next afternoon, on 19 July 1900, Andlaeur and Isoré were beheaded by the rebels while kneeling and praying. Their heads were displayed at the village entrance gate as a warning message for other Christians.

Canonization

Isoré was beatified by

Pius XII Pope Pius XII (; born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli; 2 March 18769 October 1958) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death on 9 October 1958. He is the most recent p ...

on 17 April 1956 and canonized by

on 1 Oct 2000 along with other

Chinese Martyrs Chinese Martyrs ( zh, t=中華殉道聖人, s=中华殉道圣人, first=t, w=Chung1-hua2 hsun4-tao4 shêng4-jên2, p=Zhōnghuá xùndào shèngrén) is the name given to a number of members of the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox C ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Isore, Remy 1852 births Jesuit saints Catholic saints French missionaries 1900 deaths Catholic martyrs Christian martyrs Canonizations by Pope John Paul II