ASIA/HONG KONG - Pilgrims in Yim Tin Tsai recall St. Joseph Freinademetz

Wednesday, 12 November 2014

Hong Kong (Agenzia Fides) – The Catholic community on the island of Yim Tin Tsai, in Hong Kong, is paying tribute to the great Divine Word missionary St. Joseph Freinademetz (1852-1908), who lived in these places during the period from 1879 to 1880 before travelling to the continent to begin his mission of evangelization in China. Each month, in fact, from August to December, the Divine Word (SVD) missionaries promote a pilgrimage to this island.
According to information sent to Agenzia Fides, the Divine Word missionaries of Hong Kong, led by the superior provincial Fr. J. Areechira, in October recalled, together with the faithful of Yim Tin Tsai, the anniversary of the canonization of Fr. Freinademetz, on October 5, 2003 by Pope John Paul II. Fr. Areechira said: "Yim Tin Tsai is a pilgrimage site. All the Divine Word missionaries who arrive in Hong Kong must make a pilgrimage here. I myself always bring visitors here to meet my confrere". The "Yim Tin Tsai Center" takes care of organizing the pilgrimage.
Father Freinademetz is the first Divine Word missionary killed in China. He was ordained a priest in 1875 and in 1879 left for China: he is considered the pioneer in the history of the missions of the Society of the Divine Word. He goes first to Hong Kong, then to Shan-tung, where for nearly 30 years he tirelessly and with incredible sacrifices, didicates himself to the apostolic and missionary activity, taking care of the formation of the local clergy and also writing a theological treatise. He manages to escape the persecution of the Boxers and died of typhus in Taickianckwang, China, after having worked hard to heal those who had been affected by the epidemic. His whole life was marked by the effort to become Chinese among the Chinese, to the point that he wrote: "I love China and the Chinese, I want to die in their midst, and be buried among them". His tomb immediately became a place of pilgrimage. (NZ) (Agenzia Fides 12/11/2014)


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