Missionary Crucified in China, 1820

Today marks the death of St. Francis Regis Clet (1748-1820), a Vincentian missionary martyred in China. Born in Grenoble he joined St. Vincent De Paul’s Congregation of the Mission in 1769. He was ordained in 1773, and spent fifteen years teaching at the order’s seminary at Annecy. In 1788 he was named novice director at St. Lazaire, the motherhouse in Paris. Father Clet had long wanted to go to the missions, but his grant wasn’t requested until 1791, when a confrere withdrew at the last minute. After studying Chinese language and culture in Macao, he went to Kiang-Si, where he was the only European. He was later assigned to head a group of missionaries whose jurisdiction covered some 270,0000 square miles. Beginning in 1811, the Chinese government started persecuting Christians on the grounds that they were inciting rebellion. Father Clet went into hiding, and he was betrayed by a schoolmaster he trusted. At age 71, he was forced to march in chains for hundreds of miles. He was found guilty of treason and sentenced to death by strangulation on a cross. Clet was beatified in 1900 and canonized in 2000.