Joseph Freinademetz

After receiving his mission cross on March 2, 1879, Freinademetz left for China with his confrere Johann Baptist von Anzer; they reached Hong Kong, where they remained for about two years, working notably in Saikung. In 1881-1882, the two missionaries established themselves in the southern province of Shandong (South Shantung), a region of some twelve million inhabitants where there were then only a handful of Christians. Freinademetz devoted himself there to a long and difficult work of evangelization, facing banditry, long apostolic tours, and the initial hostility of the population. Convinced that the future of the Church depended on a local clergy, he dedicated himself to the training of Chinese catechists and future priests: he was director of catechist training, rector of the seminary, and authored a catechism in the Chinese language as well as rules for catechists. He also exercised government responsibilities, becoming administrator and then provincial superior of the mission, a role he assumed notably after the Boxer Rebellion (1900). His deep inculturation—he adopted Chinese clothing and customs—made him a respected figure, known by the name of "Fu Shenfu."

Joseph Freinademetz's reputation for holiness rests on the radical nature of his missionary gift and on a charity that he considered the universal language of the Gospel. Deeply attached to the people he served, he pushed inculturation to the point of wishing to be fully Chinese, in his way of life as well as in his heart. His spirituality, marked by the spirit of the founder Arnold Janssen, united a sustained interior life and tireless apostolic labor, accepted despite loneliness, privations, and illness: as early as 1898, he was afflicted with laryngitis and the onset of tuberculosis, which forced him to take a period of rest in Japan before resuming his duties. His death, which occurred while he was exhausting himself in the service of the sick during the typhus epidemic, was perceived as the crowning of a life entirely offered. The veneration he received, both in China and in his native Tyrol and throughout the Verbite family, led to the opening of his cause after 1908.

Joseph Freinademetz was beatified by Pope Paul VI on October 19, 1975, together with Arnold Janssen, founder of the Society of the Divine Word. The cause subsequently led to canonization: on October 5, 2003, Pope John Paul II inscribed him in the catalogue of saints, again at the same time as Arnold Janssen. Not having died as a martyr, but as a victim of an epidemic contracted while serving the sick, his cause progressed through the ordinary path of heroic virtues and the recognition of miracles attributed to his intercession. His liturgical memorial is generally celebrated on January 28, the anniversary of his death (dies natalis), notably in the proper calendar of the Society of the Divine Word and in the Roman Martyrology; some sources linked to the Italian Verbites, however, mention a commemoration on February 28.

Joseph Freinademetz remains an emblematic figure of the Society of the Divine Word, of which he was, along with Anzer, one of the very first missionaries in China. He is honored as a patron of foreign missions and a model of inculturation for missionaries. In his native land, the Val Badia, he is particularly venerated as the first Ladin-speaking saint; the Oies sanctuary, established around his birthplace, is a place of pilgrimage for the Diocese of Bolzano-Bressanone. In China, his tomb in Taikia was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution, but his mortuary chamber remains. His memory stays alive in Verbite communities throughout the world and among Chinese Catholics, who see in him a witness of the Church's love for their people. His spiritual motto—love as the only language that all men understand—continues to inspire contemporary missionary action.