Bl. Theophane Venard – November 6th
Even as a youngster this holy French priest dreamed of being a martyr. He went to study for the priesthood and then entered a college for future missionaries in Paris. His family, whom he dearly loved, were greatly saddened to think that after his ordination, he would leave them.
“My darling sister,” he wrote right afterwards, “How I cried when I read your letter! Yes, I well knew the sorrow I was going to bring on my family, and especially on you, my dear little sister. But don’t you think it cost me bloody tears, too, to take such a step, and give all of you such pain? Whoever loved his home more than I do? All my happiness on this earth was centered there. But God, who has united us all in bonds of most tender affection, wanted to draw me from it.”
So after being ordained a priest, Theophane set out for Hong Kong. He studied languages over a year there and then went on to Tongking. Two obstacles were in the way of this zealous missionary: his own poor health and a terrible persecution. Yet he struggled bravely on. Often he wrote to tell his beloved sister in France all his adventures and narrow escapes from his persecutors. At last, after bravely serving the many Christians in Tongking, Theophane was captured and chained in a cage for two mouths.
His gentle ways won even his jailers, and he managed to write a letter home in which he said: “All those who surround me are civil and respectful, and a good many love me. From the great mandarin down to the humblest private soldier, everyone regrets that the laws of the country condemn one to death. I have not been put to the torture like my brethren.”
After he had been beheaded, crowds rushed to soak linen handkerchiefs in his blood, so great was their love for this young martyr of the last century.
Jesus said: “Blessed are the meek, because they will possess the earth.” This means that whoever is meek will be liked by all.
