Joseph Freinademetz

Joseph Freinademetz (; April 15, 1852 – January 28, 1908), was a Ladin Catholic priest and missionary in China.

Early life Freinademetz was born the fourth among the 13 children of Giovanmattia and Anna Maria Freinademetz in Oies, a section of the town of Badia, which was then in the County of Tyrol, a part of the Austrian Empire, now a part of Italy. He studied theology in the diocesan seminary of Brixen and was ordained a priest on July 25, 1875. He was assigned to the community of San Martin de Tor, not far from his own home.

During his studies and the three years in San Martino, Freinademetz always felt a calling to be a missionary. He contacted Arnold Janssen, founder of the Society of the Divine Word, a missionary congregation based in Steyl, Netherlands. With the permission of his parents and his bishop, he moved to Steyl in August 1878, where he received training as a missionary.

Missionary work In March 1879, he and his confrere Johann Baptist von Anzer boarded a ship to Hong Kong, where they arrived five weeks later. They stayed there for two years. Freinademetz was based in Sai Kung Peninsula until 1880 and set up a chapel on the island of Yim Tin Tsai in 1879. In 1881 they moved to the southern region of the Province of Shandong, to which they had been assigned. At the time of their arrival, there were 12 million people living in that province, of which 158 had been baptized.

Freinademetz was very active in the education of Chinese laymen and priests. He wrote a catechism in Chinese, which he considered a crucial part of their missionary effort. In 1898, he was sick with laryngitis and tuberculosis, so Anzer, who had become the bishop of the region, and other priests convinced him to go to Japan to recuperate. He returned, but was still not fully cured. When Anzer had to leave China for a journey to Europe in 1907, the administration of the diocese was assigned to Freinademetz.

Death There was an outbreak of typhus in this time, and he helped wherever he could, until he himself became infected. He returned to Daijiazhuang (, historically spelled "Taikia" or "Taichia"), Rencheng District, Jining, South Shandong, where he died from typhus. He was buried in Daijiazhuang, at the twelfth station on the Way of the Cross.

Legacy Freinademetz's spiritual writings were approved by theologians on 20 November 1940, and his cause was formally opened on 22 June 1951, granting him the title of Servant of God. Freinademetz, together with Arnold Janssen, the founder of his Society, was canonized on October 5, 2003, by Pope John Paul II, as was Daniele Comboni, the founder of the Comboni Missionaries, which works in Africa.

Under his patronage is the St. Joseph Freinademetz German National Parish in Beijing, a parish for German-speaking residents and visitors.

Works Joseph Freinademetz, Sanctissimum Novae Legis Sacrificium, 1.ed., Verlag der katholischen Mission: Yenchowfu (China) 1915, VII + 161 pp. 2.ed. Typographia Apostolica Domus Missionum ad S. Michaelem, Steyl 1948, VIII + 141 pp. Josef Freinademetz SVD, Berichte aus der China-Mission, (also in: Analecta SVD 27, 1973) Apud Collegium Verbi Divini, Romae 1974, 171 pp. José Freinademetz, Relatos de la mision en China, Editorial Verbo Divino, Estella (Navarra) 1976, 219 pp.. Joseph Freinademetz, Über den Geist der Societas Verbi Divini Divini, (Analecta SVD 40) Romae 1977, 91 pp. Joseph Freinademetz, The Most Holy Sacrifice of the New Covenant, translated by Stan Plutz SVD, Tagaytay (Philippines) 1980, 2. ed. 1986, 146 pp. Richard Hartwoch (ed.), Arnold Janssen and Joseph Freinademetz. Correspondence between two saints (1904-1907), (Analecta SVD - 97), Apud Collegium Verbi Divini: Romae 2008, 287 pp. Josef Freinademetz, Briefe an die Heimat, ed. by P. Lothar Janek SVD, Sekretariat Josef Freinademetz: Abtei/South Tyrol (BZ) 2009, 199 pp.