Marc Marie de Rotz

Marc Marie de Rotz (27 March 1840 – 7 November 1914) was a French missionary belonging to the Paris Foreign Missions Society who served in Japan for over 35 years. Upon arriving in Japan in June 1868, de Rotz engaged in missionary and social welfare work in the Sotome region of Nagasaki.

Life

Marc Marie de Rotz was born on 26 March 1840 in Bayeux in Normandy, France to a royal family descended from Napoleon. After receiving strict schooling from his parents, in 1848, he enrolled in the Congregation of Holy Cross school in Orléans.

In 1860, de Rotz enrolled in the seminary in Orléans, and two years later transferred to the Paris Foreign Missions Society seminary. However, due to illness he dropped out of school, returned to his hometown, and enrolled in the seminary in Bayeux. Upon his graduation and ordination there in 1865, he was installed as assistant priest of the Saint Julian Church in Caen. In 1867, he became a member of the Paris Foreign Missions Society.

Around this time, priest Bernard Petitjean, who had been involved in missionary work in Nagasaki, returned to France and was recruiting missionaries who had knowledge of printing techniques. de Rotz responded to Petitjean's call, and in June 1868 went to Japan. After engaging in missionary work in Nagasaki, he was reassigned to Yokohama in 1871.

In 1914, while working on the construction of the Oura Church diocese, de Rotz fell off from the scaffolding and died the following day, November 7. He was buried in a cemetery in Shitsu.