A priest of the Congregation of the Mission, he was sent to China and ministered to rural Christian communities. Arrested during a persecution, he endured long torture and was executed on a cross-shaped gibbet at Wuchang.
Life
Saint John Gabriel Perboyre was born in 1802 in southern France. He entered the Congregation of the Mission (the Vincentians), founded by Saint Vincent de Paul, was ordained a priest and spent several years teaching in seminary and forming novices.
He had long desired to go to China, and in 1835 he finally arrived there, caring for the faithful in several regions. When persecution broke out in 1839 he was betrayed and arrested, and for nearly a year he endured harsh interrogation and torture. On September 11, 1840, in Wuchang, he was bound to a cross-shaped frame and strangled. Pope Saint John Paul II canonized him in 1996.
Spirituality
Saint John Gabriel's spirituality is a longing to become like Christ. He prayed to be transformed into Christ, and in betrayal, trial, torture and death upon a cross he came to resemble the Lord's Passion deeply. For the sake of mission he gladly left a comfortable position behind.
Reflection
Saint John Gabriel followed Christ on the way of the cross in faraway China. Why not pray today for the priests, religious and lay missionaries serving in mission lands?