St. Jean Gabriel Taurin Duffresse MEP The Relics of St. Jean Gabriel Taurin Duffresse MEP will forever be observed on the altar of our church beginning from the mass on May 19 (Eve of the Feast Day of the Ascension of our Lord) hosted by His Eminence Joseph Cardinal Zen. He, together with the rest of the 119 Chinese Martyrs, have been canonized by the late Pope John Paul II in year 2000.

St. Jean Gabriel Taurin Duffresse MEP originated from France, and he was born in the year 1750. He joined the Paris Foreign Missions in 1774. Upon ordination, he went to China to spread the Gospel in 1775. After staying in Macau for two years, he has to secretly go to work at Si-chuan Cheng-du, because the Chinese government at that time prohibited any religious work. He worked there for eight years before getting escorted under guard back to Macau. He returned to Si-chuan two years later, and started teaching in Zhung-qing. The number of parishioners started from 30 in 1789, and increased to 1,200 in 1797. Five schools were started during that period of time. He was consecrated as bishop in 1801 while looking after territories such as Si-chuan, Yun-nam, and Gui-zhou. There were a total of 50,000 parishioners.

Unfortunately, persecution started in 1804 and Si-chuan was one of the most serious affected cities. As a result, St. Jean Gabriel Taurin Duffresse MEP was arrested in 1815 and sacrificed his life. His head was hung on top of the gate to the city for three days. His body was currently buried in Paris Foreign Missions, and one of his bones of was now offered on our altar.

St. Jean Gabriel Taurin Duffresse MEP, please pray for us.