St. Pierre-François Néron

  Posted on November 6, 2020  by admin  No comments

Born: 21 September 1818 in Bornay, Jura, diocese of St-Claude, France 

Died: beheaded on 3 November 1860 in Son Tây, Ha Tay, Vietnam, severed head throw into the river and body buried at the execution site, in 1880 his body was re-interred in the crypt in church that was built next to his execution site 

Beatification: 1909 by Pie X

Canonized: 19 June 1988 by Pope John Paul II 

Patronage: young people in the diocese of Jura, France 

Feast day: November 3

Fifth of nine children. Studied in seminaries in Nozeroy and Vaux-sur-Poligny, France. Member of the Paris Foreign Missions Society. Ordained in 1848. Missionary to Vietnam. Director of the Society’s seminary. Taught philosophy and translated textbooks for his students. Noted for having a deep spiritual life in the midst of endless work. In the persecutions of emperor Tu-Duc he had to go on the road, hiding from imperial anti-Christian forces, but was eventually betrayed to the authorities, imprisoned in a cage for three months, starved for three weeks, tortured and martyred.