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Joseph Freinademetz was born on April 15, 1852 in Tyrol County in the Austrian Empire (now part of Italy), fourth of thirteen children.
From an early age, Joseph dreamed of becoming a Catholic priest, and on July 25, 1875, he was ordained a diocesan priest. He was assigned to San Martin de Tor parish, not far from his home.
Although he was a very effective parish priest, he felt called to be a foreign missionary, and this desire did not leave him. When he learned about a new religious order devoted to foreign missionary work, he contacted the founder, Fr. Arnold Janssen. With his bishop’s permission, Fr. Joseph entered the new order called the Society of the Divine Word, headquartered in Steyl, Netherlands, in August 1878.
In March of 1879, Fr. Joseph, along with Fr. Joahann Baptist von Anzer, left for Hong Kong, part of the British Empire. There, the two priests lived, did pastoral work, and studied for the next two years. After this preparation, the priests were sent to the southern region of the Province of Shantung to do their mission work. When they arrived, they learned that the province had 12 million people, but only 158 had been baptized.
Fr. Joseph did his best to serve the people, and in the process, he fell in love with the Chinese and their culture. He “went native” as sociologists say, trying to be as Chinese as he could. He wore Chinese clothes and cut his reddish-blond hair short except for a crop in the back of his head on which he attached a black ponytail. Soon, the people began calling him “The Lucky Priest.”
The man he was sent to China with, became bishop, so whenever the bishop was gone, Fr. Joseph had to run the diocese while doing his own missionary work. Fortunately for Fr. Joseph, he was able to learn new languages rather easily. That, combined with a strong work ethic, helped him immensely.
One huge problem he had was that as soon as he had set up a fine mission, the bishop would reassign him to form a new one somewhere else. Fr. Joseph realized, then, that in order for his missionary work to survive, he had to train native priests and catechists so they could carry on when he was gone. So, that is what he did.
Unfortunately, at the end of 1907, a typhoid epidemic broke out as he was serving his sixth term as diocesan administrator. He threw himself into visiting communities to help the people in any way he could, and he became infected with typhoid. He died on January 28, 1908.
Before he died, he had told his family and friends that he loved the Chinese people and wanted to be buried with them. He also discovered what all priests need to discover: love of the people is primary. In fact, his motto was: “The language that all people understand is that of love.”
Joseph Freinademetz was canonized on October 5, 2003 along with the founder of his order, Arnold Janssen, and Daniel Comboni, founder of the Comboni Missionaries. Saint Joseph Freinademetz’ feast day is January 28.
