SVD
Generalate

While we are celebrating our Sesquicentennial Jubilee of the Foundation of our Society all over the world in a manifold way, the diocese of Bolzano/Bressanone (Brixen) in Italy proudly adds another significant jubilee, that is the sesquicentennial anniversary of the priestly ordination of Saint Joseph Freinademetz. As we know, his sacerdotal ordination took place on the 25^{th of} July 1875; just a few weeks before our Founder Saint Arnold Janssen inaugurated the Mission House in Steyl.

His ordination was held in the seminary church in Bressanone, where he spent his years of formation. Due to his human and spiritual maturity, bishop Vinzenz Gasser admitted Freinademetz to the Holy Orders before reaching the prescribed age and before completing his theological studies. As the number of priestly vocations went down in the 19^th century in Tirol anticipating the ordinations became a common practice so that those priests could help in the celebration of Sunday Masses in the neighboring parishes of Bressanone while completing their studies.

This issue of shortage of priests was raised by the bishop in his official answer to Freinademetz when he petitioned the bishop to be formally relieved from the diocese to join the Mission House in Steyl. However, the permission was granted as the bishop knew very well the strong missionary orientation of this young priest who made an outstanding impression during his years in the seminary and in his first year as an assistant parish priest in St. Martin, not far from his native Oies.

Freinademetz’s motivation to become a priest can hardly be separated from his desire to dedicate himself to the missions. In his first letter to Fr. Arnold Janssen in January 1878, he wrote “Most Reverend Sir, the call of the missionary institution you have brought into being, on which God’s blessing rests so conspicuously, has reached even the remotest corners of Tyrol. Since I have been thinking for years about dedicating myself to the missionary profession, I respectfully dare to knock on your door for admission.”

The fact that he also dealt with the subject of mission as a student at the Brixen seminary is evidenced by a practice-sermon he delivered in January 1875 on the subject “He who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law” (Romans 13:8). In it he said, “I hear within me a voice calling for help, for help from me and through me from you. A voice is calling for help that has never been heard, a voice that may sound thousands of miles away, far from us, one up there in the north, the other in Africa or America or Asia. For these poor brothers of ours, who perhaps experience the misery of this world the most of all, I want to open my mouth today.”

Many years later in a letter from China to his nephew Peter Frenademetz, a seminarian in Bressanone, he confessed, “What a joy it would be for me and a great grace for you if you were later to come over to China as a missionary … you may already pray for this grace, as I already did when I was a small student like you are now. I had also hardly considered it possible to come to China; but with God nothing is impossible.”

As soon as the foundations for the mission in South Shandong were laid by our confreres, beginning with late Bishop Johann Baptist Anzer and Josef Freinademetz, the question about local vocations to religious life and priesthood came up. The training of local clergy was a matter close to his heart. In preparation of the first Diocesan Synod in August 1892, he pointed out that “all ecclesiastical offices and dignities must be open to Chinese priests in the same way as European priests, without any difference.” Several years after establishing a seminary in Tsining, Freinademetz became its Rector from 1895 to 1897. His lectures and deep reflections about the Holy Eucharist were later published and widely used in China.

He wanted the Chinese clergy to be trained like Jesus the Good Shepherd, who, for him is the final role model for the priests and particularly valid for the missionaries The priests should go out in search of the lost sheep among their own people. He himself felt called by this Good Shepherd and he shared this experience with his parishioners in his farewell sermon in August 1878 in St. Martin, shortly before his departure to Steyl.

He said, “My dear brothers! Through the infinite mercy of God, who chooses the weak as his instruments, I hope to share in a grace of which I am eternally unworthy. The divine Good Shepherd, in his unfathomable goodness, has invited me to go out with him into the desert to help him find the lost sheep. So, what else can I do but kiss his hand with joy and gratitude and say with the Scriptures: “Behold, I am coming!”

For Freinademetz, to be counted among the Lord’s priests was never a privilege but a lifelong commitment to reach out to all who thirst for the eternal truth, which is to be found in Jesus Christ. Countless are his testimonies for this one and only desire.

In his priestly duties, especially as he offered the Holy Mass, he never ceased to pray for his dear ones at home. In his last letter that he wrote to his parents from Singapore on 14^th of April 1879 before reaching China, he let them know that “It was a great sacrifice that I had to leave you, father and mother, but I am comforted with every day that I will meet you again, maybe not in Oies but in paradise. Pray that I may have the grace to work much beforehand in the vineyard of the Lord for the salvation of souls. It goes without saying that I remember you every time I go to the altar, you, the brothers and sisters, certain friends and the whole Badia and Sankt Martin.”

Msgr. Ivo Muser, bishop of Bolzano-Bressanone diocese declared the Sanctuary in Oies, the birthplace of Freinademetz, as one of the official jubilee churches of the diocese during the Holy Jubilee Year 2025. As the Jubilee Year coincides with the sesquicentennial celebration of the foundation of our Congregation as well as the sesquicentennial anniversary of the sacerdotal ordination of Joseph Freinademetz, bishop Ivo Muser will celebrate the Eucharist in Oies on 29 January, the feast of Saint Joseph Freinademetz, together with the whole General Council.

On this graceful occasion, prompted by the spirit of Saint Joseph Freinademetz, we not only to pray for more vocations, but also promote them more committedly to our Society.

Fr. Anselmo Ribeiro, SVD
and the Leadership Team