Maurice Tornay (missionary)
Maurice Tornay (born August 31, 1910 in La Rosière, Orsières municipality , Valais ; † August 11, 1949 at the Choula Pass in China ) was a Swiss Augustinian canon in Tibet who was beatified as a martyr .
biography
Tornay studied at the College of Saint-Maurice Abbey from 1925 to 1931 , became a novice in the hospice on the Great St. Bernard in 1931 and made his profession as a regular canon in 1935 . He joined some of the confreres who had set out to set up a hospice in Tibet and arrived in Yunnan in 1936 . In 1938 he was awarded in Vietnam Hanoi , the ordination and directed from 1938 to 1945 a small seminary for the formation of a native clergy . In June 1945 he became pastor in Yerkalo, the only Catholic mission station in independent Tibet, but was expelled by the Tibetan clergy in January 1946.
He looked in vain for support from the diplomatic missions of the western states in Nanjing and from the apostolic nuncio . Finally, with the consent of his superior, Archbishop Antonio Riberi , he decided to represent his concern before the Dalai Lama . To this end, he joined a caravan to Lhasa in July 1949 in order to obtain permission from the Tibetan spiritual leadership to return to Yerkalo. The leadership of Tibet was under high tension at that time, because at that time the massive attempts at intimidation by the communist leadership began, which finally culminated in 1950 with the march of the Chinese People's Liberation Army in Tibet.
Tornay, who was in disguise, was recognized, arrested and was supposed to be expelled from the country. He tried to flee at the Choula Pass on the Chinese-Tibetan border, but was shot dead by Tibetans along with his servant. The body of Maurice Tornay and that of his servant Doci were buried in the garden of the Mission in Atuntse on August 17, 1949, more than 40 years later his bones were transferred to his former parish of Yerkalo, where the only Catholic church in Tibet now stands (whole Tibet now has around 8,000 Catholics).
On May 16, 1993 Maurice Tornay was by Pope John Paul II. Beatified .
literature
- Frédéric Giroud: Maurice Tornay (missionary). In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
- Claire Marquis-Oggier / Jacques Darbellay: Maurice Tornay. A Swiss martyr in Tibet (preface by Bishop Henri Schwery) . Christiana-Verlag 1993, 143 pp. ISBN 3-7171-0970-7 .
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Tornay, Maurice |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Swiss Augustinian canon and martyr in Tibet |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 31, 1910 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | La Rosière, municipality of Orsières |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 11, 1949 |
| Place of death | at the Choula Pass in China |