Above: Vincent Lebbe
Image in Public Domain
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FRÉDÉRIC-VINCENT LEBBE (AUGUST 19, 1877-JUNE 24, 1940)
Belgian-Chinese Roman Catholic Priest, Missionary, and Founder of the Little Brothers of Saint John the Baptist
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I would rather die than go on living as a neutral, not daring to call good and evil by their proper names, not daring to give my last ounce of blood for the oppressed.
–Vincent Lebbe
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Vincent Lebbe comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses: An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via Robert Ellsberg, All Saints: Daily Reflections on Saints, Prophets, and Witnesses for Our Time (1997).
Frédéric-Vincent Lebbe, like his Presbyterian contemporary, Pearl S. Buck, was a culturally sensitive missionary. Lebbe, born in Ghent, Belgium, on August 19, 1877, grew up in a Roman Catholic family. At the tender age of 11 years, our saint discerned his vocation to become a missionary priest in China, and to die there. He joined the Congregation of the Mission (the Vincentians/the Lazarists) in Paris in 1895. Lebbe arrived in China in 1901 and joined the ranks of priests on October 28. Alphonse Favier (1837-1905), the Titular Bishop of Pentacomia, ordained him in Beijing.
Lebbe, unlike many of his fellow missionaries, respected Chinese culture. He, unpretentious, carried his own luggage off the boat when he arrived in 1901, although, as one fellow missionary told him,
In China no missionary ever carries his own case.
Lebbe rejected all political and cultural imperialism. Cultural imperialism caused many Chinese people to perceive all Christian missionaries as imperial agents. Many were, of course. Rather, our saint identified as Chinese. He even became a Chinese citizen in 1927. Lebbe mastered Chinese, dressed like a Chinese laborer, and encouraged indigenous leadership of the Church. In 1926, Pope Pius XI consecrated six Chinese bishops, all of whom Lebbe had recommended.
Lebbe, an outcast and a traitor, according to many of his European counterparts, was home. He resigned from the Congregation of the Mission in 1929 and led the new Little Brothers of Saint John the Baptist. During the war with China, our saint led efforts to save many lives while placing his life at risk. This did not prevent Communists from mistaking him for a government spy. After six weeks as a prisoner of Communist forces in 1940, Lebbe was in a weakened state. He, released, died on June 14, 1940. Lebbe was 62 years old. The Chinese government declared a day of mourning for the man whose Chinese name translated as, “the thunder that sings in the distance.”
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MAY 17, 2020 COMMON ERA
THE SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER, YEAR A
THE FEAST OF THOMAS BRADBURY CHANDLER, ANGLICAN PRIEST; HIS SON-IN-LAW, JOHN HENRY HOBART, EPISCOPAL BISHOP OF NEW YORK; AND HIS GRANDSON, WILLIAM HOBART HARE, APOSTLE TO THE SIOUX AND EPISCOPAL MISSIONARY BISHOP OF NIOBRARA THEN SOUTH DAKOTA
THE FEAST OF SAINT CATERINA VOLPICELLI, FOUNDRESS OF THE SERVANTS OF THE SACRED HEART; SAINT LUDOVICO DA CASORIA, FOUNDER OF THE GRAY FRIARS OF CHARITY AND COFOUNDER OF THE GRAY SISTERS OF SAINT ELIZABETH; AND SAINT GIULIA SALZANO, FOUNDRESS OF THE CONGREGATION OF THE CATECHETICAL SISTERS OF THE SACRED HEART
THE FEAST OF CHARLES HAMILTON HOUSTON AND THURGOOD MARSHALL, ATTORNEYS AND CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVISTS
THE FEAST OF DONALD COGGAN, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY
THE FEAST OF SAINT IVAN ZIATYK, POLISH UKRAINIAN GREEK CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1952
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God of grace and might, we praise you for your servant Vincent Lebbe,
to whom you gave gifts to make the good news known.
Raise up, we pray, in every country, heralds and evangelists of your kingdom,
so that the world may know the immeasurable riches of our Savior, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Isaiah 62:1-7
Psalm 48
Romans 10:11-17
Luke 24:44-53
–Adapted from Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 37
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SUNDRY THOUGHTS 
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