  saint joseph freinademetz, s.v.d., (chinese name: è¥çèç¦ / è¥çå£ç¦, pinyin: shÃ¨ngfÃº ruÃ²sÃ¨) (april 15, 1852 - january 28, 1908) as a member of the society of the divine word, was a missionary in china. he has been declared a saint by the catholic church. ==early life== freinademetz was born the fourth among the 13 children of giovanmattia and anna maria freinademetzjoseph freinademetz - serving the people of china in oies, a section of the town of badia, which was then in the county of tyrol, a part of the austrian empire, now a part of italy. he studied theology in the diocesan seminary of brixen and was ordained a priest on july 25, 1875. he was assigned to the community of san martin de tor, not far from his own home. during his studies and the three years in san martino, freinademetz always felt a calling to be a missionary. he contacted arnold janssen, founder of the society of the divine word, a missionary congregation based in steyl, netherlands. with the permission of his parents and his bishop, he moved to steyl in august 1878, where he received training as a missionary. ==missionary work==    in march 1879 he and his confrere johann baptist von anzer boarded a ship to hong kong, where they arrived five weeks later. they stayed there for two years. freinademetz was based in sai kung until 1880humble beginnings on yim tin tsai and set up a chapel on the island of [[
1852_births 1908_deaths 19th-century_Christian_saints 19th-century_Roman_Catholic_priests 20th-century_Christian_saints 20th-century_Roman_Catholic_priests Austrian_Roman_Catholic_priests Austrian_Roman_Catholic_saints Deaths_from_typhus Divine_Word_Missionaries_Order Roman_Catholic_missionaries_in_China