Louis Gabriel Taurin Dufresse
Bishop St. Louis Gabriel Taurin Dufresse was a member of Society of Foreign Missions of Paris and a Martyr Saint of the Catholic Church. He was born at Ville-de-Lezoux, diocese of Clermont, France. He joined the Society of Foreign Missions of Paris seminary in 1774. He was ordained a priest on 17 September 1774. He was sent as a missionary to Szechuan, China in 1775. There he was imprisoned for six months in 1784 during a government persecution of Christians. He was reassigned to Macao, but return to the Chinese missions in 1788.
He was appointed as the Titular bishop of Thabraca and Co-adjutor Vicar Apostolic of Se-Ciuen, China on 24 July 1798; He became the Vicar Apostolic on 15 November 1801. He spent the next 15 years in constant danger during the persecution of Christians. He was betrayed to the authorities by a native Christian and was arrested on 18 May 1815. He was beheaded on 14 September 1815 at Chengdu, Sichuan, China. His head was attached to a pole and his body left exposed for three days as a warning to others. This body was later buried by local Christians.
Pope Leo XIII declared him as venerable on 2 July 1899 and Beatified him on 27 May 1900. He was Canonized by Pope John Paul II on 1 October 2000.
