FREINADEMETZ, Joseph. – Born at Badia in Val Badia (Bolzano) on 15 Apr. 1852 to pious peasants. Ordained priest on 25 July 1875, on 4 July 1878, with the permission of his bishop, Msgr. Gasser, he entered the recently founded (1875) Society of the Divine Word in Steyl (Holland).
On 2 March 1879 he was one of the first two missionaries of the Society of the Divine Word sent to southern Shantung (China), where upon his arrival he found 58 Christians among the Puoli. He worked there for almost 30 years, a true model of a missionary in leadership positions, enduring every kind of sacrifice. He was deeply concerned with the formation of the indigenous clergy. He wrote for Chinese theology students Sanctissimum Novae Legis sacrificium (2nd ed., Yenchowfu 1926; reprinted in 1948 in Steyl).
He died of typhoid on 28 Jan. 1908 at Taikia, in a reputation for holiness. Southern Shantung (vicariate of Yenchowfu) then counted about 46,000 Christians, 45,000 catechumens, 12 Chinese priests trained by Fr. F., and 74 seminarians, among them the future Cardinal Tommaso Tien. The process of beatification is underway.