LANTRUA, GIOVANNI da TRIORA, blessed. - Franciscan, b. at Triora (diocese of Albenga) on 15 March 1760, d. a martyr at Chan-xa (China) on 7 Feb. 1816.
He was several times superior of the convents of Tarquinia and Velletri, until in 1798 he left for China, arriving, after a long stay in Lisbon and a difficult journey, at Macao at the beginning of 1806. He reached Hunan, his destination, between 1802 and 1803. During a period of political disturbances and religious persecutions, he exercised an active apostolate in Hu-nan, Hu-pè, Ho-nan, and Kang-si, where he remained from 1804 to 1812. Arrested for religious reasons in July 1815, after six months of extremely harsh imprisonment, the capital sentence was carried out at Chan-xa on 7 Feb. 1816. He was beatified by Leo XIII by a brief of 7 May 1900. His body, transferred to Rome, rests in the church of S. Maria in Aracoeli. Feast day: 13 Feb.