Louis Versiglia

Luigi Versiglia (also known in English as Louis Versiglia; Chinese name Lei Mingdao) was born on 5 June 1873 in Oliva Gessi, a small commune in the province of Pavia in Lombardy, northern Italy, to a rural family. As a boy he was sent to the Salesian oratory at Valdocco in Turin, where he was formed in the educational and spiritual tradition of Saint John Bosco. He entered the Salesian Society (Society of Saint Francis de Sales), completed his studies for the priesthood, and was ordained on 21 December 1895. In the years that followed he served as a teacher and as director of the Salesian novitiate at Genzano, near Rome, helping to form young members of the congregation before being chosen for the missions.

In 1906 he was appointed to lead the first group of Salesian missionaries to China. After arriving in Macau he established educational and pastoral works, including an orphanage and schools, and later extended the Salesian presence into the Heung Shan (Zhongshan) region. When the Holy See erected the Apostolic Vicariate of Shiuchow (Shaoguan) in Guangdong in 1918, Versiglia was named its first apostolic vicar; he was consecrated a bishop on 9 January 1921. As vicar apostolic he organized the new mission territory, founding parishes, schools, a seminary, and catechetical centers, and he traveled widely among scattered Catholic communities during a period of political turmoil and recurrent anti-Christian violence in southern China.

On 25 February 1930, while traveling by boat with the young Salesian priest Callistus Caravario and a small group of young women who were catechists or students, Versiglia’s party was intercepted by armed bandits near Litouzui in Guangdong. The attackers sought to seize the women. Versiglia and Caravario resisted in order to protect them; both missionaries were taken ashore, beaten, and shot to death. The women survived and later testified to what had occurred. The two Salesians came to be regarded as martyrs who had died in defense of the faith and of those in their pastoral care.

Pope John Paul II beatified Luigi Versiglia and Callistus Caravario on 15 May 1983 and canonized them on 1 October 2000, together with other martyrs associated with the Church in China. In the Salesian liturgical calendar their feast is kept on 25 February, the anniversary of their death. Versiglia is remembered as the first Salesian bishop and as a pioneer of the Salesian missions in China.