Johann Baptist Anzer (later von Anzer, ), S.V.D., (16 May 1851 – 24 November 1903) was a member of the

Society of the Divine Word The Society of the Divine Word ( la, Societas Verbi Divini), abbreviated SVD and popularly called the Verbites or the Divine Word Missionaries, and sometimes the Steyler Missionaries, is a Catholic Church, Catholic clerical religious congregation ...

, popularly known as the Divine Word Missionaries, and

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

bishop of the German Mission to China in

Shandong Province Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilizatio ...

Life

Anzer was born in Weinrieth near Tännesberg,

Oberpfalz The Upper Palatinate (german: Oberpfalz, , ) is one of the seven administrative districts of Bavaria, Germany, and is located in the east of Bavaria. Geography The Upper Palatinate is a landscape with low mountains and numerous ponds and lakes ...

, in the

Kingdom of Bavaria The Kingdom of Bavaria (german: Königreich Bayern; ; spelled ''Baiern'' until 1825) was a German state that succeeded the former Electorate of Bavaria in 1805 and continued to exist until 1918. With the unification of Germany into the German E ...

, the son of a farmer and butcher. After an education in the

Regensburg Regensburg or is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the Danube, Naab and Regen rivers. It is capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the state in the south of Germany. With more than 150,000 inhabitants, Regensburg is the f ...

Lyceum he entered the newly founded missionary order of the Divine Word Missionaries in 1875, and was ordained a priest in the following year. In 1879 he was sent to the mission field of

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

together with Josef Freinademetz, who was declared a saint by the Catholic Church in 2006. Anzer was in charge of the mission school in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

until 1882, when he was appointed to lead the mission in the south of

. In December 1885 the

Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith A congregation is a large gathering of people, often for the purpose of worship. Congregation may also refer to: * Church (congregation), a Christian organization meeting in a particular place for worship *Congregation (Roman Curia), an administr ...

, in charge of all mission territories, raised the status of the mission Anzer headed to that of an Apostolic Vicariate and in January 1886 he was appointed Vicar Apostolic of Southern Shantung, for which office he was

consecrated Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service. The word ''consecration'' literally means "association with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different grou ...

in January 1886 by

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...

Philipp Krementz Philipp Krementz (1 December 1819 – 6 May 1899) was a German Catholic bishop, created Cardinal in 1893. Philipp Krementz was born, the son of a butcher, in Koblenz in 1837 and began to study theology in Bonn, which he continued in Munich in 183 ...

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as the

Titular Bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

Thelepte Thelepte ( ber, تلابت) was a city in the Roman province of Byzacena, now in western Tunisia. It is located near the border with Algeria about 5 km north from the modern town of Fériana and 30 km south-west of the provincial capital ...

. In 1890 Anzer removed his mission from the diplomatic protection of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, which for some decades previously had exercised the right of diplomatic protection over all the missions in China, regardless of their nationality, and placed it under that of the

German Reich German ''Reich'' (lit. German Realm, German Empire, from german: Deutsches Reich, ) was the constitutional name for the German nation state that existed from 1871 to 1945. The ''Reich'' became understood as deriving its authority and sovereignty ...

. Although based in the mission headquarters in

Yangchow Yangzhou, postal romanization Yangchow, is a prefecture-level city in central Jiangsu Province (Suzhong), East China. Sitting on the north bank of the Yangtze, it borders the provincial capital Nanjing to the southwest, Huai'an to the north, Yanc ...

, Anzer was a tireless traveller and writer in the cause of spreading knowledge of the mission, and indefatigable in the establishment of strong churches, schools and welfare institutions (children's homes, old people's homes and so on) throughout the mission's territory. Anzer was also convinced of the need for an indigenous priesthood, and began the construction of a

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, ...

for Chinese students. Freinademetz was entrusted with the training of the oldest students. The seminary was soon moved from Puoli to the larger town of

Jining Jining () is a prefecture-level city in southwestern Shandong province. It borders Heze to the southwest, Zaozhuang to the southeast, Tai'an to the northeast, and the provinces of Henan and Jiangsu to the northwest and south respectively. Jining ...

, the commercial centre of the province. the first two Chinese students were ordained in 1896. A retreat house was acquired, and an annual retreat for all missionaries was introduced. On 1 November 1897 the Divine Word missionaries, Fathers Richard Henle and Franz Xaver Nies, were murdered by Chinese attackers in what is known as the "

Juye Incident The Juye Incident (, german: Juye Vorfall) refers to the killing of two German Catholic missionaries, Richard Henle and Franz Xaver Nies, of the Society of the Divine Word, in Juye County Shandong Province, China in the night of 1–2 Novemb ...

". Anzer happened to be on a visit to Europe at the time, and hurried to

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, where he persuaded

Kaiser Wilhelm II Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; 27 January 18594 June 1941) was the last German Emperor (german: Kaiser) and List of monarchs of Prussia, King of Prussia, reigning from 15 June 1888 until Abdication of Wilhelm II, his abdication on 9 ...

to send two warships to the

Jiaozhou Bay The Jiaozhou Bay (; german: Kiautschou Bucht, ) is a bay located in the prefecture-level city of Qingdao (Tsingtau), China. The bay has historically been romanized as Kiaochow, Kiauchau or Kiao-Chau in English and Kiautschou in German. Geogra ...

(Kiautschou) on the south-east coast of Shandong where the Germans exploited the murders as a pretext for the establishment of a German mandate. The centre of the mission then moved to Tsingtao (

Qingdao Qingdao (, also spelled Tsingtao; , Mandarin: ) is a major city in eastern Shandong Province. The city's name in Chinese characters literally means " azure island". Located on China's Yellow Sea coast, it is a major nodal city of the One Belt ...

). In 1897 he was ennobled as von Anzer by the Prince Regent of Bavaria. Anzer's effectiveness as a missionary in Shandong and the German colonisation of parts of the province threatened to increase social tensions there. It is unclear whether this was a significant factor in the outbreak of the

Boxer Rebellion The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, the Boxer Insurrection, or the Yihetuan Movement, was an anti-foreign, anti-colonial, and anti-Christian uprising in China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by ...

in 1900. Although the Rebellion was anti-Christian, it was not focussed on the areas within Anzer's own mission field. Anzer died in 1903 while on a visit to

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

for consultations after complaints had been received from a number of his priests. He was buried in the

Teutonic Cemetery The Teutonic Cemetery ( it, Cimitero Teutonico, "Camposanto of the Teutons and the Flemish") is a burial site adjacent to St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City. Burial is reserved for members of the Confraternity of Our Lady of the German Cemeter ...

within the grounds of the

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Vatican City, the city-state ruled by the pope in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum The Holy See * The Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church and sovereign entity recognized ...

.Vatican City website "Teutonic Cemetery"

Life

Notes

External links

Further reading