Maurice Tornay
Maurice Tornay | |
|---|---|
Maurice Tornay image | |
| Priest | |
| Born | 31 August 1910 Rosière, Valais, Switzerland |
| Died | 11 August 1949 (aged 38) Cho La, Sichuan, China |
| Resting place | Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Church, Yerkalo |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church |
| Beatified | 16 May 1993, St. Peter's Square, Vatican City by Pope John Paul II |
| Feast | 11 August |
| Attributes | Augustinian habit |
| Patronage | |
Maurice Tornay, CRSA (31 August 1910 – 11 August 1949) was a Swiss Catholic priest of the Canons Regular of Saint Augustine – of the Hospitallers of Saint Nicholas and Grand-St-Bernard of Mont Joux branch – who served as part of the missions in China and Tibet.
He fought against anti-Catholic religious persecution in independent Tibet and was ambushed and murdered by Tibetan Buddhist monks of the Karma Kagyu sect from the Karma Gon Monastery while he travelled to Lhasa disguised as a pilgrim to appeal directly to the Dalai Lama for religious toleration to be granted to the Catholic Church in Tibet.
He was beatified on 16 May 1993 after Pope John Paul II confirmed that the late priest had been killed "in odium fidei" ('out of hatred of the faith').