When Father Joseph Freinademetz arrived in Sai Kung in August 1879 it was a small market town of South China with just 200 villagers.
Before the priest (whose Chinese name became Fu Shen fu) could begin to adapt to this new cultural and social environment and begin his mission in earnest he was intent upon learning the language and building at least a rudimentary understanding of local customs. His first six months were therefore spent in relative solitary and discomfort. He wrote home of the hardships, including a diet of largely rice and fish. Contracting malaria soon after he arrived, he had to make the 4-5 hour schooner trip back to Hong Kong several times for treatment.
An elderly local man taught him Hakka from early morning to late at night. In January he proudly heard his first confessions in Hakka but wrote: "Still, before I become proficient, a lot of water will flow into the sea".
The monotony was broken by frequent trips to Yim Tin Tsai (salt bed island) which had 70 inhabitants at that time. The trip took about 45 minutes. Father Freinademetz would celebrate Holy Mass and the occasional baptism or funeral service, sometimes remaining on the island overnight.
Less than a year after arriving in Sai Kung he preached his first sermon in Chinese. It thrilled him to learn that he was understood - having been told that the first time the Bishop had preached a Chinese sermon in HK, the Chinese in the congregation had thought he was speaking Portuguese!
In May 1880, tasked with traveling around the various stations surrounding Hong Kong, he chose to remove his western robes in favour of Chinese style dress. From then on he was seen in short white trousers and white stockings under a blue, ankle-length, gown with white linen shoes with rope soles. His blonde hair was shaved off save for a few strands with which to attach a black queue (pigtail).
He left Hong Kong in 1881 for Southern Shandong to found one of the first Catholic missions in the region. Father Joseph Freinademetz died there in January 1908.
When Pope John Paul II canonized the priest on 5 October 2003 the Vatican News Service proclaimed: "Freinademetz learned how to discover the greatness and beauty of Chinese culture and to love deeply the people to whom he had been sent. He dedicated his life to proclaiming the gospel message of God's love for all peoples, and to embodying this love in the formation of Chinese Christian communities.
Further reading:
Holy Spirit Study Centre, Hong Kong - Biography of the Father and more information on his time and activities in Shandong province.
Catholic Archives of Hong Kong - news clippings from the time of his canonization.
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