Feastday: May 1
Patron: Metz Seminary
Birth: 1822
Death: 1851
Canonized: Pope John Paul II
Augustus was born at Mittelbronn, Lorraine in 1822. He joined the Society of Foreign Missionaries in Paris, was sent to Tongking (now Vietnam), Indochina, in 1848, and soon learned enough of the language to hear confessions and give simple instructions. In 1851, owing to political disturbances, a persecution of Christians broke out. Father Schoffler was arrested on March 1 and, although he was not tortured he must have suffered terribly from the great wooden frame (cang) around his neck and the fetters which confined his limbs, not to speak of the vermin and of the company in the common prison into which he was thrown. His execution (beheading) was attended with much parade, but the martyr's courage and bearing impressed even his enemies. He was beatified in 1900 and canonized in 1988 with the Martyrs of Indo-China.
Augustin Schoeffler (1822–1851) was a French saint and martyr in the Catholic Church and a member of the Paris Foreign Missions Society. He was a priest in Lorraine who joined the Foreign Missions of Paris. He worked as a missionary to Indochina and was one of two French missionaries killed in northern Vietnam between 1847 and 1851. At the time, it was illegal to proselytize in Vietnam.
His feast day is May 1 (May 2 locally in France).
Early life and education
Augustin Schoeffler was born on the 22 of November, 1822, in Mittelbronn, France. He was baptized the next day. From 1834-1842 he studied at the minor seminary of Pont-à-Mousson and the college of Phalsbourg. From 1842-1846 Schoeffler studied Philosophy at the major seminary of Nancy. On the 5 October 1846, he began training in the Seminary of Foreign Missions of Paris. On May 29, 1847 Augustin Schoeffler was ordained a priest in Paris.
Missionary life
On November 18, 1847, Father Schoeffler left Antwerp arriving in Tonkin on July 6, 1848. From 1848 to 1851 he worked as missionary while learning the Vietnamese language. In the spring of 1850 his bishop gave him the task of evangelizing Son Tay in the north. Schoeffler was arrested on March 1, 1851, and on March 5 found guilty of proselytizing. He was beheaded on May 1, 1851 at Son Tay.
As Father Schoeffler walked to his place of execution, a placard, which read, "He preached truly the whole charge of preaching the religion of Jesus. His crime is patent. Let Mr. Augustin be beheaded, and cast into a stream." was carried before him. Augustin Schoeffler's head was thrown into the Red River, and was never recovered. The crowd rushed to collect relics. Some even uprooted the grass that was stained with his blood. His body was buried on the site of his execution. Two days later, local Christians exhumed the body and reburied it in a Christian village nearby.
Veneration
On September 24, 1857, Augustin Schoeffler was declared Venerable by Pope Pius IX. He was beatified by Pope Leo XIII on May 7, 1900. He was made a saint by Pope John Paul II on June 19, 1988.
The Rue St Augustin Schoeffler is located in Mittelbronn.
Relics
As of May 10, 2009, a relic of Augustin Schoeffler can be found at the Assumption Grotto Church in Detroit, Michigan. Descendants of Schoeffler's family live in the area and attend the church.
