Even as a youngster, Just de Bretenieres dreamed of faraway placesand missionary service. He was born in the Burgundy region ofFrance to devoted Catholic parents. One day at the age of six, deBretenieres was playing with his younger brother, digging holes in theground. Suddenly he shouted, “Quiet, I hear the Chinese, I see them.They are calling me. I have to go to save them.” De Bretenieres neverforgot this incident, and as his devotion to faith grew, so did his sensethat his life must be given to carrying God’s salvation to foreign soil. Not yet twenty, de Bretenieres entered “minor” seminary in Paris,then went on to the Foreign Missions Seminary. Childhood dreamsmay have taken him there, but those dreams had to grow up, deepen,mature. In 1861 he wrote to his parents: “I sense quite well the road Iam taking is rough and difficult. I am not deluding myself about itsobstacles and sufferings, nor to the dangers I will meet. I place myselfentirely in God’s hands.” Graduates of the seminary were never told beforehand where theywould be sent. A priest was to simply follow orders, adjusting and accepting his assignment, aware that the ticket to foreign service was often “one-way” and that
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