Marie of Saint Just

Marie of Saint Just, born Anne-Françoise Moreau (9 April 1866 – 9 July 1900) was a French nun in the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary. She was one of the 120 Martyrs of China.

St. Marie of Saint Just
Missionary and Martyr of China
Born	9 April 1866 Rouans, Loire-Inférieure, Second French Empire
Died	9 July 1900 (aged 34) Taiyuan, Shanxi, Qing China
Cause of death	Decapitation
Venerated in	Catholic Church
Canonized	1 October 2000 by Pope John Paul II
Feast	9 July

During the Boxer Rebellion, she was killed on 9 July 1900 in Taiyuan. Pope John Paul II canonized her on 1 October 2000.

Life

She was born in 1866.^[1]

In 1899 she was one of a group of seven sisters from the order of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary who went to Taiyuan, China, arriving on 4 May 1899, to help at an orphanage at the mission there under bishop Gregorio Grassi. At the orphanage, which soon cared for 200 children. Their Mother Superior was Marie-Hermine of Jesus.

On 5 July 1900, during the Boxer Rebellion, the Christians at the mission were ordered to renounce their faith or face death; at 16:00 on 9 July the priests, nuns, seminarians and Christian lay workers were all killed, in what is known as the Taiyuan massacre.^[2] It is estimated that 250 foreigners died during the Boxer rebellion. Some of these were embassy staff, but most were missionaries. It is thought that 100,000 Chinese people may have died.^[3]

Marie of Saint Just was beatified by Pope Pius XII on 24 November 1946 and later canonised by on 1 October 2000.^[4][5]