Just de Bretennières was martyred in Korea on March 8, 1866; yet from the age of six he already felt called to be a missionary priest.
It was in 1844. Just was playing with his little brother Christian, four years old, and they were digging holes in the ground. Suddenly Just interrupted his brother:
— Be quiet! Be quiet! — and, peering into one of those holes, he added: — I see the Chinese. Let us dig a deeper hole and we shall soon reach them. Let us dig deeper.
Christian bends down, looks, and swears he sees nothing. Just, however, insists and says he can see their faces, their clothes, their queue… He bends down again and says:
— Now I hear them.
Christian runs to call their mother, and she too sees and hears nothing. Then Just, very convinced, says:
— You do not hear them because they are not speaking to you; but I hear them. Yes, mother, from the bottom of the hole, from far away, they are calling me. And I must go to save them.
And indeed he became a famous missionary in China and Korea. The enemies of religion made him suffer a terrible martyrdom. At the moment of dying for Jesus Christ, he said joyfully:
— I came to Korea to save souls. Gladly I die for God and for them.
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