{"id":1636,"date":"2021-06-24T16:22:45","date_gmt":"2021-06-24T16:22:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.persecution.com\/stories\/?p=1636"},"modified":"2021-10-25T15:59:10","modified_gmt":"2021-10-25T15:59:10","slug":"stories-of-christian-martyrs-maurice-tornay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.persecution.com\/stories\/stories-of-christian-martyrs-maurice-tornay\/","title":{"rendered":"Stories of Christian Martyrs: Maurice Tornay"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Maurice Tornay was the seventh of eight children born to a
Catholic family who lived high in the Swiss mountains
near Valais. The family was united in the work required to
live and the faith they lived by. Tornay recalled his mother at the fireside telling the story of Saint Agnes, virgin and martyr. \u201cYou are virgins,\u201d she told her children, \u201cbut to be martyrs, that\u2019s more difficult.
You must love God more than anything else, and be ready to give your
life, to shed the last drop of blood for Him.\u201d Young Tornay never forgot his mother\u2019s lesson.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After secondary school, Tornay joined the Canons Regular of
Grand St. Bernard, best known for their rescue work in the Alps and
the famous Saint Bernard dogs they breed and train as \u201cassistants.\u201d As
Tornay progressed, the Canons were asked by the church to send missionaries accustomed to living at higher elevations to begin evangelizing people in the Himalayas, or \u201cthe Asian Alps,\u201d as they were called in Europe. Tornay volunteered, but he was kept back until surgery cured an ulcer. In 1936 he arrived in Weixi Province near the Tibetan border, where he finished theological studies, learned Chinese<\/a>, and was
ordained a priest. Tornay wrote: \u201cAnd now I\u2019ve almost made a world
tour. I\u2019ve seen and felt that people are unhappy everywhere, and that
real happiness comes in serving God. Really, nothing else matters.
Nothing, nothing.\u201d
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Work on the China<\/a>-Tibet border, difficult on any day, was made
more dangerous by the invasion of Japanese forces in 1939. Tornay was
in charge of a boy\u2019s school, and every life need\u2014food, clothes, heat\u2014was
in very short supply. Add to that the antagonism of local Buddhist lamas,
especially one Gun-Akhio, who sensed that missionaries would erode
his power base. Gun-Akhio was not averse to using threats and force against the foreigners. <\/p>\n\n\n\r\n\t

\r\n\t\t
\r\n\t\t\t\"\"\r\n\t\t<\/figure>\r\n\t\t
\r\n\t\t\t

Request your free magazine<\/p>\r\n\t\t\tSubscribe<\/a>\r\n\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n\r\n\t\n\n\n

In 1946, Tornay was made priest of the Yerkalo parish in southeast
Tibet. Only days later forty local lamas broke into the priest\u2019s residence,
looted it, and at rifle-point, forced Tornay out of town. He went to Pame
in Yunnan Province, China<\/a>, to provide whatever help he could for
his people\u2014prayer, correspondence, comfort, and care for the sick that
made their way to him. By May he was sure that the risk of returning
was less than the risk of waiting further. \u201cLeave a parish without a
priest\u2026 and the people will be worshipping animals,\u201d he said.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the edge of Yerkalo, Gun-Akhio waited. Again Tornay was kept
out of his parish. By now, however, he had a plan: a direct appeal to the
Dalai Lama for permission to conduct his mission, for religious tolerance
rather than belligerence and intimidation. Tornay began the two-month
journey to Lhasa, Tibet\u2019s capital.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Gun-Akhio had his agents, and Tornay could not make a move
without his knowledge. The lamas intercepted Tornay\u2019s caravan and
forced him to retreat. On August 11, at the Choula gorge near the Chinese <\/a>border, Tornay was ambushed and shot along with his companions.
Chinese <\/a>authorities eventually convicted members of the Karmda lamasery for the killings.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maurice Tornay had written as a teenager, \u201cDeath is the happiest day
of our lives. We must rejoice in it more than anything, because it is our
arrival in our true homeland.\u201d Tornay, the priest who rarely walked on
level ground and never served a day in comfort or ease, was finally home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This story is an excerpt from Foxe: Voices of the Martyrs. <\/em>You can get your own copy<\/em> free with any donation to The Voice of the Martyrs.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Maurice Tornay was the seventh of eight children born to aCatholic family who lived high in the Swiss mountainsnear Valais. The family was united in the work required tolive and the faith they lived by. Tornay recalled his mother at the fireside telling the story of Saint Agnes, virgin and martyr. \u201cYou are virgins,\u201d she told her children, \u201cbut to be martyrs, that\u2019s more difficult.You must love God more than anything else, and be ready to give yourlife, to shed the last drop of blood for Him.\u201d Young Tornay never forgot his mother\u2019s lesson. After secondary school, Tornay joined the Canons Regular ofGrand St. Bernard, best known for their rescue work in the Alps andthe famous Saint Bernard dogs they breed and train as \u201cassistants.\u201d AsTornay progressed, the Canons were asked by the church to send missionaries accustomed to living at higher elevations to begin evangelizing people in the Himalayas, or \u201cthe Asian Alps,\u201d as they were called in Europe. Tornay volunteered, but he was kept back until surgery cured an ulcer. In 1936 he arrived in Weixi Province near the Tibetan border, where he finished theological studies, learned Chinese, and wasordained a priest. Tornay wrote: \u201cAnd now I\u2019ve almost<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1774,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[96],"tags":[15],"class_list":["post-1636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-foxe","tag-china","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nStories of Christian Martyrs: Maurice Tornay - Stories<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"On August 11, at the Choula gorge near the Chinese border, Tornay was ambushed and shot along with his companions.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.persecution.com\/stories\/stories-of-christian-martyrs-maurice-tornay\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Stories of Christian Martyrs: Maurice Tornay - 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