Francesco Maria Lantrua came from Molini di Triora (Italy) and joined the Franciscans of the Roman Province in 1777, receiving the name of John. Ordained in 1784, he ministered in a number of friaries, teaching philosophy and theology and serving as guardian. He volunteered for the mission to China. He renewed the Christian communities there, spreading especially devotion to the Way of the Cross. Denounced as a minister of a European religion amid a persecution against Christianity, he was imprisoned and condemned to death. He was fixed to a cross where he was strangled. His body was translated to the basilica of Santa Maria in Aracaeli in Rome. Together with 119 other martyrs in China from the 17th to the 20th centuries (87 Chinese and 32 Europeans), he was canonised by John Paul II in the Holy Year of 2000.
First Reading: 2 Chron. 24: 18-22; Gospel: Mt. 10: 17-22
