TORNAY, MAURICE, BL.

Religious priest, martyr; b. La Rosière, near Orsières, Valais Canton, Switzerland, Aug. 31, 1910; d. To Thong, Tibet, Aug. 11, 1949. After completing school at St. Maurice Abbey, Maurice Tornay entered the novitiate of the Canons Regular of Great St. Bernard (Congregatio Ss. Nicolai et Bernardi Monti Iovis) (1931), made his solemn profession (1935), then volunteered for the Chinese missions (1936). He completed his theological studies while learning the local dialects at Weixi, Yunnan, China. Following his ordination at Hanoi (1938), he was given charge of the students at the minor seminary at Houa-Lo-Pa, China.

In 1945, Tornay was assigned to Yerkalo, the only parish in the autonomous Himalayan theocratic kingdom of Tibet. Here, he met with opposition from Buddhist monks, who forced him to abandon his parish. Undaunted, Tornay maintained contact with his persecuted parishioners from a hiding place in Pamé. Finally, he decided to seek an edict of toleration from the Dalai Lama in order to protect the Christians. He was murdered (with his servant) by armed men—agents of the Lamistic monks—who had offered to escort him to Lhasa.

During the beatification homily, May 16, 1993, Pope John Paul II remembered Tornay as a man "who wanted to teach children and lead them to holiness."

Feast: Aug.11.

Bibliography: r. loup, Martyr au Thibet: Maurice Tornay, chanoine régulier du Grand-St-Bernard (Fribourg 1950); Martyr in Tibet: The Heroic Life and Death of Father Maurice Tornay, St. Bernard Missionary to Tibet, tr. c. davenport (New York 1956). c. marquis-oggier and p. darbellay, Maurice Tornay: Ein Schweizer Märtyrer im Tibet, 2d ed. (Martigny 1999).

[k. i. rabenstein]