Servatius Ludwig

Background

Servatius, whose baptismal name was Otto, was born in Bous (Saar), Germany on June 15, 1907.

Education

He attended secondary school in Saarlouis, where he obtained his degree in March 1927. He studied theology and philosophy in Saint Ottilien and Munich.

Career

On March 23, 1933 he was ordained to priesthood. In August 1934 he was sent to - a puppet state under Japanese domination, situated in the border region between the then Japanese colony of Korea, the Republic of China and the Soviet Union. After initial work on various mission stations in the area, among them Yenki Abbey, the newly founded station Sinchan was assigned to him.

lieutenant was designed to attract more mission areas in Inner In this poor, climatically extreme region he proselytized the partly Korean, partly Chinese population.

In view of the linguistic and cultural barriers and the spreading acts of war his missionary work proved to be extremely difficult. He reported this in detail to his home abbey Saint Ottilien and in his letters to his family in Germany.

He described the dangers of marauding bands of robbers, the famines, the situation of the migrant workers - and also his loneliness. At the end of World World War II, after the withdrawal of the Japanese troops, first the Russians, then the Chinese occupied In May 1946, Father Servatius was arrested as a "spy" by the Chinese Communists, interrogated and shortly after he was shot.

Achievements

• In June 2007, in honour of his 100th birthday, the church square in his home town Bous was named after him. There are also efforts to have him beatified.