1905 - Pierre Bourdonnec, Mathias, & Joanna

July 23, 1905

Deqin, Yunnan

Pierre Marie Bourdonnec was born on June 18, 1859, at Gollot in France. His parents owned a farm, and raised their children in the fear of the Lord. Pierre’s mother, Catherine, often committed her son to God in prayer, asking him to do with his life whatever he wanted, even if it meant Pierre would become a martyr for the glory of Christ. When Pierre was six he attended school. By the age of 11 he had gained a firm understanding of the gospel and committed his life to Jesus Christ. He and his elder brother entered the seminary at Tréguier. In the last year of his studies, Pierre learned about foreign missions for the first time. His heart was strangely stirred, and he realized that God was calling him to serve in a foreign land.

In 1878 Pierre entered the seminary of the Missions Etrangères de Paris (Paris Foreign Mission Society). He was appointed to Tibet, even though the young man was physically frail and often struggled with sickness. He was ordained a priest in 1882, and boarded a ship at Marseilles on November 12th of the same year, bound for the Orient. The months at sea was the most restful part of Bourdonnec’s journey, for once he set his foot on land, he still had many weeks of arduous travel before reaching his destination. As his convoy of mules slowly made its way up through Yunnan into the foothills of the Himalayas, the Tibetan guides expressed great concern with Bourdonnec’s health. He had to frequently stop to vomit, possibly the symptoms of altitude sickness. After arriving at Yanjing, just inside the border of today’s Chinese-controlled Tibet Autonomous Region, his health improved and he was given a warm welcome by the resident missionaries.

In 1887 a widespread persecution by the Buddhist lamas resulted in Bourdonnec and his colleagues fleeing from Yanjing into Yunnan Province. The lama’s hopes that the missionaries had been driven out proved short-lived, however. As soon as they were able, they returned to their mission and continued the work God had called them to. Things were relatively calm for the next ten years until opposition flared again in 1897 and 1898. The missionaries and Tibetan Catholics were frequently assaulted by armed mobs sent by the Buddhist lamas. Christians owning livestock were robbed and left destitute. Bourdonnec took it upon himself to seek justice for his flock. He lodged complaints first with the authorities at Batang, and when that failed, he complained to the palace of the Dalai Lama in Lhasa. Nothing was done to help.

In 1904, Bourdonnec reported that he was seeing a shift in the mood of the Tibetan people. They were becoming fed up with the corrupt Buddhist lamas, who exploited them for their own gain, and were more open to the good news of Jesus Christ. By the summer of 1905 Bourdonnec was warned to flee the town by a friend. He made his way southward to Yanmen in northern Yunnan Province, where Jules Dubernard was stationed. On July 19th a local warned the two Frenchman that the following day had been set for their massacre. That evening the missionary duo and a number of local Christians fled into the hills. When they stopped for a rest, the more elderly Dubernard, who was not able to walk quickly, begged Bourdonnec to separate from him and go on alone. For the next few days Bourdonnec and several Christians walked onward through the remote mountains, sleeping in the open and not daring to light fires in case the smoke betrayed their presence. On the morning of July 21st they arrived at Nakhatong, a village of the Lisu tribe. On July 23,

“Exhausted by tiredness and the deprivations of their journey, Bourdonnec was unable to go any further. Against the advice of his fellow travellers, the missionary wanted to go down to a village called Patin and seek to hire mules to carry them to safety. When they passed through a village they were suddenly surrounded by a hostile mob.”[1]

Pierre Bourdonnec, a woman named Joanna, and a servant Mathias, were pushed along the banks of a river. When they came to a clearing the Tibetans shot the group with their guns and with arrows. The two local believers were shot and killed, but the bullets seemed to evade Bourdonnec for some minutes. Frustrated by their lack of skill with the gun, a Lisu shot an arrow which pierced Bourdonnec’s leg. The initial arrow

“was followed by a great number of others which were planted in Bourdonnec’s body as if he was a target board. As blood gushed from his body and his life began to expire, a barbarian connected to the lamasery ran up to the missionary and slashed his face with a sword, slicing his head in half above the jaw. This cruel act excited the lamas who were looking on, and they let out a cry of triumph. They cut off the heads of the two other victims and took their gory booty across the river.”[2]

A later source says, “Bourdonnec was riddled with poison arrows. While the aconite was obviously taking effect, a sword gleamed, and the martyr’s head, cut off just above the mouth, rolled onto the ground.”[3] The heads of the three martyrs, along with Bourdonnec’s heart and liver, were carried like trophies to the large Buddhist monastery at Deqin,[4] where they were presented to the head lama. The depraved man, with a broad grin from ear to ear, commended the murderers for their successful mission.

1. My translation of the Pierre Bourdonnec Obituary in the Archives des Missions Etrangères de Paris, China Biographies and Obituaries, 1900-1999.
2. Pierre Bourdonnec Obituary in the Archives des Missions Etrangères de Paris.
3. Loup, Martyr in Tibet, 147.
4. Formerly known as Atuence, or Atentse.