1950 - Marcel Signoret

January 27, 1950

Anlong, Guizhou

Marcel Louis Bernard Signoret was born on February 17, 1902, at Gigondas, France. The youngest child in a large family, Marcel was raised in a godly atmosphere by his deeply devoted Christian parents. Gigondas is located in a magnificent location in a fertile valley at the foot the Alps. The hopelessness and misery of World War I left Signoret disillusioned, and soon the young man wanted nothing more from this life than to give himself for the kingdom of God in some far-flung corner of the earth.

In October 1921 Signoret entered the Missions Etrangères de Paris. He was an outstanding student both academically and spiritually, and was ordained in December 1925, departing for China the following April. The mission that eagerly awaited his arrival was Anlong, a small town in southwest Guizhou Province. After studying Chinese for one year, Signoret was asked to help out in a nearby district where a famine had killed several hundred Catholics in 1924. The young Frenchman rode across the high mountains and through beautiful forests of giant camellias, to find that only 120 Catholics in the whole district remained alive. Signoret was deeply affected by the believers’ stories and helped them set up a presbytery and a school.

In 1929 the Catholic mission at Wangmo, a town approximately 70 miles (113 km) east of Anlong, had a vacancy after the death of a leading priest. Signoret took the position, and encountered much success among the local population, which was a mixture of Chinese, Miao, and Bouyei people. He found it necessary to learn the Bouyei language, and after he had gained a working knowledge of it he travelled widely, visiting the scattered Christians and never failing to offer a cheerful word of encouragement. For years Marcel Signoret remained in southern Guizhou, participating in numerous activities including the construction of a seminary, orphanage work, and evangelism. In 1946 he was sent back to Anlong after an absence of nine years. There he started a medical clinic, and after being visited by numerous lepers, he arranged for the construction of a leprosarium to help those needy members of society. At one stage the home contained 109 lepers, lovingly ministered to by a team of nuns.

One evening the tireless missionary was led along a mountain path by two men who claimed an ill neighbour needed his medical expertise. After walking for a long time Signoret grew tired and refused to go any further. The men threatened the priest with a revolver. The unsuspecting Frenchman had become their hostage. He was eventually able to escape from the evil men’s clutches, but the ordeal weakened his health. On January 26, 1950, a young Chinese priest was killed by the bandits. The following day,

“as Signoret rested, three men suddenly appeared at the door of the leprosarium, claiming to be salesmen. Signoret rose from his rest and talked to the men at the gate, telling them he was not interested in buying anything. As he walked back inside the house, one of the men suddenly produced a machine gun from under his coat and fired at the missionary. He was shot in both legs and clutched onto a column as searing pain ran through his entire body. Two more bullets were fired, and Signoret collapsed on the ground. He remained there for two hours before passing into the presence of Jesus Christ….

The other Christians were rounded up and threatened with death unless they handed over the money used to run the leprosarium. The captives were forced to kneel with their faces to the ground. When one of them raised his head a hail of bullets killed him instantly. Three lepers were wounded, one of them fatally.”[1]

The bandits escaped into the hills and were never caught. When news reached Anlong that Signoret had been murdered there was a great outpouring of grief among both Christians and non-believers. The Frenchman had won over the hearts of the people by his tireless and selfless service. The lepers dug Marcel Signoret’s grave with their own hands, and they bathed his body with their own tears as he was lowered into the ground. Signoret was 47-years-old, and had spent 24 of those in China.