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Biography

Jean-Pierre Néel

Portrait of Jean-Pierre Néel

About Jean-Pierre Néel

Jean-Pierre Néel was a French priest of the Paris Foreign Missions Society. He travelled from Bordeaux towards China in 1858 and reached Guiyang the next year. He spent a year learning the local language before taking responsibility for small Catholic communities nearby.

In early 1862, he helped establish a community at Jiashanlong. Local officials ordered his arrest with John Zhang Tianshen, Martin Wu Xuesheng, and John Chen Xianheng. The church account records their refusal to abandon their faith and their execution outside the city. Néel's short missionary career is preserved alongside those of his Chinese companions.

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