Gabriele Allegra
1907-1976 20th century Feast day: January 26
The long hidden labor in service of the Word, offered day after day without seeing its end.
Who was Gabriele Allegra?
A Sicilian Franciscan, he heard as a young man the call to give the whole Bible to the Chinese people, who had no complete Catholic version. For forty years, through war and exile, he patiently translated the Scriptures from Hebrew and Greek, founding a biblical institute in Beijing and then Hong Kong. His work remains the standard Catholic Bible in Chinese.
In their own words
The most enviable fate for a Franciscan who does not obtain the grace of martyrdom is to die while he is working.
The work upon the Bible is hard and intense, but I must work; if I stop, I will never get up again.