Fortunato Antonio Spruit

Fortunato Antonio Spruit (Chinese: 苗其秀; pinyin: Miáo Qíxiù; 11 July 1880 – 12 July 1943) was a Dutch Catholic missionary prelate and bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lu'an from 1927 to 1943.^[1]

Fortunato Antonio Spruit
Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lu'an
Church	Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Changzhi
Diocese	Roman Catholic Diocese of Lu'an
Installed	22 November 1927
Term ended	12 July 1943
Predecessor	Giovanni Antonio Hofman
Successor	Francis Gerard Kramer
Orders
Ordination	25 March 1906
Personal details
Born	(1880-07-11)11 July 1880 Oudewater, Utrecht, Kingdom of the Netherlands
Died	12 July 1943(1943-07-12) (aged 63) Taiyuan, Shanxi, Republic of China
Denomination	Roman Catholic

Biography

Fortunato Antonio Spruit was born in Oudewater, Utrecht, Kingdom of the Netherlands, on 11 July 1880. He joined the Franciscans in 1899. He was ordained a priest on 25 March 1906. On 16 May 1907, he was sent to the Qing Empire to preach in Hubei. He was unanimously chosen as bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lu'an following the resignation of Albertus Odoricus Timmer in 1927.^[2][3]

On 8 December 1941, the Pacific War broke out. In 1943, Fortunato Antonio Spruit and Albertus Odoricus Timmer were detained by the Imperial Japanese Army in Taiyuan, and died on July 12.

References

1. "Bishop Anton Theodor Fortunatus Spruit, O.F.M. †". catholic-hierarchy.org. Retrieved 12 February 2023.
2. Liu Zhiqing (刘志庆) (2014). 山西天主教教区历史沿革考 [A Study of the Historical Evolution of Shanxi Catholic Diocese] (PDF). Anyang Normal College (in Chinese). Retrieved 12 February 2023.
3. Lu, Anrong (2004). 基督教的传播与近代山西社会早期现代化 [The Spreading of Christianity and the Early Modernization of Shanxi Society] (PDF) (in Chinese and English). Taiyuan, Shanxi: Shanxi University. Retrieved 12 February 2023.

Catholic Church titles
Preceded by Giovanni Antonio Hofman	Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lu'an 1927–1943	Succeeded by Francis Gerard Kramer