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Paul Denn
French priest (1847-1900)
SaintFull write-upFranceSociety of JesusDocumented cause
Feast: 9 July (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Born
1 April 1847
verified
Died
1900
verified
Beatified
17 April 1955
unverified
Canonised
1 October 2000
unverified
Who they were
Paul Denn was born at Lille on 1 April 1847. A French Jesuit, he was one of the Jesuits of the province of Chi-li who were put to death for their faith in 1900, during the Boxer rising, the worst disaster, the Catholic Encyclopedia says, to befall the Church in China.
The miracles
As a martyr he was raised to the altars without a miracle.
Why that counted as sanctity
A French Jesuit killed for the faith in China during the Boxer rising of 1900.
Connected on this site
- 120 martyrs of China Saint honoured together
- Léon-Ignace Mangin Saint“In the village of Zhoujiahe near the city of Yingxian in the province of Hebei in China, the martyrdom of Saints Léon-Ignace Mangin and Paul Denn, priests of the Society of Jesus, who in the Boxer persecution, while solicitously encouraging the faithful in the church, were run through before the altar by the…” — this site's research
- Mary Zhu Saint“In the village of Zhoujiahe near the city of Yingxian in the province of Hebei in China, the martyrdom of Saints Léon-Ignace Mangin and Paul Denn, priests of the Society of Jesus, who in the Boxer persecution, while solicitously encouraging the faithful in the church, were run through before the altar by the…” — this site's research
Sources
- Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), via New Advent - Martyrs in China
- Roman Martyrology, 20 July (Italian Bishops' Conference, Santo del giorno)
- Wikidata Q603239 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
Checked against the sources listed on 22 September 2026. Corrections welcome.