Ray Sabio MSC

Two more MSC martyrs honored

In early October Msgr. Ray Sabio, MSC, Prefect Apostolic of the Marshall Islands, celebrated a special Mass on Mili Island in the Marshalls to remember two MSC priests who were killed by the Japanese occupation forces on November 9, 1942.

The two were Fr. Louis Durand and Fr. Léon Marquis both missionaries of the French Province working on Abaiang, Kiribati. Fr. Durand was French and Fr. Marquis Swiss.

They left Abaiang by canoe in late October of that year for a nearby island but became lost at sea. They were captured by the Japanese navy near Mili Atoll in the Marshalls and executed by firing squad.