It is astonishing that a 27 year's old person decides to leave his homeland and never comes back again and keeps being so close to his hometown that people nowadays pray to him and ask for intercession. And this person is Giuseppe Freinademetz, born in Oies in Val Badia.
As a young priest in the diocese of Bressanone, he became soon member of the Arnold Janssen Congregation that was found a couple of years earlier and in 1879 he took of for China. He would never see his beloved Dolomites again. When he died in 1908 everyone said that he had died in the name of sanctity.

It is not known when people started to pray to him and ask for intercession and see him as a Saint. In 1919 South Tyrol became a part of Italy. Fascism wanted to abolish the language and the culture of German and Ladin speaking people that lived

in this very region. Ladin people asked Giuseppe Freinademetz for a blessing. During Second World War, the number of devotes grew from day to day. In the 60's the Society of the Divine Word bought his birth house and people went there to pray to him. In 1975 Giuseppe Freinademetz was beatified. His birth house is located in a wonderful spot, surrounded by the Dolomites. Each year many locals and tourists alike visit his birth house and ask for a blessing. And many follow his tip. "Like the tree needs the trunk to stand, so the soul needs to pray. The house is open all year through, but pilgrims are likely to come between April and October. most probably because it is 1500 metres above sea level.

During the winter Oies is covered by snow. When the number of pilgrims started to grow in 1994 e was completely renewed by a local architect. In 1996 it was inaugurated by the bishop of the diocese Bolzano - Bressanone together with Sepp Hollweck of the Society of the Divine Word.

The investment made by the Province of Bolzano shows also how much politician care about Giuseppe Freinademetz. The house architecture remembers of Giuseppe Freinademetz being a bridge between Europe and China,. The folded roof and its red colour are typical for China.

Giuseppe Freinademetz was born in Oies, where he came into contact with the German culture and at 27 he left his homeland to sail for China. China was more than his second home. "In heaven I want to be a Chinese.

He left his homeland at an early age, but never really separated from it. Many people think Giuseppe Freinademetz gave his contribution in solving ethnical conflicts between the German and the Italian speaking people living in South Tyrol. And he has become a role model for protecting the right of minorities.

And the settlement in another country has become one of the Congregation basic principles.