François Hervé

François  Hervé was a French Catholic Priest and Missionary to Japan. 

François, Julien, Marie, Alexis Hervé was born on October 22, 1874, in Bruz, diocese of Rennes (Ille-et-Vilaine). He attended secondary school at the Collège de Saint-Malo from 1886 to 1893. Entering the Seminary of Foreign Missions as a layman on September 12, 1893, he received the tonsure on September 23 of the following year. He was ordained a minor on September 21, 1895, a subdeacon on September 27, 1896, and a deacon on March 13, 1897, before being ordained a priest on June 27. Assigned to the mission of Hakodaté, he departed on August 4 and arrived in October.

Welcomed by Bishop Berlioz, he was first sent to Sapporo (Kita Ichijō) to learn the language. After two years, he was asked to serve as an "ambulance" (visiting dispersed Christians) in the northern provinces of Japan. He thus resided successively in the cities of Aomori, Sendai, Hirosaki, Kesennuma, and Tsuruoka. From 1919 to 1931, he lived in Hakodate, Motomachi, working under Bishop Berlioz as procurator of the mission, while also serving as chaplain to the school and convent of the Sisters of Saint Paul of Chartres. During this time, he witnessed several fires, including the one in 1921 that completely destroyed the mission buildings.

In 1931, the newly established Diocese of Sendai was entrusted to the Canadian Dominican Fathers. Father Hervé requested incardination to the Diocese of Osaka. Appointed to various posts—Kyoto, Kori, Toyonaka, Takatori—he served as superior of the MEP (Paris Foreign Missions Society) group from 1946 to 1952. In 1953, Bishop Tomizawa, the new Bishop of Sapporo, asked the Paris Foreign Missions Society to take over the Hakodate district—which had in the meantime been transferred from Sendai to Sapporo. Father Delbos therefore asked four missionaries, including Father Hervé, to take charge of this new mission. Father Hervé became its first superior. Under his leadership, the new parish of Yunokawa was founded. After resigning, he resumed his position as chaplain to the Sisters of Saint Paul. In 1967, he celebrated his 70th anniversary of priesthood. Honored posthumously with the "Medal of Merit", the Legion of Honor and a high Japanese distinction, he passed away peacefully in the Lord on November 9, 1973, at the age of 99 years and 18 days. He is buried in the Christian cemetery of Hakodate.