View source for Francis Gerard Kramer

{{Infobox Christian leader
| type                = Bishop
| honorific_prefix    = 
| honorific_suffix    = 
| title               = Bishop of the [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Lu'an]] 
| elected             = <!-- or | appointed = -->
| term_start          = 11 April 1946
| term_end            = 1982
| quashed             = <!-- or | retired = -->
| predecessor         = [[Fortunato Antonio Spruit]]
| successor           = [[Hermengild Li Yi]]
| opposed             = 
| other_post          = 
| image               = Frans Kramer (1969).jpg
| caption             = Francis Gerard Kramer in 1969
| name                = Francis Gerard Kramer
| church              = Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Changzhi
| archdiocese         = 
| province            = 
| metropolis          = 
| diocese             = Roman Catholic Diocese of Lu'an
| see                 = 
<!---------- Orders ---------->
| ordination          = 18 March 1928
| ordained_by         = 
| consecration        = 
| consecrated_by      = 
| cardinal            = 
| created_cardinal_by =
| rank                = 
<!---------- Personal details ---------->
| birth_name          = 
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1903|06|03|df=yes}} 
| birth_place         = [[Kingdom of the Netherlands]]
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1998|01|14|1903|06|03|df=yes}}
| death_place         = [[Netherlands]]
| buried              = <!-- or | tomb = -->
| resting_place_coordinates = 
| religion            = Roman Catholic
| parents             = 
| spouse              = <!-- or | partner = -->
| children            = 
| alma_mater          = 
| motto               = 
| signature           = 
| coat_of_arms        = 
<!---------- Sainthood ---------->
| feast_day           = 
| venerated           = 
| saint_title         = 
| beatified_date      = 
| beatified_place     = 
| beatified_by        = 
| canonized_date      = 
| canonized_place     = 
| canonized_by        = 
| attributes          = 
| patronage           = 
| shrine              = 
| suppressed_date     = 
| other               = 
}}
'''Francis Gerard Kramer''' ({{zh|s=康济民|t=康濟民|p=Kāng Jìmín}}; 3 June 1903 – 14 January 1998) was a Dutch Catholic missionary prelate and bishop of the [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Lu'an]] from 1946 to 1982.<ref>{{cite news |title=Bishop Franciscus Gerard Constantin Kramer, O.F.M. † |url=http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bkramer.html |access-date=12 February 2023 |work=catholic-hierarchy.org}}</ref>

==Biography==
Francis Gerard Kramer was born in the [[Kingdom of the Netherlands]], on 3 June 1903. He joined the [[Franciscans]] in 1921. He was ordained a priest on 18 March 1928. Shortly thereafter he was sent to spread the Roman Catholic faith in China. He was interned during the [[Second Sino-Japanese War|Japanese occupation]]. He was chosen as bishop of the [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Lu'an]] on 11 April 1946.<ref>{{cite news |author1=Liu Zhiqing ({{lang|zh|刘志庆}}) |url=https://www.globethics.net/pdfs/CNKI/CJFD/ZGTA201405038.pdf |script-title=zh:山西天主教教区历史沿革考 |trans-title=A Study of the Historical Evolution of Shanxi Catholic Diocese |work=Anyang Normal College |date=2014 |access-date=12 February 2023 |language=zh |archive-date=12 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230212031556/https://www.globethics.net/pdfs/CNKI/CJFD/ZGTA201405038.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|language=zh, en |author1=Lu, Anrong |script-title=zh:基督教的传播与近代山西社会早期现代化 |trans-title=The Spreading of Christianity and the Early Modernization of Shanxi Society |url=http://194.246.119.58/pdfs/cnkiImport/CMFD/2004077271.pdf  |location=Taiyuan, Shanxi |publisher=Shanxi University |year=2004 |access-date=12 February 2023}}</ref>  

After the establishment of the Communist State in 1949, Francis Gerard Kramer and other foreign missionaries were imprisoned and deported in 1952. Since then, Francis Gerard Kramer returned to the [[Netherlands]]. For almost half a century he would remain a bishop in exile. Francis Gerard Kramer held on to his dream that one day the gates of China would open again and that he could return to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lu'an. For this reason, he rejected an appeal from Bishop {{ill|Wilhelmus Marinus Bekkers|nl|Wilhelmus Marinus Bekkers}} of [['s-Hertogenbosch]] in the 1960s to become his auxiliary bishop. Francis Gerard Kramer eventually ended up with the young seminary professor [[Johannes Bluyssen]], who would also succeed him after his early death in 1996.

Francis Gerard Kramer broke his [[hip]] in 1998 after falling into a house. The surgery was waived. He never came back to China. He died on 14 January 1998, at the age of 94.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Clear}}
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{{s-start}}
{{s-rel|ca}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Fortunato Antonio Spruit]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=Bishop of the [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Lu'an]]|years=1946–1982}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Hermengild Li Yi]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Francis, Gerard Kramer}}
[[Category:1903 births]]
[[Category:1998 deaths]]
[[Category:Dutch Roman Catholic missionaries]]
[[Category:Dutch Roman Catholic bishops]]
[[Category:20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in China]]