Fr. Joseph Meiners SVD was born on May 13, 1909 in Köln, Germany. In 1921 he entered Minor Seminary, and later in 1929 entered the Society of the Divine Word. Seven years later, in 1936, he was ordained priest. The next year he was already in the mission field in South Shantung, China.
In 1942 he went to Beiping Fu Jen University to study English. After completing his studies, he continued staying in Beiping, teaching in Fu Jen. When the Communist rose to power in 1948, Christians in China were persecuted nationwide. Fr. Meiners, who was teaching in Fu Jen, was throne to jail. In prison, he was tortured, denounced, brainwashed, reformed for three years, and in 1954 he was expelled from China.
After staying for few years in Australia, in 1960 he traveled back to the mission in Taiwan. Residing in Kaohsiung, he established German Language and Cultural Center. In 1964 he was transferred to teach as well as to do pastoral works in Fu Jen University in Taipei. He was also made the director for general maintenance at the university for fifteen years.
Fr. Meiners died of heart failure on October 20, 1979 in Cardinal Tien Hospital. His funeral mass was held on October 24, 1979 in Fu Jen University Chapel, presided by the president of the university, Bishop Luogoang, and later in the afternoon was buried in Catholic cemetery at Shan Hsia.
(The information is taken from Fu Jen News, November 1, 1976; Translated into English by Tarsis Sigho. 資料來源:[未領一人歸耶穌豈可空手回天府];輔大新聞,中華民國六十八年十一月一日第四版。)