Johann Baptist von Anzer

Johann Baptist Anzer (later von Anzer, Chinese: 安治泰; pinyin: Ān Zhìtài), S.V.D., (16 May 1851 – 24 November 1903) was a member of the Society of the Divine Word, popularly known as the Divine Word Missionaries,[1] and Catholic bishop of the German Mission to China in Shandong Province.

In December 1885 the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, in charge of all mission territories, raised the status of the mission Anzer headed to that of an Apostolic Vicariate and in January 1886 he was appointed Vicar Apostolic of Southern Shantung, for which office he was consecrated in January 1886 by Cardinal Philipp Krementz of Cologne as the Titular Bishop of Thelepte.

On 1 November 1897 the Divine Word missionaries, Fathers Richard Henle and Franz Xaver Nies, were murdered by Chinese attackers in what is known as the "Juye Incident".

Anzer happened to be on a visit to Europe at the time, and hurried to Berlin, where he persuaded Kaiser Wilhelm II to send two warships to the Jiaozhou Bay (Kiautschou) on the south-east coast of Shandong where the Germans exploited the murders as a pretext for the establishment of a German mandate.

Anzer's effectiveness as a missionary in Shandong and the German colonisation of parts of the province threatened to increase social tensions there.