GIUSEPPE MARIA DA GARGNANO (Iosephus Maria a Gargnano; lay Bernardino Bernini). Gargnano near Brescia (then Venetian Republic) 2.9.1709 (hardly 1711) — Bettia in Bihar Terai 15.1.1761. Count. Italian Missionary in Tibet. Son of Count Giuseppe De Bernini and Giovanna De’ Bettoni, partly grew up in Vienna. Joined the Capuchin order in 1726 in Brescia. After studies in Rome ordained as priest and joined in 1838 the Tibet Mission of his order. Arrived at Chandenagore in 1739, worked in Patna (1740-42), Lhasa (1742-45), Chandernagore (1746-50) and finally in Bettia (Bihar). He became vice-prefect of the Tibet Mission in 1758.

Publications: Wrote much on religion in Hindī.

– Eited by Cassiano da Macerata: Memoria istoriche delle virtù, viaggi e fatiche del p. Giuseppe Maria Bernini da Garghano. Verona 1767, an extract in L. Petech, I Missionari Italiani nel Tibet e nel Nepal. 2:1. Rome 1952, 275-293.

– “An Account of the Kingdom of Nepal”, As. Res. 2, 1790, L. repr. 1899, 307-322 (“by Father Giuseppe”).

– A Dialogue between a Christian and a Hindu about Religion. Study, translation and edition by D. N. Lorenzen. 355 p. Mexico 2015 (written in Italian and Hindūstānī [in Devanāgarī] c. 1751, assisted by Cassiano da Macerata and an unnamed Indian, preserved in several manuscripts, Italian title Dialogo fra un Christiano ed un Gentile Indostano sopra la verità della Religione).

– A Dictionarium Hindi-Latino-Italicum and an Italico-Hindi dictionary are not preseved.

Sources: *Cassiano da Macerata 1767 above; Lorenzen (above) ch. 1; U. Nardella, La conoscenza dell’ Asia 3, 1989, 13-21 (with 7 pages of the Dialogue manuscript reproduced, 57-63); Lexicon Capuccinum. Romae 1951.