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…
BECKER, Christophorus (born Christoph Edmund B.). Elsoff near Frankfurt 22.10.1875 — Würzburg 30.3.1937. S.D.S. German Catholic Missionary in India and Scholar of Missiology and Indian Ethnography. A Salvatorian from the age of 14. Studied philosophy and theology in Rome, dr.theol. and ordained priest 1898. Docent 1900 in Meran. Also Dr.phil.…
BAULEZ, Marius-Joseph-Aimé. Marseille 12.9.1842 — Bangalore 29.4.1906. French Missionary in India. Ordained priest in 1865 and in 1866 went to Pondichéry. From 1869 worked in Cuddalore, 1872 in Salem, from 1874 taught Tamil at a college in Karikal, from 1875 until end stayed in Vellore. Publications: Transl. from Tamil: Le…
BATE, John Drew. Plymouth 1836 — 26.1.1923. British Missionary, Priest, and Hindi Scholar. Educated at Regent’s Park College, London. Member of the Baptist Mission in India 1865-97. After a short time in Eastern Bengal, spent c. 30 years in Allahabad until his retirement in 1897. Then returned to England He…
BAPTISTA, Manuel. 1??? — 1???. Franciscan Missionary in India in the 17th century. Apparently also an architect and worked in Daman. Censor of inquisition. Publications: Author of a Konkani catechism. Sources: Dahlmann 1891, 16; not in the old Franciscan Biobibliography.
BANHA, Manuel Baptista. 1??? — 1???. Father. Portuguese (?) Franciscan Missionary in India, probably in the 17th century. He is mentioned as the author of an unpublished Konkani dictionary, but the manuscript has disappeared. Publications: Apparently nothing is preserved. Sources: Dahlmann 1891, 16, similar brief mention in some more recent…
BAILEY, Thomas Grahame. Ambala 8.9.1872 — Edinburgh 5.4.1942. Rev. British (Scottish) Priest and Indologist, a Specialist of Urdu and North-West Indian Languages. Son of Wellesley Cosby Bailey, a medical missionary, and Alice Hargraves. After early years in India sent to school in Edinburgh. M.A. and B.D., ordained. In 1895-1920 missionary…
BAILEY, Benjamin. Dewsbury, Yorkshire ?.11.1791 — Sheinton, Shropshire 3.4.1871. Rev. British Missionary of Church Missionary Society and Pioneer of Malayālam Lexicography. Son of Joseph and Martha Bailey. Ordained priest 1815 in York, he married 1816 Elizabeth Ella and left for Kerala, where he founded his mission station in Kottayam. Worked…
AZEVEDO, Francisco de. Lisbon 1578 — Goa 12.8.1660. S.J. Portuguese Missionary in India and Tibet. Came to India as a boy and never returned. Joined S.J. in Goa, when 19. After studies served at Diu (1614) and Rachol, from 1620 Visitor of Monomotapa Mission in South Africa. In 1627 joined…
ASSUMPÇAM, Manoel da (Assumpção). Évora 16?? — 17??. Portuguese Priest, Augustinian Monk, and Missionary in India, author of a Bengali grammar and dictionary, published in Lisboa in 1743. From 1725 Rector of Missão de S. Nicolau in Bhaeai, Bengal (now in Bangladesh), where he remained many years. In the library…