BICKELL, Gustav Wilhelm Hugo. Kassel 7.7.1838 — Vienna 25.1.1906. German Oriental (Semitic) Scholar in Austria. Son of Johann Wilhelm Bickel (1799–1844), Professor of Canonical Law at Marburg, and Maria Kaup. Gymnasium in Marburg. From 1857 studies of theology and philology at Marburg and Halle, Ph.D. 1862 Marburg, from the same…
BEYTHAN, Hermann. Teichel bei Rudolstadt, Thüringen 29.5.1875 — 1945?. German Missionary and Indologist (Tamil Scholar). Son of a farmer. After Mission School in Leipzig in 1895-1901 he was ordained priest and sent to India. Arrived in February 1902, he worked in Erode, at Fabrizius School in Madras and in 1905-09…
BESCHI, Constantino Gioseffo Eusebio (Constanzo B., Constantinus Beschius, Vīra-māmunivar). Castiglione delle Stiviere near Mantua 8.11.1680 — Ambalakat near Cranganore, Kerala 4.2.1747. S.J. Italian Jesuit missionary and Tamil scholar. Nearly 40 years in India. Educated at Jesuit school in Mantua. Novice of S.J. 1698, then studies in Ravenna and in 1701-10…
BERTRAND, François-Marie, l’abbé. Fontainebleau (Seine-et-Marne) 26.10. 1807 — Versailles 30.1.1881. French Indologist (Hindi scholar) and Catholic priest. Studies at Seminaire St.Sulpice in Versailles. Served long time as minister in Herblay, 1837-56, then canon in Versailles. His opinions were heavily criticized by the conservatives, and he was generally wary of letting…
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…
BERGMANN, Benjamin Fürchtegott Balthasar von. Arrasch, Livonia (now Āraiši in Latvia) 17(28).11.1772 — Blussen b. Wenden (now Blusu near Cēsis, Latvia) 16(28).8.1856. German (Livonian) Priest and Traveller, a Pioneer of Lamaist Studies. Son of Gustav Bergmann (1787 von B.; 1749–1814, priest and scholar) and Beata Elisabeth Meder. Educated at Domschule…
BERGH VAN EYSINGA, Gustaaf Adolf van den. ’s-Gravenhage 27.6.1874 — Bloemendaal, North Holland 26.5.1957. Dutch Protestant Theologian and Scholar of Comparative Religion. Son of ajunctcommies Marie Henri Philip van den Bergh van E. (until 1867 van den Bergh only) and Ida Catharina Wilhelmina Roorda van Eysinga, brother of theologian Henri…
BECKH, Christoph Eugen Hermann. Nürnberg 4.5.1875 — Stuttgart 1.3.1937. German Indologist and Tibetan Scholar, later turned into Anthroposophist Priest. Son of a factory owner, Eugen Beckh, and Marie Seiler, studied economy and law at the Maximilianeum of Munich until 1896 and worked as assessor, but was soon frustrated with law…
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.…
BEAL, Samuel. Devonport 27.11.1825 — Greens Norton, Northamptonshire 20.8.1889. British Priest, Sinologist and Buddhist Scholar. Although a priest, he was no missionary like most Sinologists of his time especially in the U.K. Son of the Rev. William Beal (d. 1872), a Wesleyan minister. Educated at Kingswood and Devonport schools and…