AMMIRATI, BERNARDINO

AMMIRATI, BERNARDINO. – Franciscan friar, missionary in China, b. at Montalto in Liguria on 17 Nov. 1827, d. at Wuchang on 22 Jan. 1875. He took the religious habit at the hermitage of Greccio in 1845; then, after being ordained priest in 1851, he prepared for his apostolate at the missionary college of S. Pietro in Montorio in Rome. He departed for China in 1853 and, after spending two months at Hong Kong with the Apostolic Vicar Rizzolati improving his knowledge of the Chinese language, he went to the province of Hupé assigned to him. There he exercised his ministry until 1871, when he moved to Hunan, returning the following year to Hupé, where he remained until his death. A. endured repeated persecutions and was beaten and insulted by pagans. His zeal and skill in the Chinese language enabled him to establish several Christian communities. He also wrote in Chinese a small manual of medicine for children’s diseases, intended for the baptizers of the Holy Childhood; a second edition of this appeared in Wuchang in 1886.