BERNINI, GIUSEPPE MARIA da GARGNANO. — Distinguished missionary in Tibet. Born on 2 September 1709 into a noble family, he entered the Capuchin Friars Minor of the former province of Brescia in 1726 (1731?). Well equipped with scholarly training, he departed for the mission in Tibet, reaching Patna in 1739; he remained there until settling in Lhasa in May 1742, where he stayed despite the persecution. In December 1745 he founded a flourishing mission at Bettiah, in Nepal, which, after serving as superior at Chandernagor from December 1746 to August 1750, he directed until his death on 15 January 1761.
His confrere, Macerata (v.) wrote his Memorie, which, completed by Fr. Silvio da Brescia with letters from B. himself as well, were published by Moroni in Verona in 1767. He composed various works in Hindi and Urdu for the religious instruction of converts; to facilitate the missionaries’ doctrinal work, he translated the sacred and religious Brahmanical books into Italian; and he compiled a voluminous dictionary, « Hindi-latino-italicum », and another, « Italico-Hindi ». His Dialogo tra un cristiano e un pagano, in Nagari script, and a Descrizione del Nepal have been published.