BONJEAN, CHRISTOPHE. - Missionary, archbishop of Colombo. Born at Riom (France) on 23 Sept. 1823, he entered the seminary of the Foreign Missions of Paris and was ordained a priest on 19 Dec. 1846. Sent as a missionary to Coimbatore (India), he remained there until 1857, when he entered the Congregation of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. After the death of Msgr. Semeria, vicar apostolic of Jaffna, he was appointed his successor and consecrated bishop at Tours on 24 Aug. 1868. In 1883 he was appointed vicar apostolic of Colombo, and when, in 1886, the ecclesiastical hierarchy was erected in the Indies, he was elected first archbishop of Colombo. He died on 3 Aug. 1892.
A capable writer and polemicist, he wrote many pamphlets in defense of Christian schools, on the question of Christian marriage, and on the Goan schism. He published a Directory for his missionaries, which went through several editions, and took part in the Vatican Council. In 1885 he was summoned to Rome, together with Msgr. Laouenan, for the negotiations that led to the establishment of the hierarchy in the Indies. The voluminous memoranda presented on this occasion by Msgr. Laouenan and Msgr. B. are for the most part his work.
Bibliography8 worksE. Jonquet, Mgr. B., Oblat de Marie Immaculée, premier archevêque de Colombo, 2 vols., Nîmes 1910; Streit, Bibl., I, nos. 1460, 1475, 1484;
BIBL.: E. Jonquet, Mgr. B., Oblat de Marie Immaculée, premier archevêque de Colombo, 2 vols., Nîmes 1910; Streit, Bibl., I, nos. 1460, 1475, 1484; VIII, nos. 759, 894, 931, 1072, 1088, 1128, 1355 (with bibliography), 1468, 2639; M. Bernard, Bibliographie Obl. M. Imm., Liège 1922, pp. 18-20; Gnana Prakasar, XXV Years Catholic Progress, Jaffna 1925; P. Duchaussois, Sous les Jeux de Ceylon, Chez les Singhalais et les Tamouls, Paris 1929; J. Rommerskirchen, Die Oblateunissionen auf der Insel Ceylon, Fulda 1930; R. Simon, Die leuchtende Insel. Lebenswerk eines Apostels, Hünfeld 1937.
Pietsch, Giovanni. “Bonjean, christophe.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. II, col. 1883. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1949. https://azioneromana.com/article/bonjean-christophe.
MLA
Pietsch, Giovanni. “Bonjean, christophe.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. II, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1949, col. 1883. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/bonjean-christophe.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec2_bonjean_christophe,
author = {Pietsch, Giovanni},
title = {Bonjean, christophe},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {II},
pages = {1883},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1949},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/bonjean-christophe}
}
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