BOTTERO, HUGUES-MADELAIN. – First bishop of Kumbakonam (India). Born in Chambéry on 20 January 1837, and already a law student in Turin, he entered the Paris Foreign Missions in 1856; ordained a priest in 1859, he left the following year for the mission of Pondichéry, where he held positions of responsibility. He knew several European and indigenous languages, including Sanskrit. Appointed bishop of Kumbakonam, he developed its institutions and missionary districts. He wrote several historical-ascetical works in tamil, but his name is particularly associated with the translation into tamil of the entire Sacred Scripture, which he published at Pondichéry, in the mission press: the Old Testament in 1909 and the New Testament in 1910. He died at Kumbakonam on 22 May 1913.
Bottero, Hughes-Madelain
BIBL.: Missions Étrangères de Paris: Compte rendu des travaux de 1913, Paris 1914, pp. 323–34; A. Launay, Mémorial de la Société des Missions Étrangères, II, there 1916, pp. 73–75.
Cite this article
“BOTTERO, HUGUES-MADELAIN.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. II (1949), p. 1135. Azione Romana digital edition, https://azioneromana.com/article/bottero-hugues-madelain.