GABET, Joseph. — Missionary of St Vincent, born in Newy (diocese of St-Claude) on 6 Dec. 1808, died at Rio de Janeiro on 3 Mar. 1853. Ordained priest on 27 Oct. 1833 and admitted into the Congregation of the Mission in 1834, he left for China on 21 Mar. 1835, and there, together with his confrere Evaristo Hue, at the request of the Vicar Apostolic of Mongolia, Mgr. Moully, undertook a journey into Tibet to study the customs of those peoples and to attempt to found a mission there.
The results of this adventurous journey, which lasted from Aug. 1844 to Oct. 1846, were narrated by the two missionaries in the Annales de la Propagation de la Foi and in the Annales de la Mission, later collected under Hue’s name in Souvenir d’un voyage dans les Tartaries, le Thibet et la Chine (2 vols., Paris 1850, reprinted several times, latest ed. by H. d’Ardenne de Tizac, ibid. 1925). G. then wrote Le christianisme au Thibet, en Tartarie et en Chine (4 vols., published posthumously, ibid. 1857). Also by G. is an interesting memoir: «Coup d’oeil sur l’état des missions de Chine présenté au St-Père le pape Pie IX» (Poissy 1848), in which the author examines the causes hindering the success of Catholic missions in Asia and particularly in China, and indicates remedies, insisting on the need to foster and increase seminaries for the native clergy.