GERARD, JEAN-BAPTISTE

GERARD, JEAN-BAPTISTE. - Missionary, b. at Bouxières-aux-Chênes, diocese of Nancy, on 13 March 1831, d. at Boma (Basutoland), on 29 May 1914, in the reputation of sanctity. In 1852 he entered the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. From 1853 he was a missionary among the Zulu in Natal and in 1862 accompanied Mons. Francesco Allard (1806-95) to found the mission of Basutoland. Having laid the foundations at Boma (Basutoland) with arduous effort, he began the mission in the north of the country in 1876, while Fr. Marcellino Deltour (1843-1905) continued the work at Boma. G. published the first Catholic writings in Sesuto: a primer, catechism, sacred history, and a translation of the Gospel of St. Luke. The obstructionism of pagans and Protestants, from as early as 1833, permitted only slow progress in the missionary work. Yet G. was still able to see the beginnings of the great wave of conversion inaugurated under Mons. Giulio Cènez (1865-1944) in 1910. The process of beatification has been introduced.