MARION BRÉSILLAC, MELCHIOR-MARIE-JOSEPH de. — Missionary, founder of the Society of African Missions, b. at Castelnauady (Aude) on 2 Dec. 1813, d. at Freetown (Sierra Leone) on 25 June 1859.
Ordained priest in 1838, he entered the Seminary of the Foreign Missions in Paris on 2 June 1841 and, having left for India in 1842, was elected in 1843 titular bishop of Prusa and apostolic pro-vicar of Coimbatore. In 1854 he turned his attention to the abandoned peoples of Africa and was authorized by the Holy See to found a new Congregation for this purpose; thus, after many sacrifices and disappointments, the Seminary of the African Missions was established in Lyons in 1856. Appointed apostolic vicar of Sierra Leone in 1858, he landed there on 14 May 1859; but he soon fell victim to yellow fever and died the following month. His remains were transferred to Lyons in 1928.