NERINI, Paolo Antonio. - Barnabite missionary, born in Milan on 19 Nov. 1711 and killed in 1756 at Siriam in Pegu (Burma) while refusing to hand over to the soldiers of the King of Ava the women who had taken refuge in his church.
He left for Burma in 1741 after having taught for several years letters and rhetoric in the Arcimboldi schools of Milan and of S. Martino at Crema. At Siriam, during his 14 years of mission, assisted by his Barnabite lay confrere Angelo Cappello, he brought about very many conversions among pagans and schismatic Armenians, and built the first stone church in that kingdom, a large house for missionaries, a college for young boys, and a hospice for orphan girls. Benedict XIV in 1752 appointed him titular Bishop of Oreo (Oriensis) and Apostolic Vicar, but the consecration could not take place because the four confrères carrying the papal bulls perished in a shipwreck and then war broke out between Ava and Pegu which led him to martyrdom. With the destruction of the city ordered by the victorious King of the Burmese, the writings of N. were dispersed, among which a dictionary and a grammar of the Burmese language, a catechism, a prayer book and other spiritual works in that language; while of the buildings only the ruins of the church at Siriam remain, which still attest to its size and good taste.