NÉRON, PIERRE-FRANÇOIS, Blessed. – A member of the Paris Foreign Missions Society, he was martyred in Tonkin on 30 November 1860. Born on 21 September 1818 at Bornay (Jura), he entered the laity at the age of 28 in the Seminary of the Missions.
Ordained on 17 June 1848, he departed in August of the same year for Western Tonkin. Professor of philosophy and mathematics at the Seminary of Ke-vinh, he translated mathematical texts into Annamite. Captured in 1860, he was beheaded at Son-Tay after preparing for martyrdom with a prodigious fast of 21 days. He was beatified by Pius X on 2 May 1909, together with other martyrs of Annam.
BIBL.: E. Chamoux, Le bienh. P.-F. N., martyr, Lons-le-Saunier 1909; A. Launay, Memorial, II, Paris 1919, pp. 474; Streit, Bibl., XI, p. 226.