PERCOTO, ANTONIO MARIA. – Barnabite missionary, bishop of Massul and apostolic vicar of the Kingdoms of Ava and Tavai (Burma), b. Udine, 12 June 1729, d. at Ava (Burma), 12 Dec. 1776.
Having entered the Barnabites, and still a student of philosophy, he compiled a small volume on Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Bologna 1752, frequently reprinted) and conceived “a society of fervent souls” that would strive “to honor and have honored the Sacred Heart.” Sent to the mission of Ava and Pegu in 1760, he was elected apostolic vicar there in 1765 and later consecrated bishop in 1768. Among his works are the first Alphabettum Barnamum seu Bonamum regni Ava, etc.; based on this, the first Burmese characters were engraved by the press of Propaganda; a Catechism in two versions, major and minor, in the Burmese language (Rome 1776–85); a Treatise on the Christian Religion in refutation of the Burmese, in the form of a dialogue between a Christian and a talapoin (Rangoon 1837); the Pali translation of the Ceremonial and Rules of the Talapoins; the Burmese translation of the books of Genesis, Tobit, the Gospels, the Epistles of St. Paul, and Christian liturgical texts, with a commentary on the Mass; a Burmese grammar and an extensive trilingual dictionary: Latin-Portuguese-Burmese.