RAIMONDI, GIOVANNI TIMOLEONE. - First apostolic vicar of Hongkong, born in Milano in 1827, died in Hongkong in 1894. Brother of ANTONIO, naturalist and explorer of Peru, after taking part, as a cleric, in the barricades of 1848, he entered, in 1850, the newly founded Seminary of the Missions and, assigned to Melanesia and Micronesia, was among the first group to depart, in 1852.
He worked on the island of Woodlark until 1855, then, having returned from the islands because of illness, at Manila and in Borneo. Transferred to Hongkong in 1858, he remained there until his death, first as a simple missionary, then as vice-prefect and vice-procurator of Propaganda (1860-67), prefect and procurator (1867-74), and bishop-apostolic vicar. In Hongkong he greatly developed the schools and built the new Cathedral. He also gave vigorous impetus to the apostolate on the purely Chinese mainland attached to the colony of Hongkong, first by exploring the territory and then by visiting its mission stations each year; nor did he neglect to regulate the entire activity of the mission, convening two synods and publishing a volume of Monita for the use of his missionaries. His letters-reports were published in the Museo delle Missioni cattoliche of Torino, in L'osservatore lombardo of Brescia, and in the Cattolico of Milano, and later in the Missioni cattoliche; his unpublished correspondence is extremely abundant.
Giovanni B. Tragella