RETORD, PIERRE-ANDRÉ. - B. on 19 May 1803 at Renaison (Loire) and d. on 23 Oct. 1858. Ordained priest on 31 May 1828, after three years of ministry at Lyons he entered the Seminary of the Paris Foreign Missions on 29 June 1831.
On 12 Aug. of that year he left for western Tonkin, where he carried on an active apostolate despite the persecution. Appointed provicar in 1836, in 1839 he succeeded the apostolic vicar of western Tonkin and on 31 May 1840 was consecrated at Manila. When the persecuting king Minh-mang died in 1841, R. took advantage of the relative calm of the early years of the reign of Tu-Duc to organize his mission which, after being divided,
on 27 March 1876, numbered 3 missionaries, 58 native priests, 254 seminarians, 453 religious sisters, and 117,870 faithful. When the persecution was renewed, the Catholics and two missionaries were killed, Bl. A. Schaeffler (1851) and Fr. J. L. Bonnard (1852). Mons. R. sought refuge in the mountains and died in a hut in the forests of Dong-ban, province of Ha-Nam. In 1864 his body was transferred to Ke-so.