Retord, Pierre-André

RETORD, PIERRE-ANDRÉ. - Born on May 19, 1803 in Renaison (Loire) and died on Oct. 23, 1858. Ordained a priest on May 31, 1828, after three years of ministry in Lyon he entered the Seminary of Foreign Missions of Paris on June 29, 1831.

On Aug. 12 of that year he departed for western Tonkin, where he carried out an active apostolate despite the persecution. Appointed pro-vicar in 1836, in 1839 he succeeded as vicar apostolic of western Tonkin and on May 31, 1840 he was consecrated in Manila. When the persecuting king Minh-mang died in 1841, R. took advantage of the relative calm of the early years of Tu-Duc's reign to organize his mission which, after having been divided, on March 27, 1876, numbered 3 missionaries, 58 native priests, 254 seminarians, 453 religious women and 117,870 faithful. When the persecution was renewed, Catholics and two missionaries were killed, the blessed A. Schaeffler (1851) and Fr. J. L. Bonnard (1852). Msgr. 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 transported to Ke-so.