VILLION, AIMÉ. - B. at Genay (Ain, France) on 2 Sept. 1843 and d. on 1 Apr. 1932.
Having entered the Seminary of the Foreign Missions of Paris on 30 Sept. 1863 and been ordained priest on 26 May 1868, he left on 14 June for Hong Kong, whence in 1870 he was sent to Japan, to Kobé, where he made contact with the exiled Christians and secretly administered many baptisms. In 1878 he went to Kyoto as a language teacher and also devoted himself to the study of Buddhism at the celebrated temple of Chion. He subsequently founded the stations of Yamaguchi, Hagi, Tsuwano, and Jifuku, now in the vicariate of Hiroshima. In 1926 he took charge of the Christian community of Nara, the ancient capital of Japan (719–84) and a major centre of Buddhist pilgrimage, and built there a church in Japanese style. He died at Osaka. He had never seen France again, as he had vowed in order to obtain the conversion of his father, who returned to the faith before dying. The civil authorities of Osaka erected a monument to him at Yamaguchi and included his biography in the history textbook of the primary schools. V. translated the Lettres de fr. François Xavier in three volumes and wrote his memoirs: 50 Ans d'apostolat au Japon (Nazareth, Hong Kong 1923).