Claude-Charles Dallet (1829–1878) was a Catholic missionary who is best known for his work ''The History of the Church of Korea'' (''Histoire de l'Église de Corée''). Charles Dallet was born in

Langres Langres () is a commune in France, commune in northeastern France. It is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Departments of France, department of Haute-Marne, in the Regions of France, region of Grand Est. History As the capital ...

, France, on 18 October 1829. He joined the

Paris Foreign Missions Society The Society of Foreign Missions of Paris (, , MEP) is a Catholic Missionary order, missionary organization. It is not a religious institute, but an organization of secular clergy, secular priests and Laity, lay persons dedicated to missionary wo ...

in 1850 and was ordained on 5 June 1852. Shortly after, he was sent to

Mysore Mysore ( ), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of Mysore district and Mysore division. As the traditional seat of the Wadiyar dynasty, the city functioned as the capital of the ...

, in southern India. He was appointed as the

Apostolic Vicar Apostolic may refer to: The Apostles An Apostle meaning one sent on a mission: *The Twelve Apostles of Jesus, or something related to them, such as the Church of the Holy Apostles *Apostolic succession, the doctrine connecting the Christian Churc ...

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

in 1857. In 1859, he published there, in English, a work titled ''Controversial Catechism, or short answers to the objections of Protestants against the true religion''. He spent the years 1860 to 1863 in France, recovering from

epilepsy Epilepsy is a group of Non-communicable disease, non-communicable Neurological disorder, neurological disorders characterized by a tendency for recurrent, unprovoked Seizure, seizures. A seizure is a sudden burst of abnormal electrical activit ...

. During this period, he supervised the casting of type fonts for the Telugu and Kanara languages, which he took with him when he returned to Bangalore in 1863, using them for some publications in vernacular languages under his editorship. In 1867, he got ill again and returned to France. In 1870 he was sent to North and South America on a fund-raising tour. He stayed for a time at

Laval University Laval means ''The Valley'' in old French and is the name of: People * House of Laval, a French noble family originating from the town of Laval, Mayenne * Laval (surname) Places Belgium * Laval, a village in the municipality of Sainte-Ode, Luxe ...

in Quebec. After returning to France, he classified manuscripts regarding the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

in Korea—largely the work of the martyred bishop Antoine Daveluy—which provided the material for his ''Histoire de l'Église de Corée'' (1874, two volumes). In 1877, Dallet went back to Asia, this time passing Russia, Manchuria, China and Japan. From Japan he stopped at

Cochin China Cochinchina or Cochin-China (, ; ; ; ; ) is a historical exonym for part of Vietnam, depending on the contexts, usually for Southern Vietnam. Sometimes it referred to the whole of Vietnam, but it was commonly used to refer to the region south o ...

. While in Tongkin, he died of

dysentery Dysentery ( , ), historically known as the bloody flux, is a type of gastroenteritis that results in bloody diarrhea. Other symptoms may include fever, abdominal pain, and a feeling of incomplete defecation. Complications may include dehyd ...

on 25 April 1878.

External links

''Histoire de l'Église de Corée'' Volume 1

''Histoire de l'Église de Corée'' Volume 2

Archives of the Paris Foreign Missions Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dallet, Charles 1829 births 1878 deaths French Roman Catholic missionaries French Roman Catholic writers Paris Foreign Missions Society missionaries People from Langres Roman Catholic missionaries in India French expatriates in India Deaths from dysentery