Bernard Francis Meyer, M.M. (June 16, 1891 – May 8, 1975) was an American
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
missionary
A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...
. As a member of the
Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America
Maryknoll is a name shared by a number of related Catholic organizations, including the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers (also known as the Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America or the Maryknoll Society), the Maryknoll Sisters, and the Mary ...
(Maryknoll), he was assigned to missions in
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
. He served as the
Prefect Apostolic
An apostolic prefect or prefect apostolic is a priest who heads what is known as an apostolic prefecture, a 'pre-diocesan' missionary jurisdiction where the Catholic Church is not yet sufficiently developed to have it made a diocese. Although i ...
of
Wuzhou
Wuzhou (, postal: Wuchow; za, Ngouzcouh / Ŋouƨcouƅ), formerly Ngchow, is a prefecture-level city in the east of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China.
Geography and climate
Wuzhou is located in eastern Guangxi borde ...
from 1934 to 1939.
Early life and education
Born in
Brooklyn, Iowa
Brooklyn is a city in Poweshiek County, Iowa, United States. The population was 1,502 at the 2020 census. It is located just off U.S. Route 6 and a few miles north of Interstate 80. Near the center of town, Brooklyn boasts a large display of f ...
, Bernard Meyer's family moved to
Stuart, Iowa
Stuart is a city in Lincoln Township, Adair County, and in Stuart Township, Guthrie County, in the U.S. state of Iowa. That part of the city within Guthrie County is part of the Des Moines–West Des Moines Metropolitan Statistical Area. ...
, where he was educated in the local public schools. After working on the family farm he attended
St. Ambrose College
St Ambrose College is a Christian Brothers' Roman Catholic boys' grammar school in Hale Barns, Altrincham, Greater Manchester, England. It was founded in 1946 by Dr Joseph Robertson. In 2012 the school became an academy, and was completely re- ...
in
Davenport, Iowa
Davenport is a city in and the county seat of Scott County, Iowa, United States. Located along the Mississippi River on the eastern border of the state, it is the largest of the Quad Cities, a metropolitan area with a population of 384,324 and ...
, and
St. Mary’s Seminary in
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was ...
. While he was a student at St. Mary's he wrote to Bishop
James Walsh and inquired about Maryknoll.
He professed
religious vows
Religious vows are the public vows made by the members of religious communities pertaining to their conduct, practices, and views.
In the Buddhism tradition, in particular within the Mahayana and Vajrayana tradition, many different kinds of re ...
in 1914 and was ordained a priest on February 12, 1916, by Bishop
Austin Dowling
Daniel Austin Dowling (April 6, 1868 – November 29, 1930) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as the second archbishop of what was then the Archdiocese of Saint Paul in Minnesota from 1919 until his death.
Dowling se ...
of
Des Moines
Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines ...
.
Priesthood
After ordination Meyer was appointed to the
minor seminary
A minor seminary or high school seminary is a secondary day or boarding school created for the specific purpose of enrolling teenage boys who have expressed interest in becoming Catholic priests. They are generally Catholic institutions, and de ...
faculty at Venard. The following year he was assigned as one of the first Maryknoll missionaries to South China.
[ He was a delegate to Maryknoll's first General Chapter in 1929 after which he returned to Wuzhou (Wuchow). He was named the superior of the mission on October 30, 1931.]Pope Pius XI
Pope Pius XI ( it, Pio XI), born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti (; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939), was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 to his death in February 1939. He was the first sovereign of Vatican City f ...
appointed Meyer as the Prefect Apostolic of Wuzhou. He suffered health problems and he resigned his position on July 20, 1939.World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
broke out, Meyer was living in Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...
and he was interned by the Japanese. He was offered repatriation, but instead chose to take care of the medical and spiritual needs of his fellow prisoners. He returned to the United States as a delegate to the Third General Chapter in 1946. Meyer returned to Guangdong
Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020 ...
(Canton), but was exiled from China by the Communists in 1950.
Bishop Vincent Waters of the Diocese of Raleigh
The Diocese of Raleigh is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church that covers the eastern half of the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan ...
invited Meyer to promote Catholic Action
Catholic Action is the name of groups of lay Catholics who advocate for increased Catholic influence on society. They were especially active in the nineteenth century in historically Catholic countries under anti-clerical regimes such as Spain, It ...
in his diocese. Being located in the Southern United States also provided relief from the acute rheumatism
Rheumatism or rheumatic disorders are conditions causing chronic, often intermittent pain affecting the joints or connective tissue. Rheumatism does not designate any specific disorder, but covers at least 200 different conditions, including ar ...
he suffered from.[
]
Later life and death
Meyer's health declined during the last ten years of his life. He moved into the St. Teresa Residence when it opened in 1968. He died on May 8, 1975, at Phelps Memorial Hospital in North Tarrytown, New York
Sleepy Hollow is a village in the town of Mount Pleasant, in Westchester County, New York, United States. The village is located on the east bank of the Hudson River, about north of New York City, and is served by the Philipse Manor stop on ...
, at the age of 83.[ Bishop John W. Comber celebrated his funeral on May 12 in the Maryknoll Chapel.
]
Contribution to Cantonese Learning
Together with Theodore F Wempe, he compiled the ''Student's Cantonese English Dictionary'' published in 1934. Although some refer to a ' Meyer-Wempe System', there was nothing new in it as their entire schema followed the system devised in the last decade of the 19th century known as Standard Romanization (SR), which, in turn, was almost identical to John Chalmers' system of 1870.
See also
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meyer, Bernard F.
1891 births
1975 deaths
People from Poweshiek County, Iowa
St. Ambrose University alumni
Maryknoll Fathers
American Roman Catholic missionaries
Roman Catholic missionaries in China
People from Stuart, Iowa
American expatriates in China
Catholics from Iowa