Jean-Louis Bonnard (b. 1 March 1824 at Saint-Christôt-en-Jarret,

Diocese of Lyon The Archdiocese of Lyon (; ), formerly the Archdiocese of Lyon–Vienne–Embrun, is a Latin Church metropolis (religious jurisdiction), metropolitan archdiocese of the Catholic Church in France. The archbishops of Lyon are also called Primate o ...

; beheaded 1 May 1852) was a French

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

missionary to

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

, one of the

Martyrs of Vietnam Vietnamese Martyrs (), also known as the Martyrs of Tonkin and Cochinchina, collectively Martyrs of Annam or formerly Martyrs of Indochina, are saints of the Catholic Church who were canonized by Pope John Paul II. On June 19, 1988, thousands of ...

canonized Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon catalogue of sa ...

in 1988.

Catholic Encyclopedia ''The'' ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church'', also referred to as the ''Old Catholic Encyclopedia'' and the ''Original Catholic Encyclopedi ...

Life

After a collegiate course at Saint-Jodard, he entered the seminary of

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

. He left at the age of 22, to complete his theological studies at the Seminary of the Foreign Missions in Paris. From

Nantes Nantes (, ; ; or ; ) is a city in the Loire-Atlantique department of France on the Loire, from the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. The city is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, sixth largest in France, with a pop ...

, where he was ordained, he sailed for the missions of Western Tongking (northern Vietnam) and reached there in May, 1850. In 1851 he was put in charge of two parishes there. At the time, proselytisation was banned in Vietnam. On 21 March 1852, he was arrested and cast into prison. Sentence of death was pronounced against him and was executed immediately upon receipt of its confirmation by Emperor

Tự Đức Tự Đức (, vi-hantu, :wikt:嗣, 嗣:wikt:德, 德, , 22 September 1829 – 19 July 1883) (personal name: Nguyễn Phúc Hồng Nhậm, also Nguyễn Phúc Thì) was the fourth emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty of Vietnam, and the country's la ...

(1 May 1852). His remains were thrown into the river, but recovered by Christians and sent by them to the Seminary of Foreign Missions.

References

*, (Paris, 1895), 355–373.

Notes

External links

Saint Joseph Abbey page

Archives of the Paris Foreign Missions Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonnard, Jean Louis 1824 births 1852 deaths 1852 in Vietnam Paris Foreign Missions Society missionaries People executed by Vietnam by decapitation 19th-century Christian saints French Roman Catholic missionaries French Roman Catholic saints Vietnamese Roman Catholic saints 19th-century French people French people executed abroad 19th-century executions by Vietnam People from Loire (department) Roman Catholic missionaries in Vietnam French expatriates in Vietnam