Jean-Théodore Monbeig-Andrieu, MEP (22 October 1875 in Salies-de-Béarn – 12 June 1914 in

Litang Litang may refer to: * Litang or Lithang County (理塘县) in Sichuan/Kham, site of the Lithang Monastery *Chiefdom of Lithang (1719–1906), a Tibetan polity *Litang, Guangxi (黎塘镇), town in Binyang County *Li Tang (hall of worship) T ...

) was a French

Catholic 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 ...

missionary and

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

who collected plants for the

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

Natural History Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history scientific collection, collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, Fungus, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleo ...

from northern

Yunnan Yunnan; is an inland Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces ...

where he was posted. He also collected

butterflies Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...

for Charles Oberthür. He was a member of 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 ...

Career

Monbeig was ordained for the

and sent to the Tibetan part of Yunnan in 1899. He assisted Father who was murdered in 1905 in Tse-kou with other colleagues. Father Soulié was also killed by a Lama revolt at that time. Father Monbeig moved afterwards to more secure Cizhong with his parishioners. He built the church of the village (dedicated to Holy Heart) and founded a convent for young Tibetan women to be village teachers. He devoted his free time to collecting plants from the mountains. In November 1913, the Apostolic Vicar of Tibet in

Tatsienlu Kangding ( zh, c=康定), also known as Dartsedo (), is a county-level city and the seat of Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan province of Southwest China. Kangding is on the bank of the Dadu River and has been considered the histor ...

, , called Monbeig to

Batang, Sichuan Batang Town (; zh, c=巴塘, p=Bātáng), officially Xiaqiong Town (; zh, s=夏邛镇, p=Xiàqióng Zhèn), is a town in Batang County, Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, in the China on the main route between Chengdu and L ...

to revive the Christian community there. He set to work immediately and baptised some new converts. He was murdered near Litang the next year, while reaching a mission post. More than 20 species were named after him, such as ''Deutzia monbeigii'' W.W.Sm. or ''Cornus monbeigii'' Hemsl.

References

Bibliography

* J. H. Barnhart (1965) ''Biographical Notes Upon Botanists'', 2:504 * E. H. M. Cox (1945), ''Plant Hunting in China'' : 120 {{DEFAULTSORT:Monbeig, Theodore 1875 births 1914 deaths 20th-century French botanists Roman Catholic missionaries in Tibet French expatriates in Tibet Roman Catholic missionaries in Sichuan Paris Foreign Missions Society missionaries French Roman Catholic missionaries French people murdered abroad People murdered in China French missionaries in China Missionary botanists Roman Catholic Diocese of Kangding Persecution by Buddhists

Career

See also

References

Bibliography