Dionysius of the Nativity (Pierre Bertholet), Bl.
DIONYSIUS OF THE NATIVITY (PIERRE BERTHOLET), BL.
Baptized Pierre Berthelot; missionary and protomartyr of the Discalced Carmelite reform; b. Honfleur, France, Dec. 12, 1600; d. Sumatra, Nov. 27, 1638. He was a professional navigator and cartographer, captured by Dutch pirates and imprisoned at Java on his first expedition to the Indies. After his release he settled in Malacca and worked for the Portuguese, assuming command of a ship. His voyages brought him into contact with the recently founded Discalced Carmelite monastery at Goa, and in 1634 he entered the order. After his ordination in 1638, his superiors assigned him, at the request of the Portuguese viceroy, as the chaplain of an expedition to Sumatra and appointed a lay brother, Blessed Redemptus of the Cross (Thomas Rodriguez da Cunha), as his companion. When the expedition arrived at Sumatra, both men were captured by the natives and martyred when they refused to apostatize to Islam. leo xiii beatified them in 1900. Some of Dionysius's cartographic work is in the British Museum.
Feast: Nov. 29.
Bibliography: r. aigrain, Catholicisme (Paris 1947–) 3:617–618. m. prevost, Dictionnaire de biographie française (Paris 1929–) 6:200–201.
[p. t. rohrbach]