Rist, Valerius
RIST, VALERIUS
Franciscan missionary to Indochina; b. Neuburg, Jan. 6, 1696; d. Nhatrang, Cochin China, Sept. 15, 1737. In 1712 he joined the Reformed Franciscans of Bavaria. In 1721 he entered the S. Pietro in Montorio missionary college, Rome, and in 1722 left to found a mission in Johore, Malaya. When he was refused entry on May 11, 1724, he went to Cambodia, where he worked from October of 1724 to August of 1728. He was sent by the Congregation de Propaganda Fide to Kuang-chou, China, enduring a shipwreck on the way. In July of 1730 he became pro-vicar of Cambodia and Laos. On Oct. 1, 1735, he was named titular bishop of Mindonium and coadjutor to Bishop Alessandro Alessandri, vicar apostolic of Cochin China and Cambodia, and was consecrated by him on April 28, 1737, at Hué. He was buried at Nhatrang, center of his apostolate. Despite conflicts of jurisdiction with missionaries of other institutes, he converted many pagans, almost completed a catechism in Cambodian that has since perished, and compiled an itinerary of his travels.
Bibliography: e. schlund, Nach Cochinchina (Trier 1911). b. lins, Geschichte der bayerischen Franziskanerprovinz (Munich 1926). b. h. willeke, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. j. hofer and k. rahner (Freiburg 1957–65) 8:1321–1322.
[f. margiotti]