Claude-Charles Dallet (1829–1878) was a Catholic missionary who is best known for his work ''The History of the Church of Korea'' (''Histoire de l'Église de Corée''). Charles Dallet was born in

Langres Langres () is a commune in France, commune in northeastern France. It is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Departments of France, department of Haute-Marne, in the Regions of France, region of Grand Est. History As the capital o ...

, France, on 18 October 1829. He joined the

Paris Foreign Missions Society The Society of Foreign Missions of Paris (french: Société des Missions Etrangères de Paris, short M.E.P.) is a Roman Catholic missionary organization. It is not a religious institute, but an organization of secular priests and lay persons de ...

in 1850 and was ordained on 5 June 1852. Shortly after, he was sent to

Mysore Mysore (), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern part of the state of Karnataka, India. Mysore city is geographically located between 12° 18′ 26″ north latitude and 76° 38′ 59″ east longitude. It is located at an altitude of ...

, in southern India. He was appointed as the

Apostolic Vicar Apostolic may refer to: The Apostles An Apostle meaning one sent on a mission: *The Twelve Apostles of Jesus, or something related to them, such as the Church of the Holy Apostles *Apostolic succession, the doctrine connecting the Christian Churc ...

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

in 1857. In 1859, he published there, in English, a work titled ''Controversial Catechism, or short answers to the objections of Protestants against the true religion''. He spent the years 1860 to 1863 in France, recovering from

epilepsy Epilepsy is a group of non-communicable neurological disorders characterized by recurrent epileptic seizures. Epileptic seizures can vary from brief and nearly undetectable periods to long periods of vigorous shaking due to abnormal electrical ...

. During this period, he supervised the casting of type fonts for the Telugu and Kanara languages, which he took with him when he returned to Bangalore in 1863, using them for some publications in vernacular languages under his editorship. In 1867, he got ill again and returned to France. In 1870 he was sent to

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

on a speaking tour. He stayed for a time at

Laval University Laval means ''The Valley'' in old French and is the name of: People * House of Laval, a French noble family originating from the town of Laval, Mayenne * Laval (surname) Places Belgium * Laval, a village in the municipality of Sainte-Ode, Luxemb ...

in Quebec. It was there that he classified manuscripts regarding the

Catholic Church 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 ...

in Korea—largely the work of the martyred bishop Antoine Daveluy—which provided the material for his ''Histoire de l'Église de Corée'' (1874, two volumes). In 1877, Dallet went back to India, this time passing Russia, Manchuria, China and Japan. From Japan he stopped at

Cochin China Cochinchina or Cochin-China (, ; vi, Đàng Trong (17th century - 18th century, Việt Nam (1802-1831), Đại Nam (1831-1862), Nam Kỳ (1862-1945); km, កូសាំងស៊ីន, Kosăngsin; french: Cochinchine; ) is a historical exon ...

. While in

Tongkin Tonkin, also spelled ''Tongkin'', ''Tonquin'' or ''Tongking'', is an exonym referring to the northern region of Vietnam. During the 17th and 18th centuries, this term referred to the domain ''Đàng Ngoài'' under Trịnh lords' control, includi ...

, he died of

dysentery Dysentery (UK pronunciation: , US: ), historically known as the bloody flux, is a type of gastroenteritis that results in bloody diarrhea. Other symptoms may include fever, abdominal pain, and a feeling of incomplete defecation. Complications ...

on 25 April 1878.

External links

''Histoire de l'Église de Corée'' Volume 1

''Histoire de l'Église de Corée'' Volume 2

Archives of the Paris Foreign Missions Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dallet, Charles 1829 births 1878 deaths French Roman Catholic missionaries Roman Catholic writers Paris Foreign Missions Society missionaries People from Langres Roman Catholic missionaries in India French expatriates in India Deaths from dysentery