François Berré

François Dominique Berré, OP (13 September 1857 – 4 April 1929) was a French prelate of the Catholic Church who worked in Iraq as a missionary, bishop and apostolic delegate.

Biography

François Dominique Berré[1] was born on 13 September 1857 in Saint-Méen-le-Grand, France. He was ordained a priest of the Order of Friars Preachers (Dominicans) on 20 August 1882.[2] As a Dominican his name was Father Marie Dominique.[3]

In 1884 he began his missionary work in Mosul where he taught at the seminary and became head of the mission. After being imprisoned in Turkey for four years during the First World War and deported to France, he returned to rebuild the mission and its orphanage.[1] He also documented the massacre of Christians in Mardin in a report to the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.[4]

On 9 August 1921, Pope Benedict XV appointed him Archbishop of Baghdad.[5] He received his episcopal consecration on 19 March 1922 from François Daoud, Bishop of the Chaldean Catholic Eparchy of Amadiya.[2]

On 19 September 1922, Pope Pius XI named him Apostolic Delegate to Mesopotamia, Kurdistan, and Lesser Armenia.[6] He soon moved the delegation from Mosul to Baghdad and reported the details of the continuing persecution of Christians. He advocated for indigenous vocations with seminary training in local institutions rather than in Europe and believed that a Latin rite seminary could maintain students' ties to their non-Latin traditions and leaders.[1]

Berré died in Mosul on 4 April 1929 at the age of 71.[1][7]

References
  1. Filoni, Fernando (2017). The Church in Iraq. Catholic University of America Press. pp. 121, 133–8. Retrieved 8 June 2020.
  2. Janvier, Marie-Albert (2 May 1929). "Mgr. François-Marie-Dominique Berré des Frères Prêcheurs". La Croix (in French) (published 17 November 2014) – via Léonard Melki. Transcription of obituary.
  3. Annals of the Propagation of the Faith. Vol. LXXVI. October 1913. p. 203.
  4. Berré, Marie-Dominique (15 January 1919). "[Rapport au Ministre des Affaires Étrangères de France]" (in French). Retrieved 9 June 2020 – via Léonard Melki.
  5. Acta Apostolicae Sedis (PDF). Vol. XIII. 1921. pp. 483, 526. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  6. Acta Apostolicae Sedis (PDF). Vol. XIV. 1923. p. 558. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  7. Acta Apostolicae Sedis (PDF). Vol. XXI. 1929. p. 208. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
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