B
Bachelot, Alexis John Augustine, Prefect Apos-
tolic of the Sandwich Islands, b. at Grand Beauchet,
commune of St. Cyr (Orne), France, 22 Feb., 1796; d.
at sea, 5 Dec, 1837. He entered the preparatory semi-
nary of Picpus (Paris) at the age of ten, and made vows
in the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts at Cahors
on 2 Feb., 1813. At the completion of his theological
studies in the Irish College at Paris, he was ordained
priest in 1820, and forthwith appointed its rector.
Four years later he was made superior of the prepara-
tory seminary at Tours. When in 1825 the Propa-
ganda entrusted the Picpus Fathers with the estab-
lishment of a mission in the Sandwich Islands, Father
Bachelot was created the first prefect Apostolic of the
new mission. On 20 Nov., 1826, he embarked at
Bordeaux in company with Fathers Patrick Short and
Abraham Armand and three lay brothers. They ar-
rived off Honolulu, July, 1827, and though they were
refused residence in the Islands, they landed while the
matter was still under discussion by the chiefs. As
matters remained in suspense for some time and no
formal permission was forthcoming, the missionaries
rented an enclosure containing three huts, removed
their baggage from the vessel on 13 July, and Father
Bachelot offered the first Mass in the Hawaiian
Islands on the following morning. A fortnight after
their arrival, La Plassard, captain of La Comete, was
ordered before the queen, and commanded to re-em-
bark the priests. This he refused to do, and departed
before the missionaries could be forcibly put on board.
The members of the Protestant mission which had
been established in the Sandwich Islands seven years
earlier saw with displeasure the arrival of the mis-
sionaries of a rival creed, and persuaded the chiefs to
expel them. As a result Fathers Bachelot and Short
(Father Armand having left for France in November,
1829) were forcibly embarked on the brig Waverly
on 24 Dec, 1831. They landed at San Pedro Bay,
California, on 21 Jan., 1832, and were received by the
Franciscan Father then in charge of San Gabriel
Mission. Father Short went to Monterey, where,
conjointly with an English convert, Mr. Edw. Hart-
nell, he started a college; Father Bachelot remained at
San Gabriel. After the death of the old Franciscan
the Californian authorities offered Father Bachelot an
annual net income of $3000 if he would consent to
take charge of the mission. He agreed to remain,
but refused the salary in order to be free to leave at
any time.
On 28 March, 1837, Father Bachelot, having re- ceived information which seemed to warrant a fresh attempt to return to the Sandwich Islands, embarked with Father Short for them, and landed unmolested at Honolulu, 17 April. The missionaries obtained a pro- visional permission from the governor, Kekuanaoa, to remain on shore for some time; but on 29 April the king issued a proclamation stating that he would not permit papal missionaries to remain in his dominions, and ordered them to dcitart on the same vessel on which they had come. Father Short left Honolulu for Val- paraiso on 30 October. Father Bachelot remained behind, intending (o embark on a schooner, the near arrival of which had been announced. Meant ime an- other priest of the same society, Father Maigret, ar- rived off Honohilu. The authorities forbade his landing. The vessel for which Father Bachelot wjw wailing having failed loappe:ir, it became imperative to extricate both Iather Maigret and the captain, who liniuiiht him, from .-i dillicult situation. Father H.acliclot decided therefore to purchase a small Bchooncr, then lying in port. They rechristened the
vessel the Notre-Dame de Paix, and sailed on it on
23 November. Father Bachelot, who was very ill at
the time of embarkation, died during the voyage.
On 13 Dec. the vessel arrived off Ponape, and on the
following day the remains of the first Apostle of the
Sandwich Lslands were interred in the little island of
Na, near the mouth of Metalanim harbour.
Father Bachelot is the author of an Hawaiian grammar and dictionary, "Notes grammaticales sur la langue sandwichoise suivies d'une collection de mots de la meme langue" (Paris, 1834), and two catechisms in the same language: "He Ninau ma ke Ao ana Kiritiano" (Catechism of the Christian Doctrine) and "He Ninauhoike no na Kakarema ahiku" (Catechism of the Seven Sacraments), both pubhshed at Ma^ao in 1831; a second edition ap- peared at Paris, 1841. A prayer-book in the native tongue, printed together with this second edition and entitled, "Na Olelo Pule no ka Poe Kiritiano o ko Havaii Pae-aina" (Prayers for the Christians of the Hawaiian Archipelago), is also probably by the same author.
Anrmh of the Propagation of the Faith, vol. I; Supplement to the Sandwich Island Mirror (15 Jan., 1840). reprinted by the Catholic Truth Society (San Francisco, 1897} ; Bingham, Sandwich Islands (Hartford, 1848).
Reginald Yzendoorn.
Ballerini, Antonio, b. at Medicina, near Bologna, 10 October, 1805; d. in Rome, 27 November, 1881. He entered the Society of Jesus, 13 October, 1826. He was professor of philosophy at Ferentino, of eccle- siastical history at Rome and at Fermo, of moral theology at the Roman College. He took a promi- nent part in the controversies on the writings of Rosmini, on the moral system of St. Alphonsus Liguori, and on the relations between the hierarchy and the religious orders, especially in England. He contributed valuable treatises to the discussion of the subject of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. He assisted Boero in the compilation of the "Menology" of the Society, and published a valuable compendium of Gury, which was adapted for the seminaries of the United .States by Sabetti and later by Barrett. His chief work, the commentary on Busenbaum's "Medulla", was completed and pub- lished by Palmieri (q. v.). His brother Francis, also a Jesuit (b. 5 April, 1805; d. in Rome IS Aug., 1874), composed several devotional works.
SoMMEEVOGEL, Bibl. de la C. de JHus, I (Brussels. 1890).
John J. Wynne.
Baptista Varani (Varano), Blessed, an ascetical writer, b. at Camerino, in the March of Ancona, 9 Apr., 1458; d. there, 31 May, 1.527. Her father, Julius Ca-sar Varano or de Varanis, Duke of Came- rino, belonged to an illustrious family; her mother, Joanna Malatesta, was a daughter of Sigismvmd, Prince of Rimini. At baptism Baptista received the name of Camilla. Of the first ten and the last twenty-three years of her hfe little or nothing is known; our knowledge of the intervening years is de- rived almost entirely from her own writings. This revelation of herself was brought about through the influence of her confes.sor. Blessed Peter of Mogliano, provincial of the Franciscans in the Marches (1490). It seems to have been the eloquence of Mogliano that brouglit abiiut the "conversion" of Baptista, who, for a time at least, appears to have been captivated by the glamour of I he world. Her father did all in his power to force his daughter into a brilliant marriage, even to the extent of imprisoning her. But Baptista resisted his plans so firmly that after two years and a half he
