Alexandre de Rhodes

From Freepedia

Alexandre de Rhodes (March 15, 1591 - November 5, 1660) was a French Jesuit missionary.

Born in Avignon, France. He entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus at Rome on April 24, 1612 to dedicate his life to missionary work. During his studies of Classical Chinese and the vernacular Vietnamese language, he proposed Quốc Ngữ, an alphabet based on the Roman character set, which is used today to write the Vietnamese language.

In 1624 he was sent to the East Indies starting in Cochin China. In 1627 he travelled to Tongking, Vietnam where he worked until 1630 when he was forced to leave. Recalled to Rome, he was reassigned to Persia where he died in Isfahan in 1660.

He wrote Tunchinensis historiæ libri duo pub. 1652 and La glorieuse mort d'André, Catéchiste pub. 1653, and Catechismus pub. 1658.

In 1943, the French colony of Indochina issued a 30c postage stamp honoring him.