Author Description

Theophile Berengier, who was borin around 1827, was a monk of Solesmes, the Benedictine monastery near LeMans in north-western France. In 1868, while visiting the Community of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine in Marseilles, he met Bishop Salvado, who was on his second European tour raising funds and seeking recruits for New Norcia. A friendship grew and soon Berengier was writing regurlarly to Salvado who, by this time, was keen to establish a library in New Norcia; Berengier agreed to act as Salvado's agent in France in securing books and other items for Salvado's library. Berengier had an extensive network of contacts through whom he also raised considerable sums of money for the mission by soliciting Mass intentions (money paid for Mass to be said) and through bequests. In 1851, Salvado published his Memorie Storiche dell Australia (The Salvado Memoir) in three parts partly as a fund raising exercise. In 1879, Berengier published his Historie, likewise in three parts, which also intended to raise funds for the mission. Apart from a serialized English translation in 1879, this is the first modern translation of Berengier's book and is an important companion volume to Salvado's Memoirs. Peter Gilet is a published historian who has taught in Australia and overseas. Born in Sydney to a part-Belgian family, he gained a B.A. (Hons) in French at the University of Sydney, an M.A. in Mediaeval French at Melbourne University, and a Ph.D. in Arthurian Legend at the University of Poitiers in France. In 2009, Peter worked as a volunteer in the archives at New Norcia translating documents from French among which was Berengier's Historie which now forms the subject of this book; in 2010, he became the inaugural Abbot Placid Spearritt Memorial Scholar. His scholarship involved the transcription and translation of Leandre Fonteinne's letters which also appear as part of this series. He currently lives in Subiaco and works at the University of Western Australia library, preparing a study on