Etienne-Louis Charbonnaux

Étienne-Louis Charbonnaux (20 March 1806 – 22 June 1873) was a French missionary and the first vicar apostolic of Mysore, India.

Étienne-Louis Charbonneaux was born on 20 March 1806 in La Guerche-de-Bretagne, France.

Charbonnaux entered the seminary in the city of Angers, France. Afterwards, he was ordained a priest in the Société des Missions Etrangères (MEP) on 5 June 1830. On 16 August of the same year, he left France for the Malabar Mission in Pondicherry, India.

After a short stay in Karaikal, he was sent to Srirangapattana, capital city of the Mysore kingdom, where he ministered to a congregation of 3,500 Catholics. Charbonnaux showed such devotion during a famine that an English official wrote him a letter of congratulations and gratitude, saying that he "had indeed become the father and the benefactor of the people".

Charbonnaux's first priority was the education of natives. During these years, however, he learned English, Tamil, and Kannada by himself. He was named titular Bishop of Jassen in 1841, although he refused the position and wrote an abrupt letter, citing the "mediocre services" available to the natives. He, then, traveled through the region to his first Synod of Pondicherry in 1844. His election was confirmed in July 1844, and Mgr. Clément Bonnand consecrated him as a bishop in Pondicherry on 29 June 1845.

By the mid-1840s, Mysore became established as a distinct mission, though not yet as an apostolic vicariate. Charbonnaux was named Administrator for Mysore on 16 March 1845. After his Episcopal consecration, he left again for Bengaluru, the main Catholic center of the kingdom. At that time, he had six missionaries and 13,500 Christians under his direction. Approximately 250 conversions took place per year.

On 7 October 1846, he laid the cornerstone of his seminary. The early years at the seminary were difficult. From 1845 through 1859, 200 children were accepted to the seminary, but only three were eventually ordained as priests. The syllabus for studies was later corrected and expanded.