PERSIC0, Ignatius, R. C. bishop, born in Naples, Italy, 30 January, 1823. After completing his classical course in the Jesuit college in Naples, he entered the order of the Minor Capuchins, was ordained in 1846, and in 1847 was graduated at the Propaganda in Rome, and became apostolic missionary to Patna. He was made apostolic visitor to the East Indies in 1852, was subsequently sent to England to advocate before the government the interests of the Roman Catholic population in India, and secured the same privileges for this church that were accorded to the Established church. He was consecrated bishop of Gratianopolis in 1854, established schools, churches, and missions in Cashmere, Cabul, Afghanistan, and Thibet, was captured and imprisoned during the Sepoy war, and on his release became a chaplain in the British army. He resigned his vicariate in 1867 on account of the failure of his health, spent the next two years as missionary to Charleston, South Carolina, was a member of the provincial and vatican councils at Baltimore, and in 1870 became bishop of Savannah, which see he resigned in 1873. Since 1878 he has been bishop of the united dioceses of Aquino, Pontecowo, and Sosa, East Indies.