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{{Infobox Christian leader
| type        = Priest
| honorific-prefix = Reverend
| name        = Bernard Francis Meyer, M.M.
| title       = [[Prefect Apostolic]] of [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Wuzhou|Wuzhou]]
| image       =
| alt         =
| caption     =
| church      = [[Catholic Church]]
| appointed   = December 10, 1934
| term_end    = July 20, 1939
| predecessor =
| successor   =
<!--   Orders   -->
| ordination     = February 12, 1916
| ordained_by    = [[Austin Dowling]]
| consecration   =
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| birth_date    = June 16, 1891
| birth_place   = [[Brooklyn, Iowa]]
| death_date    = {{death date and age|1975|5|8|1891|6|16}}
| death_place   = [[Sleepy Hollow, New York|North Tarrytown, New York]]
| previous_post =
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}}
'''Bernard Francis Meyer, M.M.''' (June 16, 1891 – May 8, 1975) was an American [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] [[missionary]]. As a member of the [[Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America]] (Maryknoll), he was assigned to missions in [[China]].  He served as the [[Prefect Apostolic]] of [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Wuzhou|Wuzhou]] from 1934 to 1939.
==Early life and education==
Born in [[Brooklyn, Iowa]], Bernard Meyer's family moved to [[Stuart, Iowa]], where he was educated in the local public schools.  After working on the family farm he attended [[St. Ambrose University|St. Ambrose College]] in [[Davenport, Iowa]], and [[St. Mary's Seminary and University|St. Mary’s Seminary]] in [[Baltimore]]. While he was a student at St. Mary's he wrote to Bishop [[James Anthony Walsh|James Walsh]] and inquired about Maryknoll.<ref name=maryknoll>{{cite web|url=http://maryknollmissionarchives.org/index.php/history/1014-myerfrbernardf?p=2|title=Fr. Bernard F. Meyer, MM|publisher=Maryknoll Mission Archives|accessdate=2014-02-17|last=|first=|archive-date=2014-02-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222052006/http://maryknollmissionarchives.org/index.php/history/1014-myerfrbernardf?p=2|url-status=dead}}</ref> He professed [[religious vows]] in 1914 and was ordained a priest on February 12, 1916, by Bishop [[Austin Dowling]] of [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Des Moines|Des Moines]].
==Priesthood==
[[Image:Maryknoll Missionaries in 1918.jpg|thumb|right|From left to right, seated: Fr [[Thomas Frederick Price]], Fr [[James Anthony Walsh]] and Fr [[James Edward Walsh]]; standing Fr [[Francis Xavier Ford]] and Fr Bernard Meyer in 1918.]]
After ordination Meyer was appointed to the [[minor seminary]] faculty at Venard.  The following year he was assigned as one of the first Maryknoll missionaries to South China.<ref name=maryknoll/> He was a delegate to Maryknoll's first General Chapter in 1929 after which he returned to Wuzhou (Wuchow). He was named the superior of the mission on October 30, 1931.<ref name=gcatholic>{{cite web|url=http://www.gcatholic.org/dioceses/diocese/moro3.htm|title=Diocese of Wuzhou 梧州|publisher=Giga-Catholic|accessdate=2014-02-17|last=|first=}}</ref> On December 10, 1934 [[Pope Pius XI]] appointed Meyer as the Prefect Apostolic of Wuzhou. He suffered health problems and he resigned his position on July 20, 1939.<ref name=hierarchy>{{cite web|url=http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bmayerb.html|title=Father Bernard Francis Meyer, M.M.|publisher=Catholic-Hierarchy|accessdate=2014-02-17|last=|first=}}</ref> As [[World War II]] broke out, Meyer was living in [[Hong Kong]] and he was interned by the Japanese. He was offered repatriation, but instead chose to take care of the medical and spiritual needs of his fellow prisoners. He returned to the United States as a delegate to the Third General Chapter in 1946. Meyer returned to [[Guangdong]] (Canton), but was exiled from China by the Communists in 1950.
Bishop [[Vincent Stanislaus Waters|Vincent Waters]] of the [[Diocese of Raleigh]] invited Meyer to promote [[Catholic Action]] in his diocese.  Being located in the Southern United States also provided relief from the acute [[rheumatism]] he suffered from.<ref name=maryknoll/>
==Later life and death==
Meyer's health declined during the last ten years of his life.  He moved into the St. Teresa Residence when it opened in 1968.  He died on May 8, 1975, at Phelps Memorial Hospital in [[Sleepy Hollow, New York|North Tarrytown, New York]], at the age of 83.<ref name=maryknoll/>  Bishop [[John William Comber|John W. Comber]] celebrated his funeral on May 12 in the Maryknoll Chapel.
==Contribution to Cantonese Learning==
Together with [[Theodore F Wempe]], he compiled the ''Student's Cantonese English Dictionary'' published in 1934.  Although some <ref>{{cite book|date=1991|title=English-Cantonese Dictionary, Cantonese in Yale Romanization|location=Hong Kong|publisher=New-Asia-Yale-in-China Chinese Language Center, Chinese University of Hong Kong|page=8|isbn=9627141186}}</ref> refer to a '[[Meyer-Wempe]] System', there was nothing new in it as their entire schema followed the system devised in the last decade of the 19th century known as Standard Romanization (SR), which, in turn, was almost identical to John Chalmers' system of 1870.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Kataoka|first=Shin|last2=Lee|first2=Cream|date=2008|journal=Hong Kong Journal of Applied Linguistics|title=A System without a System: Cantonese Romanization Used in Hong Kong Place and Personal Names|page=82}}</ref>
==See also==
{{Portal bar|Biography|Catholicism|Iowa}}
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
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[[Category:1891 births]]
[[Category:1975 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Poweshiek County, Iowa]]
[[Category:St. Ambrose University alumni]]
[[Category:Maryknoll Fathers]]
[[Category:American Roman Catholic missionaries]]
[[Category:Roman Catholic missionaries in China]]
[[Category:People from Stuart, Iowa]]
[[Category:American expatriates in China]]
[[Category:Catholics from Iowa]]