BECKX, PIERRE JEAN (1795-1887), general of the Society of Jesus, was born at Sichem, Belgium, on Feb. 8, and entered the novitiate of the order at Hildesheim in 1819. He was head of the order from 1853 to 1883. His tenure of office was marked by an increased zeal for missions in Protestant lands, and by the removal of the Society's headquarters from Rome to Fiesole near Florence in 187o. His chief literary work was the often-translated Month of May (Vienna, 1843) . He died at Rome on March 4, 1887.