Born in the village of
Saint-Gervais-d'Auvergne,
Puy-de-Dôme,
France, Pierre Dufal professed final vows in the Congregation of Holy Cross on 20 January 1852 and ordained a priest on 29 September that year. On 3 July 1860
Pope Pius IX appointed him as the
Titular Bishop of
Delcus and Vicar Apostolic of Eastern Bengal. He was consecrated a bishop by Archbishop
Joseph-Hippolyte Guibert of
Paris on 25 November 1860. The principal co-consecrators were Bishops Jean-Jacques Nanquette of
Le Mans and
Célestine Guynemer de la Hailandière of
Vincennes, Indiana. Dufal was assigned as the superior general of Congregation of Holy Cross on 25 August 1866 and resigned the position two years later on 19 July. He participated in the
First Vatican Council (1869–1870) as one of the council fathers. His resignation as the vicar apostolic of Eastern Bengal was accepted by Pope Pius on 28 July 1876.
Pope Leo XIII assigned Dufal as the coadjutor bishop of Galveston on 14 May 1878. His resignation for reasons of health was accepted by Pope Leo on 6 December 1879. Dufal retired to the house of his congregation at
Neuilly-sur-Seine, near Paris, where he died on 14 March 1898 at the age of 75. ==References==