Abba Samuel Wolde Kahin (also spelled Walda Kahen;

Amharic Amharic is an Ethio-Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amhara people, and also serves as a lingua franca for all other metropolitan populati ...

: አባ ሳሙኤል ወልደ ካህን) was the tutor and mentor of '' Ras'' Tafari Makonnen (later Emperor

Haile Selassie I Haile Selassie I (born Tafari Makonnen or ''Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles#Lij, Lij'' Tafari; 23 July 189227 August 1975) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as the Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles, Rege ...

) and his cousin, ''Ras'' Imru Haile Selassie, when the two were children living at

Harar Harar (; Harari language, Harari: ሀረር / ; ; ; ), known historically by the indigenous as Harar-Gey or simply Gey (Harari: ጌይ, ݘٛىيْ, ''Gēy'', ), is a List of cities with defensive walls, walled city in eastern Ethiopia. It is al ...

, ca. 1902–1912. In Chapter 1 of his autobiography, ''My Life and Ethiopia's Progress'', Haile Selassie recalls how his father '' Ras'' Makonnen Woldemikael first arranged for Dr. Vitalien, a physician from

Guadeloupe Guadeloupe is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre Island, Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Guadeloupe, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galant ...

, to instruct the boys in French an hour or so a day. Not considering this sufficient, he also hired Abba Samuel, an Ethiopian at the French Capuchin Mission in Harar. Samuel's father, '' Alaqa'' Wolde Kahin, had earlier converted to

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. According to historian H.G. Marcus, this association had caused some suspicion among the nobles that ''Ras'' Tafari was leaning toward Catholicism himself, which suspicion he allayed by undergoing a rare second

Ethiopian Orthodox The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church () is the largest of the Oriental Orthodox Churches. One of the few Christian churches in Africa originating before European colonization of the continent, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church dates bac ...

rite of baptism in 1906. As remembered by the future Emperor in his autobiography,

Abba Samuel was a good man who possessed great knowledge, who applied himself to learning and to teaching, who in goodness and humility gathered knowledge like a bee from anyone, who was devoted to the love of God and of his neighbour, and who did not strive to find enjoyment of the flesh but of the soul. I am saying this because I had known him very well while we were together some ten years.Haile Selassie I, ''My Life and Ethiopia's Progress, Volume One: 1892-1937'' (Chicago: Frontline Press, 2003), p. 18

Later in Chapter 5 of his autobiography, the Emperor relates that Abba Samuel was one of the seven men who drowned in a boating accident on

Lake Alemaya A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from t ...

on 7 June 1915.

References

19th-century births 1915 deaths Capuchins Ethiopian academics {{Ethiopia-academic-bio-stub