Aquiles Gerste (July 2, 1854 - November 27, 1920) was a

Catholic priest The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in common English usage ''priest'' refe ...

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also defined as the study of ...

, and

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

who is known for his

ethnographic Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...

and linguistic studies of the

indigenous peoples of Mexico Indigenous peoples of Mexico (), Native Mexicans () or Mexican Native Americans (), are those who are part of communities that trace their roots back to populations and communities that existed in what is now Mexico before the arrival of Europe ...

. Gerst entered the Society of Jesus on October 3, 1873 and was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

a priest ten years later. In 1885, he went to

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

as a

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

and became prefect of a college at

Puebla Puebla, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Puebla, is one of the 31 states that, along with Mexico City, comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its capital is Puebla City. Part of east-centr ...

. He became fluent in French, Latin, Spanish, German and

Nahuatl Nahuatl ( ; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahuas, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have smaller popul ...

. He became interested in the culture of the

Rarámuri people The Rarámuri or Tarahumara are a group of Indigenous people of the Americas living in the state of Chihuahua (state), Chihuahua in Mexico. They are renowned for their form of prayer that involves running for extended periods of time. Origin ...

, with whom he lived as a missionary. When he returned to Europe, he collaborated with

Carlos Sommervogel Carlos Sommervogel (8 January 1834 – 4 March 1902) was a French Jesuit scholar. He was author of the monumental ''Bibliothèque de la Compagnie de Jésus'', which served as one of the major references for the editors of the Catholic Encyclo ...

on the ''Bibliographie d'auteurs de la Compagnie de Jésus'', While in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, he was elected a

corresponding member The corresponding member is one of the possible membership types in some organizations, especially in the learned societies and scientific academies. This title existed or exist in the Soviet Union, GDR, Polish People's Republic, Czechoslovak S ...

of the

Academia Mexicana de la Lengua The Academia Mexicana de la Lengua (variously translated as the Mexican Academy of Language, the Mexican Academy of the Language, the Mexican Academy of Letters, or glossed as the Mexican Academy of the Spanish Language; acronym AML) is the cor ...

. He died in Rome.León-Portilla, 2004; 222

Works

*''Archeologie et Bibliographie Mexicaines'' Brussels: Polleunis, Ceuterick et Lefébure, 1888 *
Notes sur la médecine et la botanique des anciens Mexicains
' Rome, Impr. Polyglotte vaticane, 1909 *''Rapport sur un voyage d'exploration dans la Tarahumara 1914-1915'' Tipografia Pontificia Nell'istituto Pio IX, 1914

References

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gerste 1854 births 1920 deaths 20th-century Belgian Jesuits Jesuit missionaries Belgian philologists Linguists from Belgium Roman Catholic missionaries in Mexico Belgian Roman Catholic missionaries Belgian expatriates in Mexico Missionary linguists 19th-century Belgian Jesuits