Florentin-Étienne Jaussen, SS.CC., (2 April 1815 – 9 September 1891) was the first bishop of Tahiti and the man who brought the

rongorongo Rongorongo ( or ; Rapa Nui: ) is a system of glyphs discovered in the 19th century on Easter Island that has the appearance of writing or proto-writing. Numerous attempts at decipherment have been made, but none have been successful. Although ...

script of

Easter Island Easter Island (, ; , ) is an island and special territory of Chile in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania. The island is renowned for its nearly 1,000 extant monumental statues, ...

to the world's attention. In the 1860s Bishop Jaussen was responsible for ending the slave raids on

Biography

Jaussen was born in Rocles, France. He was Vicar Apostolic of

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian language, Tahitian , ; ) is the largest island of the Windward Islands (Society Islands), Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France. It is located in the central part of t ...

and titular bishop of Axieri from 9 May 1848 until 12 February 1884, when he resigned. During this time he went by the name ''Tepano,'' the Tahitian pronunciation of Etienne in its original Greek form ''Stephanos''. He ordained the first native priest of Eastern Polynesia

Tiripone Mama Taira Putairi Tiripone Mama Taira Putairi, SS.CC., (1846–1881) was educated by French missionaries from birth and became the first indigenous Roman Catholic priest ordained in Eastern Polynesia. He was part of the native royal family of Mangareva, and his fat ...

, on 24 December 1874. Jaussen worked to establish

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 ...

on the island and managed to construct the first cathedral in Papeete in 1851. In 1855, he purchased a large estate near the city to ensure economic independence for the missions and developed the cultivation of

coconut The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family (biology), family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, ...

sugarcane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fib ...

, and vines, among other activities. He also raised sheep and cattle and established beehives for apiculture. As a bishop and chaplain of the Pacific naval division, he traveled across the ocean, from the

Society Islands The Society Islands ( , officially ; ) are an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean that includes the major islands of Tahiti, Mo'orea, Moorea, Raiatea, Bora Bora and Huahine. Politically, they are part of French Polynesia, an overseas country ...

to the

Marquesas The Marquesas Islands ( ; or ' or ' ; Marquesan: ' ( North Marquesan) and ' ( South Marquesan), both meaning "the land of men") are a group of volcanic islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in the southern Pacific ...

, and from

to the

Tuamotu The Tuamotu Archipelago or the Tuamotu Islands (, officially ) are a French Polynesian chain of just under 80 islands and atolls in the southern Pacific Ocean. They constitute the largest chain of atolls in the world, extending (from northwest to ...

, where he introduced the coconut tree, previously unknown there. On Easter Island, although it was not French, he intervened with the Peruvian government to stop raids and slavery. In 1868, in gratitude, Easter Islanders residing in Tahiti gave him a strange wooden tablet with curious inscriptions. Jaussen asked missionaries on the island to find more, resulting in the collection of five tablets. He studied these and believed them to be genuine

hieroglyphs Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs ( ) were the formal writing system used in Ancient Egypt for writing the Egyptian language. Hieroglyphs combined ideographic, logographic, syllabic and alphabetic elements, with more than 1,000 distinct characters.I ...

in a

pictographic A pictogram (also pictogramme, pictograph, or simply picto) is a graphical symbol that conveys meaning through its visual resemblance to a physical object. Pictograms are used in systems of writing and visual communication. A pictography is a wri ...

script no longer deciphered by the locals. The script is

boustrophedon Boustrophedon () is a style of writing in which alternate lines of writing are reversed, with letters also written in reverse, mirror-style. This is in contrast to modern European languages, where lines always begin on the same side, usually the l ...

, meaning lines alternate between reading left to right and right to left. Together with Metoro, a learned Pascuan, he believed it to be magical formulas and fragments of sacred and profane chants. Jaussen managed to establish a chronology of the island's kings spanning a thousand years and proposed a translated repertoire of the most important

ideograms An ideogram or ideograph (from Greek 'idea' + 'to write') is a symbol that is used within a given writing system to represent an idea or concept in a given language. (Ideograms are contrasted with phonograms, which indicate sounds of speech ...

. Although his translations are now questioned, Jaussen succeeded in creating nine categories covering gods, humans, land, sea, animals, plants, objects, actions, and composite signs. Following the destruction caused by the usurper adventurer

Jean-Baptiste Dutrou-Bornier Jean-Baptiste Onésime Dutrou-Bornier (19 November 1834 – 6 August 1876) was a French mariner who settled on Easter Island in 1868, purchased much of the island, removed many of the Rapa Nui people, and turned the island into a sheep ranch. ...

, he evacuated the missionaries from Easter Island in 1871. In 1884, he retired from his episcopal duties and settled in Arue, in the Papenoʻo parish, where he died in 1891. He died on 9 September 1891 at the episcopal palace in Tahiti.

Works

He is known for his research on

Rapa Nui Easter Island (, ; , ) is an island and special territory of Chile in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania. The island is renowned for its nearly 1,000 extant monumental statues, ...

, grammar studies, dictionaries, a catechism, and a holy history in Tahitian, as well as: * ''Letter on Easter Island (1873)'', in ''Annales des Sacrés-cœurs'', 1879, * ''Easter Island, History and Writing'', in ''Bulletin de géographie historique'', vol.2, 1893, (posthumous paper written by Father Alazard based on Jaussen's notes)
Read online
.

Bibliography

* Steven R. Fischer, ''Rongorongo: The Easter Island Script: History, Traditions, Texts'', 1997 * C. and M. Orliac, ''Des dieux regardent les étoiles. Les derniers secrets de l'île de Pâques'', 1988 *

Numa Broc Numa Broc, born on 26 January 1934, in Versailles and died in Perpignan on 12 March 2017, was a French geographer, specialising in the history and epistemology of geography. Biography From a family of civil servants, Numa Broc attended second ...

, ''Dictionnaire des Explorateurs français du XIX^e siècle'', T.4, Océanie, CTHS, 2003,

References

*CHAUVET, Stéphen-Charles. 1935. ''L'île de Pâques et ses mystères'' ("Easter Island and its Mysteries"). Paris: Éditions Tel. (An online English version translated by Ann Altman and edited by Shawn McLaughlin is availabl
www.chauvet-translation.com here
) {{DEFAULTSORT:Jaussen, Florentin-Etienne People from Ardèche French Roman Catholic missionaries French Polynesian Roman Catholic bishops Roman Catholic missionaries in French Polynesia Picpus Fathers Rongorongo 1815 births 1891 deaths Roman Catholic bishops of Papeete Tahiti

Biography

Works

Bibliography

See also

See also

References