Pablo Clain

Paul Klein (born January 25, 1652 , Eger , Bohemia ; † August 30, 1717 , Manila , Philippines ; most often referred to as Spanish : Pablo Clain , Latin : Paulus Klein , Czech : Pavel Klein ), was a Jesuit , missionary , Pharmacist , botanist , author of an astronomical observation, writer, rector of the Colegio de Cavite , as well as rector of the Colegio de San José and later provincial of the Philippines. Klein is known as an important figure in 18th century Manila.

He wrote a standardized Tagalog dictionary and was the first European to describe the island nation of Palau and to draw the first map. In addition, he wrote an astronomical observation of a lunar eclipse in Manila, as well as an overview of Filipino medicinal plants in Tagalog and in European languages ​​and some recipes for their use.

Life

Paul Klein was born as the son of Ensign Johannes Ignatius Klein, who came from Prague and his wife Anna Barbar in Eger , in what was then the Kingdom of Bohemia , and was baptized on February 28, 1652 with the first name Paul Albertus. In 1669 he joined the Society of Jesus and in 1678 applied for a job in the colonies, whereupon he was sent to the Philippines by Jesuits from Bohemia on the fourth mission in the same year. This delegation consisted mainly of doctors and pharmacists. The journey led via Genoa , Spain and Mexico (1681) to the Philippines, where the missionaries arrived in 1682.

At first, Klein was employed as a pharmacist. His job was to apply and botanize plants. This made him the first European to systematically describe the medicinal plants of the Philippines and to record the common names in Tagalog, Visaya and Pampanga in his Remedios fáciles para diferentes enfermedades ... 1712.

Klein was also a great educator. He initially served as a professor at the Jesuit College and later became rector of the Colegio de Cavite and the Colegio de San José . During this time he also published some religious texts and played an important role in the establishment of the sisterhood La Cofradía de Hermanas de Religiosa de la Virgen María (RVM) in Manila in 1684. He was the spiritual director and founder.

In 1686 he described the lunar eclipse in Manila. From 1708 Klein was Provincial of the Jesuits in the Philippines (until 1712).

Languages ​​and the Tagalog Dictionary

Klein's mother tongue, in which he also wrote a number of his letters, was Czech . He also spoke Latin (his correspondence language), Spanish , German and learned Tagalog, Visaya and Pampanga in the Philippines.

He spoke Tagalog and wrote the first basic dictionary of this language, which he later passed on to Francisco Jansens and José Hernandez . On this basis, Juan de Noceda (SJ) and Pedro de Sanlucar (SJ) created the Vocabulario de la Lengua Tagala , which was first published in Manila in 1754.

Discovery of Palau

In 1696 a group of natives was stranded on the north coast of Samar Island (Visaya Islands, Eastern Philippines). Klein was able to get to know them on December 28, 1696 and described this meeting for the first time in a letter to the Superior General in June 1697 and added the first map of Palau , which he had made from a sketch of 87 pebbles in the sand. His letter appears in almost all later documents. The map is seen as the key to a powerful new missionary movement among the Filipino Jesuits. The first ships were sent out in 1700, 1708 and 1709, but they all sank. The first ship reached Palau in 1710.

Pharmacy and Botany in the Service of the Philippines

Klein described many of the medicinal plants of the Philippines and recorded the names in Latin, Spanish, Tagalog, Visaya, and Pampanga along with their medicinal uses. Most famous are his recipes for medicine made from local herbs and ingredients, published in 1712. In contrast to the extensive work of his compatriot Georg Joseph Kamel , which also aroused great interest in Europe, Klein concentrated in his work on treating the locals. Some of his recipes are still used today.

plant

In addition to his botanical and pharmaceutical writings, Klein also wrote many religious writings that were published in Manila in Spanish and Tagalog in the 18th century.

• Remedios fáciles para differentes enfermedades apuntados por el Padre Pablo Clain de la Companía de Jesús para el alivio y socorro de los Ministros evangélicos de las doctrinas de los naturales ... , Universidad de Santo Tomás de Aquino, Manila 1712, 2nd edition, Madrid 1852 .
• Pensamientos christianos: sa macatovid manga paninisisdimin nang tavong christiano sa arao halagang sangbovon , 1748.
• Beneficios, y favores singulares hechos por el glorioso archangel san Rafael al santo patriarca Tobias, y su familia , 1754.
• Vocabulario de la Lengua Tagala , Manila, published in 1754 with extensions by Juan de Noceda and Pedro de Sanlucar .

Individual evidence

1. ^ H. de la Costa, SJ : The Jesuits in the Philippines , 1581–1768, Ateneo de Manila University Press, Manila 2014.
2. ^ H. de la Costa: The Jesuits in the Philippines , Manila 2014.
3. ↑ http://micsem.org/pubs/articles/religion/frames/cathmissionsfr.htm Francis X. Hezel, SJ, Catholic Missions in the Carolines and Marshall Islands
4. ↑ Baptismal register Eger, St. Nikolaus, Vol. 3, 1643–1662, fol. 123: January 28, 1652 Mr. Johannes Ignatius Klein, A Fenderich von Brag and Anna Barbara, his wives A child baptized in the name of Paul Albertus. Godparents: are the E: E. Johann Paulus Tressl, Mayor and Mr. Albertus Kampff and Mr. Johann Mattheus Heinl, Doctor der Medicin alhir
5. ^ Renée Gicklhorn: Mission pharmacist . German pharmacists in Latin America in the 17th and 18th centuries, Stuttgart 1973: 65–70;
6. ^ Mémoires de l'Académie des Sciences , vol. 7, Paris.
7. ↑ Latinská korespondence českých jezuitů z Ameriky, Filipín a Marián v českých a moravských archivech ; P. 98
8. ↑ Juan José de Noceda, Pedro de Sanlucar: Vocabulario de la Lengua Tagala , Manila 2013, p. Iv, Komision sa Wikang Filipino
9. ↑ Diego Davin: Cartas de las Misiones Extranjeras , Madrid 1753, pp. 63-93.
10. ↑ http://micsem.org/pubs/articles/religion/frames/cathmissionsfr.htm Francis X. Hezel (SJ): Catholic Missions in the Carolines and Marshall Islands
11. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original dated December 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Spanish Medicine in the Philippines in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries 
12. ↑ J. a M. Martínkovi: Kdo byl kdo - naši cestovatelé a geografové , Libri, Prague 1998 p. 236.