Sebastian Englert

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Sebastian Englert OFMCap (born November 17, 1888 in Dillingen , † January 8, 1969 in New Orleans ) was a German missionary and prominent linguist.

Life

The father Dr. Sebastian Englert was a grammar school teacher for classical philology in Dillingen, then in Burghausen and from 1894 in Eichstätt (from 1908 senior director of the grammar school there ; ordained a priest after the death of his wife in 1924, † 1933). The mother was born Berta Prechter from Neuburg an der Donau . Franz Anton, as the later Capuchin was named, was the fourth of a total of 17 children in this marriage. In Dillingen he came into contact with the Capuchins as an altar boy. In Eichstätt he attended high school; as a gifted student he enjoyed a free place. After Absolutorium 1907 he joined the Capuchin Order in and was there religious name Sebastian and his father's first name. From 1908 to 1912 he studied philosophy and theology at the Philosophical-Theological College in Dillingen . The ordination he received on 25 July 1912 in Augsburg and celebrated on 27 June 1912 in Eichstätt his first Mass . The first pastoral activities followed in Altötting and Munich .

Throughout the First World War , he served as a chaplain on the front lines in France and Belgium . After the war he worked as a chaplain in Munich- Schwabing for five years . In 1922 the linguistically gifted Englert went to Chile as a missionary to the Araukans , an Indian people in the southern Andes ; with them he worked until 1934, from 1927 as a mission pastor of the extensive parish of Villarrica , from 1930 as a missionary of the new mission station Pucón . After a research trip to Easter Island at the invitation of the State University of Chile in late 1935 / early 1936, he worked there as a mission priest from late 1937 until his death . He established the parish of Easter Island, whose first pastor he was.

On Easter Island he learned the language of the locals and, in addition to his missionary work, was also active as a researcher of the language and cultural history of Easter Island. He published several books, including as his main work La Tierra de Hotu Matu´a ( Eng .: The Earth of Hotu Matua ), which was published in Chile in 1948. It is a study of the history, archeology , ethnology and language of Easter Island. He also published in scientific journals. He not only wrote down the sagas and legends of the Indians, but also campaigned for the preservation of the gigantic stone figures of Easter Island, the " Moai ", which he cataloged and numbered.

Because of his commitment to the islanders, especially the lepers , and his undisputed authority on the island, the Norwegian researcher Thor Heyerdahl reported in 1956 that P. Englert was called the "uncrowned king of Easter Island" in Chile. Heyerdahl described him as follows: “Against the background of a deep blue sky, he was now standing broad-shouldered and upright in front of me, in his white robe, a rope around his body. Underneath he wore large, shiny boots. Bareheaded, with his mane thrown back and his beard flowing, he looked like an apostle or a prophet. I looked into a face reddened by the wind with searching eyes and clever laugh lines and held out my hand to him. 'Welcome to my island' were his first words. ”(Quoted from Missionsgeschichte, p. 137) Heyerdahl, looking back in 1988, called“ Father Sebastian ”an“ Unforgettable Friend ”.

He died on January 8, 1969 while on a lecture tour in the United States. His urn was buried on Easter Island near the Ahu Tahai.

Honors

  • In 1957, the year his new parish church was built, Father Englert was appointed Knight of the Order of Saint Olav by the King of Norway .
  • In 1963 the autodidactic language researcher, history researcher, folklorist and archaeologist received the Federal Cross of Merit First Class and the
  • " Orden al mérito Bernardo O'Higgins ".
  • A main street in Hanga Roa is named after him.
  • In 1985 the "Museo Antropologico Padre Sebastian Englert" ("Anthropological Museum of Father Sebastian Englert") on the history of Easter Island was established in Tahai on Easter Island.
  • In 1988/89 the Eichstätt University Library dedicated an exhibition to him.

Works (selection)

  • Diccionario rapanui-espanol . 1st edition Santiago de Chile 1938. 2nd edition in: Idioma Rapanui. Santiago de Chile, 1978, pp. 90-287
  • Tradiciones de la Isla de Pascua en idioma rapanui y castellano . Padre las Casas 1939
  • La Tierra de Hotu Matu'a . Padre las Casas, 1948. 9th edition, Editorial Universitaria, Santiago de Chile 2004, ISBN 956-11-1704-5
  • Island at the Center of the World. New Light on Easter Island . New York: Charles Scribner's, 1970
  • Leyendas de Isla de Pascua. Textos bilingües . Ediciones de la Universidad de Chile, Santiago de Chile, 1980
  • Primer Siglo Cristiano de la Isla de Pascua . Valparaiso 1964. (German new edition: The first Christian century on Easter Island (1864 - 1964) . Frankfurt am Main: Vervuert, 1996)
  • Various magazine articles

literature

  • Thor Heyderdahl: Aku-Aku. The secret of Easter Island. Berlin (1957)
  • Alois J. Weichslgartner: Father Sebastian Englert (1888-1969) . In: Life pictures from Bavarian Swabia. Vol. 12. Weißenhorn: Anton H. Konrad Verlag, 1980, ISBN 978-3-87437-173-5
  • Mission history of Easter Island. Father Sebastian Englert OFMcap. (1888-1969) for his 100th birthday. (Exhibition catalog), Eichstätt: University Library 1988
  • Ludwig Gschwind: Easter Island became his life's work . In: Klerusblatt. Journal of the Catholic clergy in Bavaria and the Palatinate, 90 (2010), No. 4, p. 98

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Englert, Sebastian
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German missionary and researcher
DATE OF BIRTH November 17, 1888
PLACE OF BIRTH Dillingen
DATE OF DEATH January 8, 1969
Place of death New Orleans