Étienne Jérôme Rouchouze

SS.CC. The Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary () abbreviated SS.CC., is a Roman Catholic clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right for men priests and brothers. The congregation is also known as the Picpus because their first ...

( en, Stephen Rouchouze; Chazeau, Loire 1798–1843 at sea) was a French Catholic missionary in the Eastern Pacific.

Biography

A member of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, he was appointed by the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of Rome ...

Vicar Apostolic A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pref ...

and

Titular Bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

Nilopolis Nilopolis or Delas ( Coptic: ϯⲗⲟϫ ''Tilodj'') was a city in Egypt situated on the left bank of the Nile, about forty-seven miles from Memphis. It was an episcopal see that a suffragan of the metropolitan of Oxyrynchos, in the Roman provin ...

from 1833 to 1843 of the

Vicariate Apostolic of Oriental Oceania The Vicariate Apostolic of Eastern Oceania was a Roman Catholic missionary jurisdiction for some of the South Sea (Pacific) islands from 1833 till 1848. History The whole of Oceania had at first been entrusted by the Roman Congregation Propaganda ...

, from which were derived the

Archdiocese of Papeete The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Papeete (Latin: ''Archidioecesis Papeetensis''; French: ''Archidiocèse de Papeete'') is a Metropolitan Archdiocese in French Polynesia. It is responsible for the suffragan diocese of Taiohae o Tefenuaenata. ...

, the

Diocese of Honolulu The Catholic Diocese of Honolulu ( la, Diœcesis Honoluluensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church that comprises the entire state of Hawaii and the unincorporated Hawaiian Islands. The Diocese of Honolu ...

and the Diocese of Taiohae or Tefenuaenata in the Marquesas Islands. As a missionary bishop, Msgr. Rouchouze resided in Valparaíso, Chile and in Honolulu; he was responsible for the evangelization efforts of the Picpus Fathers in the

Hawaiian Islands The Hawaiian Islands ( haw, Nā Mokupuni o Hawai‘i) are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kur ...

and eastern Pacific. His motto was ''Per aspera in astera'' (from hardship to the stars). Prior to his episcopal ministry, Pope Gregory XVI, on 27 November 1825, created the

Prefecture Apostolic of the Sandwich Islands The Prefecture Apostolic of the Sandwich Islands or ''the Sandwich Isles Mission'' ( la, Praefectura Apostolica Sandwigiensis in Oceania), was an ecclesiastical territory of the Roman Catholic Church created by Pope Leo XII on November 27, 1825, enc ...

. Father Alexis Bachelot was subsequently appointed its first prefect on 3 December 1825. Msgr. Rouchouze was appointed

of Eastern Oceania and Titular Bishop of

on 14 June 1833 with ordinary jurisdiction over the Hawai‘i prefecture apostolic. He was subsequently consecrated to the episcopate in Rome, on 22 December 1833 by the Prefect of the ''Propaganda Fide'', Cardinal Carlo Maria Pedicini. On 29 June 1834, in Golden Square in London, Msgr. Rouchouze served as principal co-consecrator in the episcopal ordination of Msgr. John Bede Polding, O.S.B., Titular Bishop of

Hierocaesarea Hierocaesarea or Hierokaisareia, from the Greek for 'sacred' and the Latin for 'Caesar's', also known as Hieracome or Hierakome, was a town and bishopric in the late Roman province of Lydia, the metropolitan see of which was Sardis. It was inhabit ...

and Vicar Apostolic elect of New Holland. Rouchouze left

Le Havre Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, very cl ...

on 29 October 1834 and arrived in

Valparaíso Valparaíso (; ) is a major city, seaport, naval base, and educational centre in the commune of Valparaíso, Chile. "Greater Valparaíso" is the second largest metropolitan area in the country. Valparaíso is located about northwest of Santiago ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

on 19 February 1835. After staying a few months, he went on to Mangareva in the

Gambier Islands The Gambier Islands ( or ) are an archipelago in French Polynesia, located at the southeast terminus of the Tuamotu archipelago. They cover an area of , and are made up of the Mangareva Islands, a group of high islands remnants of a caldera alo ...

on 9 May 1835. He baptized the island's king

Maputeoa Te Maputeoa (baptized Gregorio Stanislas; reigned as Gregorio I; born c. 1814 – 20 June 1857) was a monarch of the Polynesian island of Mangareva and the other Gambier Islands. He was the King or '' ʻAkariki'' (paramount chief), as well as ...

and his family on 25 August 1836. On 4 April 1839, Msgr. Rouchouze returned to blessed the first stone for the

St. Michael's Cathedral, Rikitea St. Michael's Cathedral (french: Cathédrale Saint-Michel, Rikitea), also known as the Rikitea Cathedral, is a parish of the Catholic Church located on Mangareva Island in the Gambier Islands of French Polynesia. Its historic neo-Gothic church was ...

in Mangareva. He said the first pontifical Mass in the Marquesas at Tahuata on 6 February 1839. He arrived in

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

on 14 May 1840. On 8 December 1842 the ship ''Marie-Joseph'' was blessed in Saint Malo in

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known ...

. Shortly thereafter, Msgr. Rouchouze, accompanied by six priests, one sub-deacon, seven lays brothers and ten sisters, left Saint Malo for Oceania on the ''Marie-Joseph''. Sister Caliste Le Gris died at sea. Unwilling to bury her at sea, they put into Island of Saint Catherine near

Florianópolis Florianópolis () is the capital and second largest city of the state of Santa Catarina, in the South region of Brazil. The city encompasses Santa Catarina Island and surrounding small islands, as well as part of the mainland. It has a populat ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and buried her there. On 19 February 1843 Rouchouze and his remaining missionaries left the island. Evaristo, a Mangarevan youth, fell ill and also died while they were in Brazil. The ship was last sited off the Falkland Islands on 13 March 1843. Rouchouze and his companions were never seen again and were presumed to have perished at sea.

Sources and References

GCatholic

Bibliography

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Episcopal succession

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rouchouze, Etienne Roman Catholic bishops of Honolulu Picpus Fathers French Roman Catholic missionaries People from Firminy 1843 deaths Deaths due to shipwreck at sea 1798 births Roman Catholic missionaries in French Polynesia Roman Catholic missionaries in Chile French expatriates in Chile Roman Catholic missionaries in Hawaii 19th-century American Roman Catholic priests

Biography

See also

Sources and References

Bibliography

Episcopal succession