Gregorio or Gregory Mengarini (21 July 181123 September 1886) was an Italian
Jesuit priest
A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...
and
missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group which 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.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...
and linguist. He worked as a pioneer missionary in the northwest of the United States to the
Flathead Nation
Flathead may refer to:
Peoples
* Flathead people, one of three tribes of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation in Montana.
* The Flathead, or Flathead Indian (or Amerindian) tribe more formally known as the Confe ...
, and became the
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 especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...
of their languages.
Life
Born in Rome, he entered the Jesuit
novitiate in 1828, and later served as instructor in grammar, for which his philological bent particularly fitted him, at Rome,
Modena and
Reggio Emilia. While studying at the
Collegio Romano
The Roman College ( la, Collegium Romanum, it, Collegio Romano) was a school established by St. Ignatius of Loyola in 1551, just 11 years after he founded the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). It quickly grew to include classes from elementary school t ...
in 1839, a letter of
Joseph Rosati
Joseph Rosati (30 January 1789 – 25 September 1843) was an Italian-born Catholic missionary to the United States who served as the first bishop of the Diocese of Saint Louis between 1826 and 1843. A member of the Congregation of the Mission, ...
,
Bishop of St. Louis, voicing the appeal of the
Flatheads for
missionary priests, was read out in the refectory, during the meal, and Mengarini felt moved to volunteer for the work.
Ordained
priest
A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...
in March 1840, he sailed with
Father Cotling, another volunteer, from
Livorno on 23 July, and after a nine weeks' voyage landed at
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...
. From
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
the missionaries found their way to the
University of Georgetown,
District of Columbia
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, and a little later to
St. Louis
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
, where it was decided Cotling should remain.
Mengarini was chosen to help found
St. Mary's Mission among the
Bitterroot Salish
The Bitterroot Salish (or Flathead, Salish, Selish) are a Salish-speaking group of Native Americans, and one of three tribes of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation in Montana. The Flathead Reservation is home to ...
, partly on account of his voice and knowledge of music – valued in Indian mission work.
On 24 April 1841,
Father de Smet, Mengarini, and
Nicolas Point, with the
lay brothers Specht, Huett, and Classens, and nine other companions, began the long journey by river and overland trail to
Fort Hall, Idaho
Fort Hall is a census-designated place (CDP) in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Idaho which is split between Bannock County in the south and Bingham County in the north. It is located on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation along the ...
, then a trading post, where they arrived on the
feast of the Assumption
The Assumption of Mary is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII defined it in 1950 in his apostolic constitution ''Munificentissimus Deus'' as follows:
We proclaim and define it to be a dogma revealed by Go ...
(15 August) and found a party of
Flatheads waiting to conduct them to their final destination. It was nearly a month later when they arrived at what is now
Stevensville, Montana
Stevensville ( Salish: ɫq̓éɫmlš) is a town in Ravalli County, Montana, United States. The population was 2,002 at the 2020 census.
Stevensville is officially recognized as the first permanent settlement of non-indigenous peoples in the sta ...
, in the
Bitterroot Valley, and began the foundations of the log mission.
The missionaries worked at cutting the frozen earth with axes.
The church and house were of logs plastered between with clay, and were thatched with weeds, the rooms being partitioned with curtains of deerskin and thin scraped deerskin being used in lieu of glass for the windows. The winter cold was so intense that the buffalo skin robes in which they wrapped themselves at night were frozen stiff and had to be thawed out each morning.
The missionaries began the study of the language, translating into it simple prayers and hymns. Mengarini's method for learning the language consisted of immersing himself in it as fully as possible. He even joined the tribe on a summer buffalo hunt. Mengarini composed a
Salish grammar that is still the standard for the cognate dialects. He wrote it in Latin and designed it for use by future generations of missionaries. He taught the children to sing in Salish hymns of his own composition, and even trained an Indian band for service on feast days. He organized Sunday afternoon "catechism bees," public contests in which children took turns asking and answering questions. The winner received arrows as a prize. Having studied homeopathic medicine, Mengarini also treated illnesses that plagued the Salish. He believed that the Salish would continue to practice their traditional medicine, which he considered idolatrous, "if they are not convinced that the missionaries are much more practitioners of medicine than they."
However, when Mengarini and the other priests reached out to the
Blackfeet
The Blackfeet Nation ( bla, Aamsskáápipikani, script=Latn, ), officially named the Blackfeet Tribe of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation of Montana, is a federally recognized tribe of Siksikaitsitapi people with an Indian reservation in Mon ...
, traditional Salish enemies, they broke the trust of the Salish people.
Mengarini instructed one Salish man to give back items taken from an enemy Blackfeet in battle. Another time, he invited Blackfeet to a feast at St. Mary's Mission.
By offering friendship to the Blackfeet, the priests inadvertently destroyed the trust the Salish tribe placed in them, causing tensions to rise and undermine their efforts. The missionary work progressed until 1849, when raids by the Blackfeet and the defection and relapse of a large part of the Flathead tribe under a rival claimant for the chieftainship forced the mission to close.
Mengarini was summoned to join
Father Accolti, the superior of the north-western
Jesuit Missions
The phrase Jesuit missions usually refers to a Jesuit missionary enterprise in a particular area, involving a large number of Jesuit priests and brothers, and lasting over a long period of time.
List of some Jesuit missions
* Circular Mission ...
, in
Oregon
Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...
. In 1852, on request of
Archbishop Alemany of
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
for Jesuit workers, he was sent to Santa Clara to help establish the Californian mission that was the nucleus of the present college.
In the meantime the Flatheads had sent to
Oregon
Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...
to ask for his return. They were told this was impossible as he was assigned to another station, but on their urgent desire, the Flathead mission was re-established at
St. Ignatius in 1851. Mengarini was stationed at Santa Clara for the rest of his life, acting for thirty years as treasurer or vice-president, until a stroke of
apoplexy
Apoplexy () is rupture of an internal organ and the accompanying symptoms. The term formerly referred to what is now called a stroke. Nowadays, health care professionals do not use the term, but instead specify the anatomic location of the bleedi ...
and failing sight caused his retirement from active duties.
A third stroke of apoplexy ended his life in September 1886.
Contribution to philology
Mengarini's principal contribution to
philology
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 especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...
is his ''Selish or Flathead Grammar: Grammatica linguæ Selicæ'' – published by the Cromoisy Press (New York, 1861) from the third manuscript copy, the first two, laboriously written out by him, having been lost. Originally intended solely for the use of the
missionaries, it was written in
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
, and he himself always said the first draft was the most correct.
He also furnished vocabularies of the cognate Salishan languages – of Shw oyelpi (
Colville), S'chitzui (
Coeur d'Alene) and
Salish proper (Flathead) in
John Wesley Powell
John Wesley Powell (March 24, 1834 – September 23, 1902) was an American geologist, U.S. Army soldier, explorer of the American West, professor at Illinois Wesleyan University, and director of major scientific and cultural institutions. He ...
's ''Contributions to North American Ethnology'', I (Washington, 1877), and of the Santa Clara dialect of California in
Stephen Powers's ''Tribes of California'', volume III of the same series, published in the same year. He contributed some linguistic notes in the ''Journal of the Anthropological Institute of New York'', I (1871–72).
His personal memoir, ''The Rocky Mountains'', published in the ''
Woodstock Letters
The Woodstock Letters were a Periodical literature, periodical publication by the Society of Jesus. Originally published by Woodstock College in Maryland, the letters were intended for distribution among of the Jesuits in North America and late ...
'' for 1888, was dictated a few months before his death.
References
;Attribution
* The entry cites:
**Obituary Notice in ''Woodstock Letters'' XVI (Woodstock, Maryland, 1887);
**
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 Encyclop ...
, ''Bibl. de la C. de J., Bibliogr.'', V (new ed., Brussels and Paris, 1894);
**Piling, ''Bibliography of the Salishan Languages'' in Bur. Amer. Ethnology (Washington, 1893);
**
John Gilmary Shea, ''Catholic Missions'' (New York, 1864).
Bibliography
*Gerald McKevitt: ''Gregorio Mengarini (1811–1886); North American Missionary and Linguist'', in ''Archivum Historicum Societatis Iesu'', vol.61 Fac. 122 (1992), p. 171-188.
External links
A Dictionary of the Kalispel or Flat-head Indian LanguageThe Rocky Mountains: Memoirs of Fr. Gregory Mengarini
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mengarini, Gregario
1811 births
1886 deaths
19th-century Italian Jesuits
19th-century American Jesuits
Italian Roman Catholic missionaries
Clergy from Rome
Roman Catholic missionaries in the United States
Missionary linguists
Italian expatriates in the United States