Jean-Marie-Raphaël Le Jeune (born Jean-Marie; 12 April 1855 – 21 November 1930) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

priest, linguist, author, and newspaper publisher. Born in

Pleyber-Christ Pleyber-Christ (; br, Pleiber-Krist) is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France. Geography Climate Pleyber-Christ has a oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification ''Cfb''). The average annual temperatur ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, Le Jeune entered an

Oblate In Christianity (especially in the Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican and Methodist traditions), an oblate is a person who is specifically dedicated to God or to God's service. Oblates are individuals, either laypersons or clergy, normally livi ...

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, ...

Nancy, France Nancy ; Lorraine Franconian: ''Nanzisch'' is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the northeastern Departments of France, French department of Meurthe-et-Moselle. It was the capital of the Duchy of Lorraine, which was Lorraine and Barrois, an ...

, in 1873 and took his vows on 12 December 1875. He volunteered for missionary service and in 1879 was sent to

New Westminster New Westminster (colloquially known as New West) is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada, and a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District. It was founded by Major-General Richard Moody as the capita ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, Canada. Under the supervision of Bishop Paul Durieu, Le Jeune studied Chinook Jargon, a

pidgin A pidgin , or pidgin language, is a grammatically simplified means of communication that develops between two or more groups of people that do not have a language in common: typically, its vocabulary and grammar are limited and often drawn from s ...

Chinookan The Chinookan languages were a small family of languages spoken in Oregon and Washington (state), Washington along the Columbia River by Chinook peoples. Although the last known native speaker of any Chinookan language died in 2012, the 2009-2013 ...

, Nootkan,

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

, and

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. He moved on to

Fraser Canyon The Fraser Canyon is a major landform of the Fraser River where it descends rapidly through narrow rock gorges in the Coast Mountains en route from the Interior Plateau of British Columbia to the Fraser Valley. Colloquially, the term "Fraser Ca ...

, where he learned more native languages, and then to St. Mary's mission in the

Lower Fraser Valley The Fraser Valley is a geographical region in southwestern British Columbia, Canada and northwestern Washington State. It starts just west of Hope in a narrow valley encompassing the Fraser River and ends at the Pacific Ocean stretching from the ...

. Over the next years Le Jeune traveled throughout the

Kamloops Kamloops ( ) is a city in south-central British Columbia, Canada, at the confluence of the South flowing North Thompson River and the West flowing Thompson River, east of Kamloops Lake. It is located in the Thompson-Nicola Regional District, w ...

region proselytizing to the native communities. In 1891 he became

rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

of St. Joseph's Church on the Kamloops Reserve and in 1893 he became the superior of St. Louis's Mission, a post he held until 1929. By his own account, Le Jeune spoke more than twenty native languages. In 1890 he adapted

Duployan shorthand The Duployan shorthand, or Duployan stenography (french: Sténographie Duployé), was created by Father Émile Duployé in 1860 for writing French. Since then, it has been expanded and adapted for writing English, German, Spanish, Romanian, Lat ...

to Chinook Jargon. The system was widely adopted among the native community and in 1891 Le Jeune launched a newspaper written in English and Chinook Jargon called the ''

Kamloops Wawa The ''Kamloops Wawa'' ( Chinook Jargon: 𛰅𛱁𛰙‌𛰆𛱛𛰂𛰜 𛱜‌𛱜, "Talk of Kamloops") was a newspaper published by Father Jean-Marie-Raphaël Le Jeune, superior of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kamloops in British Colu ...

''. Le Jeune wrote a number of pamphlets about native languages such as ''Practical Chinook vocabulary'' (1886), ''Prayers in the Okanagan language'' (1893), ''Polyglott manual of prayers'' (1896, contributor), and ''Chinook rudiments'' (1924). Le Jeune died in 1930 at New Westminster and is buried at

Mission Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to: Organised activities Religion *Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity *Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...

Lac Le Jeune Lac Le Jeune is a lake and provincial park in British Columbia, Canada, located approximately 37 kilometres south of Kamloops and 47 kilometres north of Merritt. The lake is located within Lac Le Jeune Provincial Park, a 213-hectare provincial pa ...

, near

Logan Lake Logan Lake is a district municipality in the Southern Interior of British Columbia, Canada. History It was founded in the 1960s and 1970s to support copper, molybdenum and other mineral mining operations located south of the town. The Village ...

, bears his name.

External links

Chinook Vocabulary (1892)Chinook manual, or, Prayers, hymns and catechism in Chinook (microform) (1896)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Le Jeune, Jean Marie Raphael 1855 births 1930 deaths Roman Catholic missionaries in Canada 19th-century Canadian Roman Catholic priests Linguists from Canada Franco-Columbian people People from New Westminster People from Finistère Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate Chinook Jargon Creators of writing systems French Roman Catholic missionaries Missionary linguists French emigrants to Canada 20th-century Canadian Roman Catholic priests