Valentin Haüy (pronounced ; 13 November 1745 – 19 March 1822) was the founder, in 1785,
of the first school for the blind, the Institute for Blind Youth in Paris (now
Institut National des Jeunes Aveugles
The Institut National des Jeunes Aveugles (''National Institute for Blind Youth'') is a Special education, special school for Visual impairment, blind students in Paris, France. It is considered the first Blindness and education, school for the b ...
, or the ''National Institute for the Young Blind'', INJA). In 1819,
Louis Braille
Louis Braille ( ; ; 4 January 1809 – 6 January 1852) was a French educator and the inventor of a reading and writing system named after him, braille, intended for use by visually impaired people. His system is used worldwide and remains virt ...
entered this school.
Life
Haüy was born into a family of weavers. His father, a full-time loomer, also held the job of ringing the
Angelus
FIle:Jean-François Millet (II) 001.jpg, ''The Angelus (painting), The Angelus'' (1857–1859) by Jean-François Millet
The Angelus (; Latin for "angel") is a Catholic devotion commemorating the Incarnation (Christianity), Incarnation of Jesus ...
bells in a local
Premonstrant Abbey. The abbey monks educated Valentin and he became a skilled
linguist
Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...
speaking ten different languages of the day. He also studied
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...
and
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...
. In 1783, he gained the title "interpreter to the king",
Louis XVI
Louis XVI (Louis-Auguste; ; 23 August 1754 – 21 January 1793) was the last king of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. The son of Louis, Dauphin of France (1729–1765), Louis, Dauphin of France (son and heir- ...
. In 1786, he was the interpreter of the King, to the Admiralty and the City Hall. He was a member of the Office of Writing.
Haüy's impulse to help the blind started in 1771, after he stopped for lunch in a cafe on the
Place de la Concorde
The Place de la Concorde (; ) is a public square in Paris, France. Measuring in area, it is the largest square in the French capital. It is located in the city's eighth arrondissement, at the eastern end of the Champs-Élysées.
It was the s ...
, Paris. There, he witnessed an ensemble of people from the Quinze-Vingts
hospice
Hospice care is a type of health care that focuses on the palliation of a terminally ill patient's pain and symptoms and attending to their emotional and spiritual needs at the end of life. Hospice care prioritizes comfort and quality of life b ...
for the blind being mocked during the religious street festival, "Saint Ovid's Fair". They were given
dunce caps, oversized cardboard glasses and told to play their instruments which resulted in a
cacophony
Phonaesthetics (also spelled phonesthetics in North America) is the study of the beauty and pleasantness associated with the sounds of certain words or parts of words. The term was first used in this sense, perhaps by during the mid-20th century ...
of noises. He decided to found a school with
Charles-Michel de l'Épée
Charles-Michel de l'Épée (; 24 November 1712 – 23 December 1789) was an 18th-century French philanthropic educator who has become known as the "Father of the Deaf". He founded Institut National de Jeunes Sourds de Paris, the first public sch ...
.
In May 1784, at
Saint-Germain-des-Prés
Saint-Germain-des-Prés () is one of the four administrative quarters of the 6th arrondissement of Paris, France, located around the church of the former Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. Its official borders are the River Seine on the nor ...
, he met a young beggar, François Lesueur, who became his first student. He developed a method of raised letters, to teach Lesueur to read, and compose sentences. He made rapid progress, and Haüy announced the success, in September 1784 in the ''
Journal de Paris
The (1777–1840) was the first daily French newspaper.(7 October 2014)The first French daily: Journal de Paris History of JournalismAndrews, ElizabethBetween Auteurs and Abonnés: Reading the Journal de Paris, 1787–1789 ''Journal of the Weste ...
'', then receiving encouragement from the
French Academy of Sciences
The French Academy of Sciences (, ) is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French Scientific method, scientific research. It was at the forefron ...
.
With the help of the Philanthropic Society Haüy founded the Institute for Blind Youth (''Institution des jeunes aveugles''), in February 1785.
Building on the philanthropic spinning workshop for the blind, it received the support of
Louis XVI
Louis XVI (Louis-Auguste; ; 23 August 1754 – 21 January 1793) was the last king of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. The son of Louis, Dauphin of France (1729–1765), Louis, Dauphin of France (son and heir- ...
and became the Royal institution of Blind Children on 26 December 1786. Its purpose was to educate students and teach them manual work: spinning, and letterpress. During the
French Revolution, it was taken over by the state on 28 September 1791. It became the National Institute of blind workers in a
Celestine monastery.
Valentin Haüy was active in the political life of his time, and was secretary of the
National Constituent Assembly elections of 1792, then civil commissioner. He was arrested on 5
Prairial
Prairial () was the ninth month
A month is a unit of time, used with calendars, that is approximately as long as a natural phase cycle of the Moon; the words ''month'' and ''Moon'' are cognates. The traditional concept of months arose with the ...
III (24 May 1795), and he was released on 11 by the
Committee of Public Safety
The Committee of Public Safety () was a committee of the National Convention which formed the provisional government and war cabinet during the Reign of Terror, a violent phase of the French Revolution. Supplementing the Committee of General D ...
, arrested again on 20 by the
National Convention
The National Convention () was the constituent assembly of the Kingdom of France for one day and the French First Republic for its first three years during the French Revolution, following the two-year National Constituent Assembly and the ...
.
He was released on 19 Fructidor, he joined the
Panthéon Club
The Panthéon club was a French revolutionary political club founded in Paris the 6 November 1795. Its official name was Reunion of Friends of the Republic (''Réunion des Amis de la République''). It was composed of former Reign of Terror, terro ...
, under the
French Directory
The Directory (also called Directorate; ) was the system of government established by the Constitution of the Year III, French Constitution of 1795. It takes its name from the committee of 5 men vested with executive power. The Directory gov ...
. Under the
French Consulate
The Consulate () was the top-level government of the First French Republic from the fall of the French Directory, Directory in the coup of 18 Brumaire on 9 November 1799 until the start of the First French Empire, French Empire on 18 May 1804.
...
, he was listed as a "terrorist".
In 1802, he was retired from management of Blind Asylum, and granted a pension.
In February, 1802, he started a private school in the rue Sainte-Avoye.
In September 1806, he moved to
St. Petersburg
Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...
, to found a school at the request of
Alexander I of Russia
Alexander I (, ; – ), nicknamed "the Blessed", was Emperor of Russia from 1801, the first king of Congress Poland from 1815, and the grand duke of Finland from 1809 to his death in 1825. He ruled Russian Empire, Russia during the chaotic perio ...
.
He returned to Paris, in 1817, to live with his brother,
René Just Haüy
René Just Haüy () FRS MWS FRSE (28 February 1743 – 1 June 1822) was a French priest and mineralogist, commonly styled the Abbé Haüy after he was made an honorary canon of Notre-Dame de Paris, Notre Dame. Due to his innovative work on cryst ...
, who is considered a founder of modern
mineralogy
Mineralogy is a subject of geology specializing in the scientific study of the chemistry, crystal structure, and physical (including optical mineralogy, optical) properties of minerals and mineralized artifact (archaeology), artifacts. Specific s ...
.
He is buried, with his brother René, in
Père Lachaise Cemetery
Père Lachaise Cemetery (, , formerly , ) is the largest cemetery in Paris, France, at . With more than 3.5 million visitors annually, it is the most visited necropolis in the world.
Buried at Père Lachaise are many famous figures in the ...
in Paris.
Legacy
In 1889,
Maurice de La Sizeranne created an association dedicated to helping the blind and visually impaired, named for him.
See also
*
Louis Braille
Louis Braille ( ; ; 4 January 1809 – 6 January 1852) was a French educator and the inventor of a reading and writing system named after him, braille, intended for use by visually impaired people. His system is used worldwide and remains virt ...
*
Musée Valentin Haüy
*
Slate and stylus, History
*
fr :Association Valentin Haüy
*
Maria Theresia von Paradis
References
;Attribution
Further reading
*
*
External links
Valentin Haüy AssociationMusée Valentin Haüy*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hauy, Valentin
1745 births
1822 deaths
Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery
Educators from Paris
Linguists from France
People from Oise
Educators of the blind