Brasseur de Bourbourg, Charles-Étienne

BRASSEUR DE BOURBOURG, CHARLES-ÉTIENNE. - Missionary, historian and ethnographer, b. at BOURBOURG on 8 September 1814, d. at Nice on 1 January 1874. He studied theology at Ghent and in Rome, where he was ordained a priest in 1845. He was sent by the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda Fide to Canada, where for some months he taught Church history. He then became vicar general of Boston. His passion for historical research on Latin America led him in 1850 to accept the post of chaplain to the French legation in Mexico, and to the study of history he added that of the Mexican languages.

From 1851 to 1854 he stayed in France and published the Histoire du Canada, de son Eglise et de ses missions, Paris 1852. He then made a voyage of exploration through North America, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala, and served as parish priest of the indigenous people in Rabinal, also devoting himself to the study of the Quechva and Mamé languages. Between 1859 and 1860 he visited Tehuantepec and Chiapas, and in 1862 the ruins of Copan. In 1864 he accompanied a scientific expedition in Mexico and extended his research to Honduras and Yucatan. Political events forced him to return to Guatemala, which he left for good in 1865. B. published a great number of historical, archaeological, linguistic and ethnographic works and pamphlets of unequal scientific value, because sometimes enthusiasm, imagination and preconceptions prevail over critical sense.

Pancrazio Maerschalkerswerd