Coulbeaux, Jean-Baptiste

COULBEAUX, JEAN-BAPTISTE. - Lazarist missionary in East Africa, b. in 1843 and d. in Paris on 22 Oct. 1921. He reached Africa at only 27 years of age and was one of the first collaborators of Msgr. Justin de Jacobis in present-day Eritrea, acquiring a rich first-hand experience of the men and affairs of that region and of neighboring Ethiopia. Later, because of the incidents of 1894 (rebellion of the chief Bâhtâ Hagos of the Akkala Guzâj), difficulties arose with the military authorities of Eritrea; and the Holy See arranged for the assignment to the Lazarists of only the apostolic vicariate of Abyssinia, transferring the newly instituted one of Eritrea to the Capuchins. C. thus moved with his mission to the new seat of Alizienâ (in the Agâmê) where he remained another seven years with the title of pro-vicar. He returned to Paris in 1901.

His principal work is the Histoire politique et religieuse de l'Abyssinie, published posthumously by the Lazarist J. Baeteman (3 vols., Paris 1929), an interesting and lively exposition of the point of view of a person who, precisely like C., often effectively substitutes personal knowledge of the ethnic, political and religious environment in which that history unfolds for specific scientific preparation.

Enrico Cerulli