Francisco Pareja (c. 1570 – January 25, 1628) was a Spanish Franciscan missionary in Spanish Florida. His primary importance was as a linguist: he developed a writing system for the American Indian Timucua language. In 1612 he published the first book in an indigenous language of North America, a catechism in Spanish and Timucua. From 1612 to 1627, he published several other works in Spanish and Timucuan, for the use of his teaching brothers. He taught both Timucuan men and women to read and write in six months.
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Pareja was probably born at Auñón in the Diocese of Toledo, Spain; the date of his birth is unknown. He would have studied at a school and seminary there.
Pareja traveled to Florida with eleven other Franciscans assigned to establish missions to the Native Americans. They arrived at St. Augustine in 1593 or early in 1594.
Pareja worked as a missionary on the east coast of the peninsula, notably at San Juan del Puerto, the mission to the Saturiwa chiefdom. The mission was on present-day Fort George Island near the mouth of the St. Johns River in what is now Jacksonville. There he worked with the local Timucua-speaking people, known as the Mocama. He developed a form of written language for Timucua, and wrote a catechism in Spanish and Timucua. Published in 1612, it was the first book written in an indigenous language of the Americas.[1] Through 1627, he published several other works in both languages.[2] Due to his books and teachings, both Timucuan men and women learned to read and write in less than six months, and were able to write letters in their own language.[3]
Pareja also worked at Mission San Pedro de Mocama on Cumberland Island (present-day Georgia), the mission to another Mocama-speaking group, the Tacatacuru. He was there at the time of the Guale revolt in 1597. He later became guardian, or an officer of the monastery of the Immaculate Conception at St. Augustine. He is also styled custos, and must have held the office before 1613. At that time the church organization was elevated to the rank of a province under the patronage of St. Helena.
In his last posting, Pareja joined the province of the Holy Gospel in Mexico. He died in Mexico in 1628.[4]
Pareja is noted for having published the first books in the language of an indigenous tribe within the present-day United States, the Timucua. He published several works between 1612 and 1627 in Timucua and Spanish. His various works are:
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company.