Rare mimeographed Inuit prayers prepared at Holy Cross Mission, Alaska

Robaut, Aloysius, SJ. Mimeographed prayers in the Inuit language.

€ 2.300,00

Ephemeral missionary print containing Catholic prayers in the language of the Deg Hit’an (Ingalik) people. Based on an earlier compilation by the Jesuit missionary Father Aloysius Robaut (1844-1930), this 1928 version was produced with the assistance of Ivan and Mrs. Demientieff of Holy Cross, and corrected by George Peters (Tununa) and Joseph Afcan of Akulurak before mimeographing.

The first page provides notes on grammatical refinements, followed by English versions of the Prayers of Holy Communion and Thanksgiving, then three leaves of Deg Hit’an translations, likely including the Hail Mary, Gloria, Credo, Act of Hope, and Act of Love.

The sheets document both the Jesuit effort to sustain liturgy in Athabaskan languages and the active collaboration of Indigenous speakers at Holy Cross Mission, the first Catholic mission among the Athabaskans of Alaska.