Jean-Etienne Sémeria OMI (7 February 1813 – 23 January 1868) was an Italian Catholic missionary and bishop who served as Vicar Apostolic of Jaffna, Ceylon, and founded there the mission of the Oblates in the 1850s.

[1][2] In 1847, Sémeria was sent to Jaffna, Ceylon at the request of Orazio Bettachini, coadjutor of the Apostolic Vicar of Colombo.

He arrived at the end of the year with three missionaries and served as priest and secretary to the Bishop of Jaffna.

On a visit to Europe, he returned with the first women Catholic missionaries to serve in Ceylon, six sisters of the Holy Family of France.

[1][2][3][5][6] In 1868, while attending the General Chapter in France, Sémeria was taken ill and died on 23 January 1868, and was buried in Aix-en-Provence.