Sebastian Englert

Father Sebastian Englert OFM Cap., (November 17, 1888 – January 8, 1969) was a Capuchin Franciscan friar, Roman Catholic priest, missionary, linguist and ethnologist from Germany.

Born Anton Franz Englert in Dillingen, Bavaria,[1] Father Sebastian spent his school days in Eichstätt and Burghausen.

[1] Father Sebastian served in the Apostolic Vicariate of the Araucanía in Villarrica and Pucón,[1] which at the time was administered almost entirely by Capuchins.

Given the isolation of Rapa Nui during the period before air travel, Father Sebastian researched the language, ethnology and anthropology of Easter Island.

[1] The ship carried another letter from Bishop Edwards, appointing Father Sebastian as priest of Easter Island by attaching it to the "Apostolic Vicariate of Araucania".

In historian Steven Roger Fischer's view, this may have contributed to the failure of the islanders to "internalize Catholicism fully during those crucial development years.

[2] His remains were returned to Rapa Nui and interred in the cemetery in the Tahai district, but were later transferred to the site of Holy Cross Church in Hanga Roa.

Father Sebastian and William Mulloy at the steps of the church in Hanga Roa after Mass. Father Sebastian is wearing the white habit of Capuchin Franciscan missionaries.