Beauquis, Aimé

Aimé Beauquis (or Bauquis) was a Savoyard born in Annecy-le-Vieux on December 27, 1851. He completed all of his studies in the minor and major seminaries of his diocese. He was ordained a priest in 1877. Beauquis was successively curate at Cheveney, Abondance, and Tallinges. On July 28, 1884, he entered the Major Seminary of African Missions in Lyon. It was he who printed Father Baudin’s famous Yoruba dictionary on stone. He took his oath in July 1885 and the following October he left for the Apostolic Prefecture of Dahomey (contemporary Benin). In 1886, he was appointed to accompany Father Moran for the foundation of Atakpamé. They are both victims of attacks by witch doctors. They both escaped the first attack, which was an attempt to poison them. But in the second attack, Father Moran died and Father Beauquis had to be transported unconscious in a hammock to Mono. Traveling by canoe, he arrived more dead than alive at the Agoué mission, where he had a long convalescence. He returned to Lyon and went on a diet of only dairy, which put him back on his feet. He finished his convalescence in a house in Nice. On August 10, 1889, he left Marseilles for the Apostolic Vicariate of the Coast of Benin (not far from contemporary Lagos). He first worked in Abeokuta then came to Tocpo where he died of fever on April 17, 1891.

N. Douau S.M.A.

This article, reprinted here with permission, is taken from Hommes et Destins: Dictionnaire biographique d’Outre-Mer, tome 9, published in 1977 by the Académie des Sciences d’Outre-Mer (15, rue la Pérouse, 75116 Paris, France). All rights reserved. Translation by Luke B. Donner, DACB research assistant and doctoral student at Boston University’s Center for Global Christianity and Mission.