How a Catholic priest led the Church’s ‘significant’ contribution to Deaf history

CNA Staff, Jul 30, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Sign language is currently one of the most popular families of languages in the world, with National Geographic estimating more than 300 forms of sign language used by more than 70 million people worldwide.

Yet most people, and even most users of sign language, may be unaware of the notable role that Catholics played in the earliest years of modern sign language, including the founding of the world’s first free school for deaf people.

That school, the National Institute for Deaf Youth of Paris, was founded in 1760 by Father Charles-Michel de l’Épée. The institute says on its website that the priest was inspired to develop a system of sign language after meeting two deaf twins. He would go on to launch a small school on the rue des Moulins in Paris that would in time become the national institution. 

Jordan Eickman, a professor of Deaf studies at California State University, Northridge, told CNA the Catholic contribution to Deaf history and Deaf education is “significant.”

“Catholic priests and nuns founded or ran several of the earliest schools and later on, others founded around the world,” he said. “Some taught using sign language, others taught using the oral method.”

With a life of “relative ease” due to a generous inheritance, l’Épée did not seek compensation for his efforts. He organized “public exercises” for his students, generating a considerable amount of interest in Deaf education. 

Though sign languages had existed in various forms for centuries, l’Épée’s contribution to Deaf history is notable for his development of what he called a “universal language” by “constructing natural signs into a method.”

In the decades after the priest’s death in 1789, the institute expanded, being led by l’Épée’s fellow priest Father Roch-Ambroise Cucurron Sicard. The revolutionary National Assembly would go on to recognize l’Épée as a “benefactor of humanity.” 

Though the Church can boast of a notable history in early Deaf education, Eickman said Catholic leaders can still do more to make the faith accessible to those who are deaf.

The Church “can increase its accessibility to Deaf people worldwide by providing direct access through local sign languages,” he said. 

This will “prevent language deprivation within Deaf education and provide Deaf people access to religious knowledge and ministry.”

At the parish level this is “best done through a Deaf priest fluent in the local signed language,” the professor said. 

“Protestant denominations have a far higher number of Deaf priests and lay leaders compared to the Catholic Church and any other religion,” he noted. “Increasing the number of Deaf priests is one way to provide accessibility and more effective ministry.”

Some leaders have already taken steps to shore up gaps in that ministry. In Maryland earlier this year, for instance, hundreds of Deaf Catholics gathered for the first-ever Eucharistic Congress for the Catholic Deaf community. The event was organized by Father Mike Depcik, one of just a few Deaf priests in the world. 

In Washington, D.C., meanwhile, the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception has begun offering specialized guided tours for deaf and blind visitors, giving immersive and sensory experiences to make the sacred site more accessible.

Writing in 1776 and reflecting on the apparent rise in deaf children throughout France, l’Épée said that number appeared to be growing “because until [the present day], children who were born deprived of the faculties of hearing and speaking were kept away from the world, because their intrusion had always been very difficult and somewhat impossible.”

Though being deaf was for centuries considered “only a dreadful situation” and a “misfortune without remedy,” l’Épée attributed such beliefs to “prejudice.” 

“This is not a question of [folly],” the priest wrote; rather, “it is a matter of doing everything we can to make ourselves useful to [those who are deaf] of today and tomorrow.”

Source: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/265595/how-a-catholic-priest-led-the-church-s-significant-contribution-to-deaf-history