A Biography of Rachel Saint

Rachel Saint was an evangelical Christian missionary from the United States who worked in Ecuador.

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Rachel Saint was born in Wyncote, Pennsylvania. She attended the Philadelphia School of the Bible (now Cairn University) and then worked at the Keswick Colony of Mercy in New Jersey.

Early Life

Rachel Saint was sent out by the Wycliffe Bible Translators, trained by Summer Institute of Linguistics (now SIL International). Her first missionary assignment was to the Piro and Shapra in Peru, but she had an interest in the Huaorani in Ecuador.

In February 1955, she and Catherine Peeke went to a missionary station near Huorani territory, where Rachel Saint's brother was working. Rachel Saint started learning the Huaorani language with the help of Dayuma, a Huaorani woman who had left her people after a dispute and was sheltered by missionaries.

Life in Ecuador

In January 1956, five missionaries in the area were killed by Huaorani people, including her brother Nate Saint, who had come to Ecuador in 1948. As a result, Rachel Saint considered herself spiritually bonded to the tribe. In 1957, she embarked on a tour of the United States together with Dayuma, appearing with Billy Graham at Madison Square Garden and on Ralph Edwards' television show This Is Your Life.

In the summer of 1958, Rachel Saint returned to the Huaorani in Ecuador and, together with Elisabeth Elliot, the wife of James (Jim) Elliot, who had been killed by the Huaorani, continued to evangelize.

In February 1959, they were able to move into a Huaorani settlement. Where the five American men had failed to gain entrance into the Huaorani society, these two unarmed women (as well as Elliot's little daughter) were not perceived as a threat. Rachel continued in her labor to create a dictionary of the Huaorani language that she had begun before the death of the five missionaries.

Criticism

When criticism of Rachel Saint's actions at the missionary reservation emerged, in 1973, SIL sent the anthropologist James Yost to investigate. Yost had worked for more than ten years amongst the Huaorani. His report was highly critical of Saint's work and, in 1976, SIL ordered her to retire.

Rachel Saint decided to leave the SIL, but to continue her work with the Huaorani. Rachel Saint went back to the USA, raised funds and returned to Ecuador to work with the Huaorani.

How Rachel Saint Died

Rachel Saint died in Quito from cancer on November 11, 1994. She was buried in Toñampare, Ecuador, where she had lived with the Huaorani.

Rachel Saint's Family

Parents:

Lawrence Saint

Katherine Saint

Siblings:

Nate Saint

Sam Saint

Phil Saint

Dan Saint

Dave Saint

Steve Saint

Ben Saint

Recommended Resources on Rachel Saint

1. Rachel Saint: A Star in the Jungle by Janet and George Benge (1998 - Christian Heroes: Then & Now)
2. End of the Spear
3. Through Gates of Splendor

Rachel Saint Movies

1. End of the Spear
2. Through Gates of Splendor
3. Trinkets and Beads (Documentary)

Rachel Saint Books

1. Rachel Saint: A Star in the Jungle by Janet and George Benge (1998 - Christian Heroes: Then & Now)
2. Gentle Savage Still Seeking the End of the Spear by Menkaye Aenkaedi

Rachel Saint Quotes

1. “I loved the Lord Jesus with all my heart, and I trusted Him completely… And I guess I just learned to persevere in whatever He gave me to do.”

Fun Facts About Rachel Saint

1. Although Rachel worked alongside Elisabeth Elliot, the two had a hard time getting along with one another.
2. Rachel and her friend Duyuma appeared on “This is Your Life” with Ralph Edwards and at Billy Graham’s Crusade at Madison Square Garden.
3. Rachel spent nearly 40 years with the Huaorani in Toñampare, Ecuador.

Sources

1. Kane, Joe (1996). Savages. New York: Vintage Books (A Division of Random House). pp. 85–89. ISBN 0-679-74019-8.
2. TVE.

3. Anderson, Gerald H. (1998). Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions. Grand Rapids / Cambridge: Wm. B. Eerdmans. ISBN 0-8028-4680-7.
4. Cabodevilla, Miguel Angel (1994). Los Huaorani en la historia de los pueblos del oriente [The Huaoroni in the History of the peoples of the Orient] (in Spanish). Coca: CICAME.
5. Goffin, Alvin M. (1994). The Rise of Protestant Evangelism in Ecuador, 1895–1990. Gainesville: University Press of Florida. ISBN 0-8130-1260-0.
6. Howe, Robert W (2003). Tigres of the night: The true story of Juan and Amalia Arcos, naturalists and lay missionaries in the jungle of eastern Ecuador, 1922–2003. Xlibris. ISBN 1-4134-1503-2.
7. Kimerling, Judith (1991). Amazon crude. Natural Resource Defense. ISBN 0-9609358-5-1.
8. Kingsland, Rosemary (1980). A Saint among Savages. Collins. ISBN 0-00-216740-9.
9. Rowell, Andrew (1996). Green Backlash: Global Subversion of the Environment Movement. London / New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-12827-7.
10. Stoll, David. Fishers of men or founders of empire? The Wycliffe Bible Translators in Latin America. ISBN 1-57181-448-5.
11. Stowell, Joseph M. (1998). Following Christ. Grand Rapids: Zondervan. ISBN 0-310-21934-5.
12. Tucker, Ruth A. (2004). From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya: A Biographical History of Christian Missions. Grand Rapids: Zondervan. ISBN 0-310-23937-0.
13. United States Congress, House Committee on International Relations, Subcommittee on International Operations (1977). Protection of Americans Abroad: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on International Operations. Washington: US Government Printing Office. ISBN 1-57181-448-5.
14. Wallis, Ethel E. (1960). The Dayuma story: Life under Auca spears. New York: Harper.
15. Yost, James A (1981). "Twenty years of contact: the mechanisms of change in Huao ("Auca") culture". In Whitten, Jr, Norman E. Cultural transformations and ethnicity in modern Ecuador. Champaigne-Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

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