Andre Jarousseau. Another important biography by Mickael Bethe-Selassié describes in detail the historic contributions of Catholic Ethiopians during the first half of the 20th century. Many, including Mersha Nahusenay and the author's uncle Berhane-Marqos Welde-Tsadiq, played a role in the modernization efforts of Emperors Menelik and Haile Selassié. The biographer argues that these Catholics form a distinct sub-group within the larger community of educated men also known as La Jeune Ethiopie. However, the historic ties between Catholic and Orthodox Christian intellectuals have also been stressed by Mickael as well other scholars. The Ethiopian Roman Catholic community, the first of whose members were converted in the late 19th century by Italian or French missionaries, such as Guglielmo Massaia and André Jarosseau, included Zäwgä Haylu, who attended the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1900, and Märsha Nahu Sänay, who represented Menelik at the ceremony marking the completion of the Jibuti railway as far as the Ethiopian frontier in 1902. The community thus came into existence at the very same time as the emergence of the Young Ethiopians as a whole. The Catholic community was moreover influenced by the same factors - missionary education, travel to France or Italy, employment by foreigners, service on the railway, etc. -which gave birth, as we have seen, more generally to Young Ethiopianism. Death and legacy Mersha retired in the mid-1920s, but he maintained contact with friends such as the missionary A. Jarousseau, according to historian Bahru Zewde. His retirement comes after a long public service with important contributions in four key areas: border and railway security, public administration, economic development and diplomacy. He soon fell ill and was confined to bed for almost a decade. Mersha died in the early years of Italian occupation and was laid to rest in the city of Harar. He was about eighty five years of age. Mersha nurtured a large family. He and his wife Tedeneqyalesh were blessed with eleven children: Beyene, Negest, Zewditu, Alemu, Worqe, Desta, Yosef, Marqos, Negatu, Zegeye, and Medemdemya. He encouraged his children to attend school and appreciate foreign languages. Beyene Mersha, his eldest child, spoke French fluently. Even his daughter (probably Zewditu) knew French. She read a welcome speech to Colonel Jean-Baptiste Marchand (1863–1934), the French officer and explorer who traveled through Harar in 1899, according to the missionary Martial de Salviac. Mersha loved take his family to important public events. Martial describes how Mersha, a