Rutabo is the location of a Catholic mission in German East Africa, to the south of Bukoba in what is now Tanzania.

Rutabo
Mission
Rutabo is located in Tanzania
Rutabo
Rutabo
Coordinates: 1°34′00″S 31°37′00″E / 1.56667°S 31.61667°E / -1.56667; 31.61667
CountryTanzania
RegionKagera

In 1928 the Vicar Apostolic of South Nyanza, Joseph Sweens, was saying his breviary in the church at Rutabo when it collapsed in him. He dived under a prie-dieu, and was unhurt.[1] Rutabo Diocese was founded in 1952 under Bishop Laurean Rugambwa, and had its preparatory seminary at Rutabo.[2] On 31 March 1960 Pope John XXIII made Rugambwa the first Sub-Saharan African Cardinal of the Catholic Church.[3] A 1960 sketch of the cardinal described his cathedral church of Rutaba as a makeshift structure with a roof of corrugated iron, but his diocese contained 61,000 members of his faith.[4] In 1960 the Bunena preparatory seminary was transferred to Rutabo.[5]

References edit

Sources
  • "A Prince of the Church at Prayer". Life Magazine: 49. 18 April 1960. Retrieved 2013-03-30.
  • Crowley, Walt; Crowley, William (2010-08-24). Rites of Passage. University of Washington Press. ISBN 978-0-295-97493-4. Retrieved 2013-03-30.
  • Rubya Seminary Through Hundred Years: 1904-2004. 2004. Retrieved 2013-03-30.
  • Shorter, Aylward (2011-12-01). Les Pères Blancs au temps de la conquête coloniale: Histoire des Missionnaires d'Afrique (1892-1914). KARTHALA Editions. ISBN 978-2-8111-0575-4. Retrieved 2013-03-30.