Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Blantyre explained

The Archdiocese of Blantyre is the metropolitan see for the ecclesiastical province of Blantyre in Malawi.

The cathedral church of the archdiocese is the Our Lady of Wisdom Cathedral, Blantyre.

The Archdiocese of Blantyre is 9166sqmi. Out of a total population of 4,600,000, there are 1,133,850 Catholics. There are 78 priests and 287 religious.

Currently, Thomas Luke Msusa SMM is the bishop of the diocese.

http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bmsusa.html

History

• 1903.12.03: Established as Apostolic Prefecture of Shiré from Apostolic Vicariate of Nyassa
• 1908.04.14: Promoted as Apostolic Vicariate of Shiré
• 1952.05.15: Renamed as Apostolic Vicariate of Blantyre
• 1959.04.25: Promoted as Metropolitan Archdiocese of Blantyre

Bishops

Ordinaries

• Prefect Apostolic of Shiré
  • Father Auguste Prézeau, S.M.M.:1903.12.03 - 1908.04.18 see below
• Vicars apostolic of Shiré
  • Auguste Prézeau, S.M.M.:see above 1908.04.18 - 1909.12.02
  • Louis-Joseph-Marie Auneau, S.M.M.:1910.05.09 - 1949.12.25
  • John Baptist Hubert Theunissen, S.M.M.:1949.12.25 – 1952.05.15 see below
• Vicar apostolic of Blantyre (Roman rite)
  • John Baptist Hubert Theunissen, S.M.M.:see above 1952.05.15 – 1959.04.25 see below
• Metropolitan archbishops of Blantyre (Roman rite)
  • John Baptist Hubert Theunissen, S.M.M.:see above 1959.04.25 – 1967.10.14
  • James Chiona

1967.11.29 – 2001.01.23

• • Tarcisius Gervazio Ziyaye

2001.01.23 - 2013.07.03; transferred to be Archbishop of Lilongwe due to a resignation

• • Thomas Luke Msusa

2013.11.21 -

Auxiliary Bishops

• James Chiona (1965-1967), appointed Archbishop here
• Montfort Stima (Sitima) (2010-2013), appointed Bishop of Mangochi

Other priest of this diocese who became bishop

• Peter Martin Musikuwa, appointed Bishop of Chikwawa in 2003

Suffragan dioceses

• Diocese of Chikwawa
• Diocese of Mangochi
• Diocese of Zomba

See also

• List of Roman Catholic dioceses in Malawi

Sources

• GCatholic.org

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