Kipalapala

Kipalapala is a community in Tanzania close to Tabora. It became the location of a White Fathers mission around 1891, and now contains various Catholic institutions including a senior seminary and a priory.

Kipalapala
Kipalapala Location of St. Paul's Senior Seminary, Kipalapala
Coordinates: 5.094006°S 32.798792°E / -5.094006; 32.798792
Country	Tanzania
Region	Tabora Region
District	Tabora Urban District
Ward	Itetemia Ward
Climate	Aw

Mission

R.P. Ganachan of the White Fathers penetrated the region of Unyanyembe in 1879, and tried unsuccessfully to settle at Tabora.[1] In 1891 R.P. Guillet managed to open an orphanage at Tabora, which was soon moved to Kipalapala an hour's walk away.[1] Jean-Baptiste-Frézal Charbonnier was ordained bishop by Bishop Léon Livinhac on 24 August 1887 at Kipalapala. He was the first bishop to be ordained in equatorial Africa.[2]

History

The official name of Kipalapala Senior Seminary is St. Paul's Senior Seminary - Kipalapala. The seminary was founded by the society of the Missionaries of Africa, popularly known as 'The White Fathers' in 1923. Initially it was located at a small place called Utinta near Lake Tanganyika. Two years later the seminary was shifted to Kipalapala, Tabora, a place which was central and accessible for students who came for priestly formation not only from Tanzania (Tanganyika by then) but also from neighboring countries such as Kenya, Malawi and Zambia. Thus St. Paul's Senior Seminary at Kipalapala existed since 1925. The course in Theology takes four academic years.

Since mid 1960s the seminary became one of the three inter-diocesan regional seminaries in Tanzania assigned to train seminarians in Theology. The other two seminaries for theology are Peramiho Senior Seminary in Southern Tanzania and St. Carol Lwanga Senior Seminary - Segerea in Dar es Salaam.

Seminary

St. Paul's Senior Seminary is located in Kipalapala.[3] In the years that followed World War I the White Fathers decided that a regional seminary should be founded at Kipalapala to serve the apostolic vicariates of Tabora, Nyassa, Bangwelo and Tanganyika. When the seminary at Rubya was closed in 1929 the seminarians from the Apostolic Vicariate of Mwanza joined the seminary at Kipalapala.[4] The seminaries were threatened by British educational regulations, and to meet them it was decided in 1928 to meet the demands of the colonial administration and conduct classes in English. Bishop Mathurin Guillemé, vicar apostolic of Nyassa, was one of the driving forces in establishing the regional seminary at Kipalapala.[5]

Other

St Bernard's Priory, Kipalapala, Archdiocese of Tabora was founded on 1 January 1984 and raised to Simple Priory on 20 August 1992.[6]

References

Citations

1. Macerlean 1913.
2. Minnaert 2007.
3. St. Paul's Senior Seminary.
4. Gahungu 2008, p. 149.
5. Gahungu 2008, p. 150.
6. Inkamana 2005.

Sources

• Gahungu, Méthode (February 2008). "Grand Séminaire de Kipalapala". Former les prêtres en Afrique: Le rôle des Pères Blancs (1879-1936). Editions L'Harmattan. ISBN 978-2-296-18604-0. Retrieved 2013-04-23.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Inkamana (21 January 2005). "St. Bernard's Priory, Kipalapala, Tanzania". Retrieved 2013-04-23.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Macerlean, A.A. (1913). "Unyanyembe". Catholic Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2013-04-17.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Minnaert, Stefaan (20 March 2007). "ARCHBISHOP LIVINHAC (1846-1922)". Translated by Donald MacLeod. Society of the Missionaries of Africa. Archived from the original on 23 July 2012. Retrieved 2013-04-10.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• "St. Paul's Senior Seminary Kipalapala". Pontificia Università Urbaniana. Archived from the original on 2010-08-05. Retrieved 2013-04-23.