Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Blantyre

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 9,166 square miles (23,740 km2). Out of a total population of 4,600,000, there are 1,133,850 Catholics. There are 78 priests and 287 religious.

As of Wednesday, July 3, 2013, the archdiocese is a vacant see (sede vacante). The metropolitan archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Blantyre (he had served since January 23, 2001), Archbishop Tarcisius Gervazio Ziyaye, age 60, was appointed by Pope Francis to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of the Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Lilongwe, which had previously, as a diocese, been a part of the Archdiocese of Blantyre's ecclesiastical province. Archbishop Ziyaye had once been Bishop of Lilongwe when it was a diocese.[1]

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

See also
  • List of Roman Catholic dioceses in Malawi

Sources
  1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-07-10. Retrieved 2013-07-03.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

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