Ndanda, Abbey Nullius of

NDANDA, ABBEY NULLIUS OF. - On the southern coast of the territory of Tanganyika. It is immediately subject to the Holy See and entrusted to the Benedictine Congregation of St. Ottilien. It comprises the districts of Lindi, Mikindani, Ruponda, Newala, Masasi and Tunduru.

It was erected on 22 Dec. 1931, when the abbey nullius of Lindi (today of Peramiho [v.]) was divided. At the time of the division, there were already seven mission stations in the territory of N., the oldest of which (Pilipili Hill, at Lindi), was founded in 1894 by Benedictines from Dar es Salaam. The mission station of N., on the river of the same name seventy miles from the coast, dates back to 1906 and, given its position near the Lukuledi valley, has become the center of the others as well.

The abbey nullius of N. has an area of about 52,000 sq km and about 450,000 inhabitants, of whom 28,599 are indigenous Catholics, 125 foreign Catholics and 2 of mixed race, 3,095 catechumens, 10 Oriental dissidents, about 300,000 Protestants, about 300,000 Muslims and 90,000 pagans. There are one indigenous priest and 34 foreign priests, 35 lay brothers, 11 seminarians educated in the abbey of Peramiho, a preparatory seminary, 3 indigenous sisters, 30 foreign sisters, 278 catechists, 138 male teachers and 9 female teachers, 2 women doctors (Benedictine sisters of Tutzing) and 14 graduate nurses. Principal stations 18, secondary 12, churches 10, chapels 11, hospitals 9, dispensaries 11, leprosaria 3, nurseries 12. Elementary schools 37, middle 1, secondary 1, approved by the government in 1947, for the higher education of the youth of the entire southern province of Tanganyika. One, founded in 1935 to train female teachers, and a third, a normal school, to train male teachers. There are important workshops. The great development of the flourishing abbey is due in large part to the organizing spirit of the first abbot nullius of N., Msgr. Joachim Ammann, who resigned in 1949 for reasons of health. In 1950 the baptisms of adults were 542. Missionary apostolate has recently encountered new difficulties because of the scarcity of personnel and the new requirements imposed by the government with the program of the so-called Groundnut Scheme and also because of the continuous immigrations that make the spiritual care of many families more difficult. Moreover, especially in the region of Mahonda, a bitter struggle unleashed by Muslims against Catholicism continues.

Carlo Corvo