NDANDA, NULLIUS ABBEY. — On the southern coast of the territory of Tanganyika. It is immediately subject to the Holy See and entrusted to the Benedictine Congregation of S. Ottilia. It comprises the districts of Lindi, Mikindani, Ruponda, Newala, Masasi, and Tunduru.
It was erected on 22 December 1931, when
the nullius abbey of Lindi (today that 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 coming from Dares-Salaam. The mission station of N., on the river of the same name, seventy miles from the coast, dates from 1906 and, given its position near the Lukuledi valley, has also become the centre for the others.
The nullius abbey of N. has an area of approximately 52,000 sq km and approximately 450,000 inhabitants, of whom 28,599 are indigenous Catholics, 125 foreign Catholics, and 2 of mixed descent; 3,095 catechumens; 10 Eastern dissidents; approximately 300,000 Protestants; approximately 300,000 Muslims; and 90,000 pagans. There are one indigenous priest and 34 foreign priests, 35 lay brothers, 11 seminarians educated at the abbey of Peramiho, a preparatory seminary, 3 indigenous sisters, 30 foreign sisters, 278 catechists, 138 male teachers and 9 female teachers, 2 female physicians (Benedictine sisters of Tutzing), and 14 qualified nurses. There are 18 principal stations, 12 secondary stations, 10 churches, 11 chapels, 9 hospitals, 11 dispensaries, 3 leprosariums, and 12 orphanages. There are 37 elementary schools, 1 middle school, and 1 secondary school, 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 achieved by the flourishing abbey is due in large part to the organizing spirit of the first nullius abbot of N., Msgr. Gioacchino Ammann, who resigned in 1949 for reasons of health. In 1950, there were 542 Baptisms of adults. The missionary apostolate has recently encountered new difficulties because of the shortage of personnel and the new demands imposed by the government through the programme of the so-called Groundnut Scheme, and also because of the continuous immigration, which makes the spiritual assistance of many families more difficult. Moreover, especially in the Mahonda region, a fierce struggle waged by Muslims against Catholicism continues.