Missionaries of Africa (White Fathers)

MISSIONARIES OF AFRICA (WHITE FATHERS). - The Society, founded by Cardinal Lavigerie in 1868, is composed of priests and coadjutor brothers, who are not religious, because they are bound only by an oath. Their special purpose is the apostolate among Africans; they are known by the name of "White Fathers" because they wear a garment similar to that of the Arabs, that is, a robe, called gandurah, and a cloak, called burnus, of white color, with a head covering of red wool, called scescià; indeed, their apostolate was first directed to the Arabs.

Humble were the beginnings: on Jan. 20, 1890, three seminarians, after hearing a conference by the rector of the Seminary of Kuba (Algiers) on the Arab mission, then presented themselves to the archbishop of Algiers and offered themselves for that mission. Msgr. Lavigerie saw in that offer a response from heaven to his plans for an apostolate toward the center of Africa. The first novitiate opened under the direction of Fr. Vincent. On Feb. 2, 1869, four were the first to be clothed in the habit of the White Fathers. Subsequently the novitiate was established at Maison-Carrée, where the Seminary was also later organized and where the Mother House of the Society had its seat. Although the immediate purpose was the conversion of the Arabs, already from that time all the regions of Africa where there was hope of converting the infidels were indicated as the field of apostolate. In 1872 new Rules were published, and on Oct. 1 seven priests and five scholastics pronounced the oath. In 1875 the Jesuits left the direction of the Novitiate, which was entrusted to a White Father. At the Chapter of 1886 the first division into provinces took place; on May 15, 1895, the Society was approved and its Rules received approval ad decennium. Pius X, by decree of Feb. 15, 1908, gave definitive approval to the Constitutions. By rescript of March 15, 1910, the Society depends on the S. Congregation

(courtesy of the Missionaries of the Sacred Hearts)
MISSIONARIES OF THE SACRED HEARTS OF JESUS
AND MARY (Majorca) - Fr. G. Rossello, founder of the Congregation.

2118 priests; 475 coadjutor brothers, divided into nine provinces: that is, besides the circumscription of the Mother House, those of France, Germany, Belgium, Holland, England, Italy, Switzerland, Canada and the United States of America.

The development of the Society and of its works was very rapid. At the beginning the missionaries took care of the orphans gathered by the founder during the great famine of 1867-1869. In 1873 missions were founded in Kabylia (Algeria); in 1876 three White Fathers, sent by Msgr. Lavigerie to Timbuktu, were massacred in the desert. In 1881, another three missionaries, having set out from Tripoli, were killed in the region of Ghadames, in Libya. In 1878 Msgr. Lavigerie accepted the foundation of St. Anne of Jerusalem, where the White Fathers attend to the formation of the Greek-Melchite clergy. In the same year the missions of the Great Equatorial Lakes were founded, at Nyanza and at Tanganyika. In Uganda, in the early years there were struggle and persecution and, in 1886, several Christians were martyred there.

In 1950, the missions entrusted to the White Fathers are divided into three fields: 1) North Africa, with the missions of Kabylia and the Sahara; 2) West Africa; with the missions of Bamako, Bobo Diulasso, Gao, Kayes, Nuna, Nzérékoré, Uagadugu, Ushiguya, Sikasso, Tamale and Oyo. 3) Equatorial and Eastern Africa, with the missions of Uganda, Rwenzori, Masaka, Bukoba, Musoma, Maswa, Mwanza, Tabora, Kigoma, Karema, Mbeya, Bangweolo, Lwangwa, Nyassa, Nyassa Nord, Fort Jameson, Baudouinville, Kivu, Lake Albert, Ruanda, Kitega and Ngozi in Urundi, and the mission in Mozambique.

Important is the organization of the native clergy with 368 priests and seven regional seminaries with 465 seminarians. Several residences have been entrusted to the native clergy. The vicariate of Masaka, in Uganda, of which Msgr. Giuseppe Kiwanuka, a native Ugandan, is apostolic vicar, counts 58 native priests.

Giovanni Cottino