RUWENZORI, VICARIATO APOSTOLICO di — The flowery plain of Buamba.
A magnificent rose window radiates like lace, with its fine central triforium and terminates in three lower portals. Here too nothing is complete: the superarches and engaged columns without any structural function are the remains of a portico never built. In its place, the artists constructed an elegant prothyrum with stylophoric lions, griffins, and telamons, which admirably complete the rich decoration of the main portal, where, amid ornamentation, symbols of the Apocalypse and New Testament themes form a singularly fantastic repertoire. Inside, forms live in absurd contrasts, from the most diverse capitals to the pointed arches and uneven bases. Everything is unfinished: the long pilasters between the great arches filled by an unbuilt matroneum, the walkway supported by large ornate brackets, the crossing interrupted at the springing of the arches that would have supported a dome. The cathedral of R. began Romanesque and ended up incorporating Gothic elements; it was conceived in the spirit of indigenous craftsmen and permeated by Northern and Eastern influences. It is not known when it was begun, but a date is inscribed in a trilobed section of the rose window: 1237. Whoever said that a Swabian completed it was right: it was Frederick II of Swabia.
The bell tower beside it, originally a defensive and observation tower, later transformed into a prison and finally into a bell tower, may be anterior to the year 1000. Of the other churches, only the memory of S. Angelo survives in the 18th-century reconstructions of its original basilican form. Some arches remain in the Romanesque church of S. Luca; a few vestiges in the 13th-century S. Lucia; and only surviving walls in the small church of the Capuchins. The crypt of the church of the Purgatorio is nothing more than a remnant of a Roman bathhouse.
RUWENZORI (RWENZORI), VICARIATO APOSTOLICO di. — It is situated in the western part of the Uganda Protectorate, encompassing the entire western province. It was erected on 28 May 1934, with territory detached from the Apostolic Vicariate of Uganda; it is entrusted to the White Fathers, who had already founded a first mission station there in 1895, namely Toro, otherwise known as Virika.
It takes its name from one of the highest mountains in Africa, namely the one once called “Mountains of the Moon,” today “Ruwenzori” (5,200 m), which lies within the boundaries of the vicariate. It comprises four regions (Bunyoro, Toro, Ankole, and Kigezi), with an area of 18,190 sq km and a population of over 1,160,000. The territory, in the part toward the Victoria Nile and Lake Albert, is a plateau (about 1,000 m above sea level), while in the southern part (Kigezi) it is mountainous. Although there are malarial zones, the climate is generally healthy and the place is pleasant. Originally the region was inhabited by Pygmies (Batwa), of whom descendants are still found in the territory of Kigezi. Pygmoid are the Bamba in the northwest, the Bakonjo in the southeast, and the Bahunde to the west. The present majority of inhabitants are Bantu, perhaps having come from the south and known as “Bairu”: they are farmers. Catholics number 212,641 and catechumens 51,460; Protestants about 114,000, Muslims about 14,500. The vicariate has 19 principal mission stations, 15 native priests, 63 foreign priests, a novitiate with 36 novices, 11 foreign lay brothers, 90 foreign sisters, 1,200 catechists, and 212 schools. Catholic Action flourishes with 2,363 members and two periodicals, which have a combined circulation of 1,000 copies. The numerous adult baptisms (4,423 in 1951) and the multitude of catechumens show that the vicariate is in full development. Especially in the southwestern part (Kigezi), a great impetus of the populations toward the Gospel is noted. This is due mainly to the fact that there are no large centers, which are generally unfavorable ground for Christian morality, and that the “Bakiga” settled in that region are a tribe of simple and honest people, with few pagan traditions, and possess an energetic character. Several indigenous chiefs are Catholics and convinced practitioners. Edifying cases of apostolate exercised by them toward other dependent chiefs are noted.