JULIUS NYERERE, POLITICIAN

JULIUS NYERERE, POLITICIAN - 14 OCTOBER

SERVANT OF GOD JULIUS KAMBARAGE NYERERE

Servant of God Julius Kambarage Nyerere

The Diocese of Musoma, Tanzania, has opened a cause for the beatification of the country's former president, Julius Nyerere (April 13, 1922 - October 14, 1999). A spokesman for the diocese says that the local investigation into Nyerere's life has authorization from the Vatican.

Nyerere, a devout Catholic who attended Mass daily throughout his public life and was known for fasting frequently, was a respected African leader for three decades. Already an influential figure in the British colony then known as Tanganyika, he became the country's first prime minister after independence in 1961, and was elected president the following year. He remained in that office until his retirement in 1985, and continued to chair the country's ruling party until withdrawing from political life in 1990. Nyerere died in London in 1999.

Although admired for his idealism and personal integrity, Nyerere left a mixed political legacy. He presided over a one-party state, with severe restraints on political opposition and persistent complaints of corruption among his subordinates. Having studied economics in the Fabian tradition at the University of Edinburgh, he adapted the socialist program to his own African country in a policy known as ujama, emphasizing collective farming. Later in life he acknowledged that his economic policies had been disastrous, and Tanzania remains a severely impoverished country.

Nyerere was a leader of pan-African initiatives. He was prominent among the leaders of the "front-line" African states that supported the drive for black majority rule in Namibia and South Africa, and provided a base for guerrillas seeking to overthrow the government in Mozambique. In 1979, he sent Tanzanian troops into Uganda to overthrow the regime of the despotic Idi Amin.

With his wife Maria Gabriel, Nyerere had seven children. When Nyerere was president, he insisted that his children go to state school and receive no special privileges.

Nyerere published widely. He wrote poetry, and translated William Shakespeare's plays Julius Caesar and The Merchant of Venice into Swahili, publishing these in 1961 and 1972 respectively

Nyerereʼs cause was initiated in 2005 after the late Bishop Justin Samba of the Diocese of Musoma, together with the Tanzania Episcopal Conference (TEC), petitioned the Holy See to open the canonisation process.

Pope Benedict XVI declared the former president a servant of God on May 13, 2005.

The beatification Cause was transferred from the Diocese of Musoma to the Archdiocese of Dar es Salaam. It has reached the stage of interrogating witnesses, a Tanzanian Catholic Bishop involved in the process has said, describing the phase as critical in establishing the late leader's reputation for holiness and heroic virtue.

Bishop Henry Mchamungu, the Episcopal Delegate in Nyerere's Cause, said the diocesan inquiry is currently gathering testimony about the late President's life, faith, and virtues.

"We are in the process of interrogating witnesses. This is a very important stage because we have to ask people many questions to obtain sufficient information about the life, virtues, and faith of Mwalimu Nyerere," Bishop Mchamungu said.

Sources: https://www.ewtnnews.com/world/africa/beatification-cause-of-tanzania-s-first-president-now-at-witness-interrogation-stage - https://www.catholicculture.org - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Nyerere - https://www.aciafrica.org/news/23243/beatification-cause-of-tanzanias-first-president-nyerere-now-at-witness-interrogation-stage-catholic-bishop

BL. RICHARD NEWPORT, PRIEST AND MARTYR - 30 MAY

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN MAY Saints celebrated on the 30th of May WELCOME! BLESSED RICHARD NEWPORT, PRIEST AND MARTYR Richard Newport, alias Smith , was born in Northamptonshire and performed his studies abroad, partly in the college of Rheims (if he be the Richard Smith whom I find in the Douay diary sent to Rome in 1586) and partly in that of Rome, where he was made priest. From thence he was sent upon the English mission, and behaved himself in such a manner as justly to acquire the character of a laborious missionary; being withal remarkably successful in bringing home many strayed sheep to the fold of Christ, to which his apostolical way of living did not a little contribute. He was several times apprehended and cast into prison, and twice banished. His name occurs amongst those who were transported in 1606; at which time, we are told, he took that opportunity of making a pilgrimage to Rome, there to pour forth his prayers at the tombs of the apostles, in behalf of thi...

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