Basilica of St. Joseph (Elmina)
The Basilica of St. Joseph is a Roman Catholic church in Elmina , a coastal town in the Central Region in Ghana . The church of the Archdiocese of Cape Coast was consecrated to Joseph of Nazareth and has the title of minor basilica .
history
After long Dutch colonial rule over Elmani, which prevented Catholic care for the formerly Portuguese area, the colony was handed over to the British in 1872. After the defeat of the independence struggles of the Ashanti Empire , the place was rebuilt further north, losing its previous importance. After preparatory work in the 1870s and the creation of the Apostolic Prefecture Gold Coast in 1879, a branch was founded in Elmina in 1880 by the Society of Africa Missions with Fathers August Moreau and Eugene Murat just a few hundred meters north of Fort São Jorge da Mina . The first baptism was celebrated in the same year. As the mission grew, a school was opened in 1883 by the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Apostles .
At the end of 1890, today's basilica was built as the first Catholic church in Ghana. The square church tower above the entrance was built with three floors. In 2007 the church received from Pope Benedict XVI. awarded the rank of minor basilica .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ profile of the archbishopric (Engl.)
- ↑ History of the Archdiocese of Cape Coast (Eng.)
- ↑ St Joseph's Minor Basilica on iubilaeummisericordiae.va (Engl.)
- ↑ St. Joseph Basilica on gcatholic.org
Coordinates: 5 ° 5 ′ 13.5 " N , 1 ° 21 ′ 12.3" W.