Sacred Heart Abbey Inkamana

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The Sacred Heart Abbey Inkamana is a missionary Benedictine abbey of the Benedictine Congregation of St. Ottilien in Vryheid in South Africa . The monastery was founded on August 3, 1922 as a mission station by Bishop Thomas Spreiter OSB.

John Paul Mwaniki OSB has been the abbot of the monastery since February 2018 .

history

On September 1, 1921, the Vatican entrusted the Missionary Benedictines of the Benedictine Congregation of St. Ottilien with a new area of activity in Zululand in South Africa. Missionary work began in Inkamana, a farm in the south of the city of Vryheid .

On August 3, 1922, Holy Mass was celebrated for the first time on this farm, so that this day is considered the founding date of today's Inkamana Abbey. The Catholic Church in Zululand was built from Inkamana . The mission of the Benedictines was not limited to spreading the Catholic faith by building churches, as well as founding and supporting Christian communities, but also enriched society in economic terms by building and maintaining hospitals and schools, especially primary schools in rural areas. The monks worked closely with the Mission Benedictines of Tutzing and the Mallersdorfer Franciscan Sisters .

In 1951, the mission area became the independent diocese of Eshowe , which has been occupied by local bishops since 1975. Inkamana gradually developed from a mission station to a monastic center and became a simple priory in 1962 . Six years later it was elevated to a conventual priory and in 1982 to an abbey . First abbot was Father Gernot Wottawah OSB (1982–2002).

Over the years, an extensive monastery complex and a large monastery business with a wide range of tasks were created: farm and garden, workshops, elementary school and high school with boarding school for boys and girls. The pastoral work in the area was also done from Inkamana. The center of Inkamana is the large abbey church , which was built by the friars in the early 1950s and extensively renovated from 1995 to 1997. It is reminiscent of the monastery church in Münsterschwarzach in Lower Franconia and was planned by Brother Candidus Mayer from the local convent.

Pastoral care in the Diocese of Eshowe is still a major Inkamana apostolate . In addition, work in education and school is of particular importance.

On February 10, 2018, the monks of Inkamana / South Africa elected the successor to Abbot Gottfried Sieber (2003-2015), who had headed the abbey for 12 years. Father John Paul Mwaniki (47), who comes from Kenya, was elected. He had already headed the abbey as prior administrator from 2015. His benediction took place on April 21, 2018.

Dependent houses of the Sacred Heart Abbey of Inkamana

In 2010, the abbey owned 2 dependent houses that operate for themselves, but are represented and supervised by the abbey under canon law.

Surname place Patronage Convent (monks) 2010 founded country continent
Waldfrieden Benedictine Monastery Omaruru St. Boniface 1998 Flag of Namibia.svg Namibia Africa
Study House Cedara Howick Flag of South Africa.svg South Africa Africa

Abbots

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b "Inkamana Abbey" ( Memento of the original dated February 2, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed on March 3, 2010 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.inkamana.org
  2. ↑ Mahr, Johannes: Münsterschwarzach. 1200 years of a Franconian abbey . P. 74.
  3. ^ "Generation change" , accessed on April 8, 2018

Web links

Coordinates: 27 ° 49 ′ 6.8 ″  S , 30 ° 48 ′ 53.2 ″  E