Beatification cause for Julius Nyerere
Julius Kambarage Nyerere was a Tanzanian politician who served as the leader of Tanzania, and previously Tanganyika, from 1960 until his retirement in 1985.
Nyerere advanced a policy of Ujamaa, his own brand of African socialism, which emphasized education, self-reliance, equality, and local production.
But his one-party government, dogged by corruption, left Tanzania impoverished and completely dependent on foreign aid.
A convert to Christianity, Nyerere was a daily Communicant, known for his active prayer life and frequent fasting. He died in 1999, revered by his people as the father of their country. The Tanzanian Bishops opened a Cause for his Beatification, with Vatican approval, in 2006.
A new Italian Biography of Julius Nyerere, the first president of Tanzania after Independence, explains why the African Leader is now a Candidate for Beatification, writes Andrea Tornielli of La Stampa.
Born in Tanganyika to Nyerere Burito (1860–1942), Chief of the Zanaki, Nyerere was known by the Swahili honorific Mwalimu or 'teacher', his profession prior to politics. He was also referred to as Baba wa Taifa (Father of the Nation)
Nyerere received his higher education at Makerere University in Kampala and the University of Edinburgh. After he returned to Tanganyika, he worked as a teacher. In 1954, he helped form the Tanganyika African National Union.
In 1985, after more than two decades in power, he relinquished power to his hand-picked successor, Ali Hassan Mwinyi. Nyerere left Tanzania as one of the poorest, least developed, and most foreign aid-dependent countries in the world,[5] although much progress in services such as health and education had nevertheless been achieved.[6] As such, Julius Nyerere is still a controversial figure in Tanzania. He remained the chairman of the Chama Cha Mapinduzi for another five years until 1990. He died of leukaemia in London in 1999.
Beatification inquiry The Diocese of Musuma, Tanzania, has opened a Cause for the Beatification of the country's former president, Julius Nyerere. A Spokesman for the Diocese says that the local investigation into Nyerere's life has authorization from the Vatican.
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 programme 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.
A determined leftist politician and advocate of an African road to Socialism, Julius Nyerere became a Candidate for the Sainthood back in 2006 when his Cause for Beatification was opened. Silvia Cinzia Turrin’s essay “Nyerere, il maestro. Vita e utopie di un padre dell’Africa, cristiano e socialista”(“Nyerere, the Teacher. Life and utopias o fan African priest, a Christian and a socialist” – Italian Missionary publishing house EMI, pp. 138, 11 Euro) who brings this African Catholic political figure back into the foreground at a time marked by anti-politics. Nyerere became a Christian at the age of 21, has translated Shakespeare into Swahili and was President of Tanzania from 1962 to 1985.
The concept of “Ujamaa” (family communitarianism) was central to Nyerere’s project. He translated this into “extended family”, a sort of village comprising between fifty and five hundred inhabitants. Nyerere’s aim was to get the best out of Africa’s social fabric, whilst at the same time rejecting the idea that an African country should depend in some way on another western state now that the colonial era had passed. The “Ujamaa” ideal placed emphasis on “the fraternal spirit that is typical of African societies.”
Nyerere’s Tanzania supported the single party principle but unlike any other African state before it, the country was able to lean on rural agriculture to decolonise itself and gain independence peacefully, in contrast to many other states on the Continent.
This file contains some images, a prayer and an article related to the person of Julius Nyerere, first President of the United Republic of Tanzania.
The Article signed by Rev. Fr. Laurent Magesa, a Tanzanian Catholic Priest and Theologian explains at length the extraordinary stature of the Mwalimu’s personality. It is an article which was first published in the review “Service” (Saint Augustine University of Tanzania) Number 9 (2009). As I got permission of using this Article, I am most happy to be able to share it with you. A translation into French of this text is available on www.pascalbcd.over-blog.com.
Purpose of Presentation
My intention in this presentation is modest. I wish in a very brief way to offer a few points about Servant of God Mwalimu Julius K. Nyerere, former President of Tanzania, as a person. My hope is to start some kind of conversation among us and anyone interested, especially in view of the decision by the Catholic Church of Tanzania of starting the – usually long – process of finally declaring him a saint, technically known also as canonization.
Canonization or Sainthood in the Catholic tradition is the Church’s official recognition that the person so declared is without doubt with God in heaven. Pastorally, it has an even greater significance: it means that the Church puts forward the life of the person in question as an example for all Catholic faithful to follow in this world, during their pilgrimage towards the final vision of God at death, the beatific vision.
If therefore Nyerere is declared as saint, he will be numbered publicly by the Church all over the world whose lives would have been lived in accordance to the will of God. The Church refers to this kind of life as “heroic.”
Nyerere and Steps to Canonization
Many of us are probably aware that Nyerere has passed one of the three major steps on the road towards sainthood. He has already been given the title “Servant of God.”
This means that the Catholic faithful are officially permitted – are in fact encouraged – asking for favours from God through his intercession.
Catholics can now ask Nyerere to pray to God on their behalf for whatever needs they have. The other two steps remaining are for him to be declared “blessed,” also known technically as beatification, and then finally as saint, or canonization.
There are many legal or, in church terminology, canonical requirements in the whole of this process which have to be fulfilled step by step.
Like anyone else’s Nyerere’s Cause will have to go through these steps. One is the reception by anybody of what the Church refers to as an “extraordinary grace.”
This is usually a happening or “miracle” (of some significance) which can only be understood in terms of divine or supernatural intervention, where human agency cannot be imagined, through the prayers of the Servant of God in question, in this case, Nyerere.
Any such grace has to be thoroughly investigated and proven by independent scrutinizers and adjudicators. The Church in Tanzania is asking for reports of such divine interventions and has started the process of compiling dossiers of them for presentation to the relevant authorities in Rome, where Causes for Sainthood are examined and the outcome decided.
But all this is not the central point of this presentation, so I will not pursue it here. My main point is rather to ask and in some sort of way answer the question why the Church has decided to initiated this process concerning Mwalimu Nyerere.
The reasons, as I see them, are of two kinds: they are public as well as not so public ones. The process of declaring Mwalimu Nyerere a saint has been initiated because of the way he conducted his public life as a Politician, Thinker and Writer. This is what quickly comes into focus when the subject of his having lived heroically is mentioned. But it is also because, and for me chiefly on account of, his inner (ethical) convictions and principles which motivated these public actions that the Church has found it necessary to initiate this process.
In my opinion, not too many are aware of this aspect of the process and the intention of the Church to probe it, taking it into as serious consideration as Mwalimu’s public life.
Julius Kambarage Nyerere was a Tanzanian politician who served as the leader of Tanzania, and previously Tanganyika, from 1960 until his retirement in 1985.
Nyerere advanced a policy of Ujamaa, his own brand of African socialism, which emphasized education, self-reliance, equality, and local production.
But his one-party government, dogged by corruption, left Tanzania impoverished and completely dependent on foreign aid.
A convert to Christianity, Nyerere was a daily Communicant, known for his active prayer life and frequent fasting. He died in 1999, revered by his people as the father of their country. The Tanzanian Bishops opened a Cause for his Beatification, with Vatican approval, in 2006.
A new Italian Biography of Julius Nyerere, the first president of Tanzania after Independence, explains why the African Leader is now a Candidate for Beatification, writes Andrea Tornielli of La Stampa.
Born in Tanganyika to Nyerere Burito (1860–1942), Chief of the Zanaki, Nyerere was known by the Swahili honorific Mwalimu or 'teacher', his profession prior to politics. He was also referred to as Baba wa Taifa (Father of the Nation)
Nyerere received his higher education at Makerere University in Kampala and the University of Edinburgh. After he returned to Tanganyika, he worked as a teacher. In 1954, he helped form the Tanganyika African National Union.
In 1985, after more than two decades in power, he relinquished power to his hand-picked successor, Ali Hassan Mwinyi. Nyerere left Tanzania as one of the poorest, least developed, and most foreign aid-dependent countries in the world,[5] although much progress in services such as health and education had nevertheless been achieved.[6] As such, Julius Nyerere is still a controversial figure in Tanzania. He remained the chairman of the Chama Cha Mapinduzi for another five years until 1990. He died of leukaemia in London in 1999.
Beatification inquiry The Diocese of Musuma, Tanzania, has opened a Cause for the Beatification of the country's former president, Julius Nyerere. A Spokesman for the Diocese says that the local investigation into Nyerere's life has authorization from the Vatican.
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 programme 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.
A determined leftist politician and advocate of an African road to Socialism, Julius Nyerere became a Candidate for the Sainthood back in 2006 when his Cause for Beatification was opened. Silvia Cinzia Turrin’s essay “Nyerere, il maestro. Vita e utopie di un padre dell’Africa, cristiano e socialista”(“Nyerere, the Teacher. Life and utopias o fan African priest, a Christian and a socialist” – Italian Missionary publishing house EMI, pp. 138, 11 Euro) who brings this African Catholic political figure back into the foreground at a time marked by anti-politics. Nyerere became a Christian at the age of 21, has translated Shakespeare into Swahili and was President of Tanzania from 1962 to 1985.
The concept of “Ujamaa” (family communitarianism) was central to Nyerere’s project. He translated this into “extended family”, a sort of village comprising between fifty and five hundred inhabitants. Nyerere’s aim was to get the best out of Africa’s social fabric, whilst at the same time rejecting the idea that an African country should depend in some way on another western state now that the colonial era had passed. The “Ujamaa” ideal placed emphasis on “the fraternal spirit that is typical of African societies.”
Nyerere’s Tanzania supported the single party principle but unlike any other African state before it, the country was able to lean on rural agriculture to decolonise itself and gain independence peacefully, in contrast to many other states on the Continent.
This file contains some images, a prayer and an article related to the person of Julius Nyerere, first President of the United Republic of Tanzania.
The Article signed by Rev. Fr. Laurent Magesa, a Tanzanian Catholic Priest and Theologian explains at length the extraordinary stature of the Mwalimu’s personality. It is an article which was first published in the review “Service” (Saint Augustine University of Tanzania) Number 9 (2009). As I got permission of using this Article, I am most happy to be able to share it with you. A translation into French of this text is available on www.pascalbcd.over-blog.com.
Purpose of Presentation
My intention in this presentation is modest. I wish in a very brief way to offer a few points about Servant of God Mwalimu Julius K. Nyerere, former President of Tanzania, as a person. My hope is to start some kind of conversation among us and anyone interested, especially in view of the decision by the Catholic Church of Tanzania of starting the – usually long – process of finally declaring him a saint, technically known also as canonization.
Canonization or Sainthood in the Catholic tradition is the Church’s official recognition that the person so declared is without doubt with God in heaven. Pastorally, it has an even greater significance: it means that the Church puts forward the life of the person in question as an example for all Catholic faithful to follow in this world, during their pilgrimage towards the final vision of God at death, the beatific vision.
If therefore Nyerere is declared as saint, he will be numbered publicly by the Church all over the world whose lives would have been lived in accordance to the will of God. The Church refers to this kind of life as “heroic.”
Nyerere and Steps to Canonization
Many of us are probably aware that Nyerere has passed one of the three major steps on the road towards sainthood. He has already been given the title “Servant of God.”
This means that the Catholic faithful are officially permitted – are in fact encouraged – asking for favours from God through his intercession.
Catholics can now ask Nyerere to pray to God on their behalf for whatever needs they have. The other two steps remaining are for him to be declared “blessed,” also known technically as beatification, and then finally as saint, or canonization.
There are many legal or, in church terminology, canonical requirements in the whole of this process which have to be fulfilled step by step.
Like anyone else’s Nyerere’s Cause will have to go through these steps. One is the reception by anybody of what the Church refers to as an “extraordinary grace.”
This is usually a happening or “miracle” (of some significance) which can only be understood in terms of divine or supernatural intervention, where human agency cannot be imagined, through the prayers of the Servant of God in question, in this case, Nyerere.
Any such grace has to be thoroughly investigated and proven by independent scrutinizers and adjudicators. The Church in Tanzania is asking for reports of such divine interventions and has started the process of compiling dossiers of them for presentation to the relevant authorities in Rome, where Causes for Sainthood are examined and the outcome decided.
But all this is not the central point of this presentation, so I will not pursue it here. My main point is rather to ask and in some sort of way answer the question why the Church has decided to initiated this process concerning Mwalimu Nyerere.
The reasons, as I see them, are of two kinds: they are public as well as not so public ones. The process of declaring Mwalimu Nyerere a saint has been initiated because of the way he conducted his public life as a Politician, Thinker and Writer. This is what quickly comes into focus when the subject of his having lived heroically is mentioned. But it is also because, and for me chiefly on account of, his inner (ethical) convictions and principles which motivated these public actions that the Church has found it necessary to initiate this process.
In my opinion, not too many are aware of this aspect of the process and the intention of the Church to probe it, taking it into as serious consideration as Mwalimu’s public life.
