The Catholic Church in Sudan

IMPORTANT DATES:


37AD Baptism of Queen Candace's Minister, - first Christian Sudanese Community in Meroe
284 First Monasteries in Phyle during the persecutions of Decius and Diocletian.
325 First Bishop of Phybyle (1st cataract).
350 Fall of Meroe by a king of Axum.
450 Silko, first Christian king of Ibrim
540 Three Christian Kingdoms exist : Nobatia (capital Faras), Makuria
(Capital Dongola), Alwa (capital Soba)
543 Priest Julianus evangelizes Faras
469 Bishop Longinus, organizes the church at Faras, then evangelizes Soba ( 580)
622 The Hijra, beginning of Muslim calendar.
638 The Arabs conquer Egypt; The religion of the rulers becomes the
Religion of the country.
638 The BAQT or Pact, an agreement between Christian Kings of Dongola and Muslim leaders in Egypt; it lasted up to 1275
745 Cyriacus (or Kyriakos ), King of Dongola, marches with a Christian army, up to Cairo to free the Capt Patriarch Mikhail kept
In prison by the Moslems.
785 First translations of the Bible in Arabic.
835 Girgis 1, King of Dongola, accompanied by his Christian Knights, Travels to Baghdad to deal with Caliph al-Mutasim on political matters.
1172 Salaheddin’s army defeats the Christian army of Dongola
1218 St. Francis of Assisi comes to Cairo and preaches to Sultan Mohammad bin Qalawoun.
1275 End of the BACT (652), Sudanese Christians have to pay the jizia
1317 The Royal Palace of Dongola, with the included church, is taken over as a mosque. Since 1323 Dongola is ruled by Moslem kings; Christian communities, however, continue to live on the land. A Bishop is still at Ibrim.
1484 Joel is Christian king (chief) at Jebel Adda.
1504 The Funj Kingdom rises in Sennar
1505 Soba falls to the Funj of Sennar (the ruins of the cathedral are still
Visible at Soba Sharq)
XVII c. News reaches Europe of Portuguese Christian in Roseires coming from Ethiopia; the Vatican repeatedly sends ambassadors to Sennar and Bornu (presuming it could be Kordofan)
1647 Franciscan missionaries in Sawakin
1699 – 1702: In Sennar and Eilafun, for continuous there years, there is a community of Franciscans.
1821 Mohammed Ali conquers the Sudan for Egypt.
1824 Khartoum is chosen as capital of Sudan
1831 St. Daniel Comboni is born in Limone sul Garda (Italy)
1842 First Catholic school in Khartoum by Fr. L. Montuori CM; the seed of the future Comboni School.
1846 Khartoum becomes the centre of the new Vicariate Apostolic of Central Africa; Bishop A. Casolani was appointed as responsible be resigns before leaving for Khartoum; after him no bishop are appointed up to 1877.
1850 Mgr. Knoblecker and missionaries are the first Europeans to reach
Jebel Lado (Rejaf).
1853 A church is started at Gondokoro, short North of Juba.
1854 A church is started at Abu Koka ( Holy Cross of Shambe, Bor)
1857 Daniel Comboni comes to Sudan for the first time
1862 A church is started at Kaka, Upper Nile
1862 The Mission of Central Africa is administered by the Apostolic Vicar of Egypt up to 1872. During this period missionaries Franciscans are present only in Khartoum.
1865 First Sudanese priest of modern times, Fr. Bona Youseph Habash, from Blue Nile Province.
1866 The first grammar of Dinka and Bari Languages, prepared by the missionaries and natives, is printed at Brixen, South Tyrol.
1869 St. Bakhita is born in Al-Gossa, Dafur
1871 A church is started in El Obeid.
1872 The Mission of Central Africa becomes independent from Egypt again; Fr. Daniel Comboni arrived to Khartoum as Apostolic. Provicar.
1874 A church is started in Berber and Dilling (Nuba Mountains).
1877 Fr. Daniel Comboni becomes the first Bishop of Khartoum.
1881 June : the rise of the Mahdi starts:
1881 October: Bishop Comboni dies in Khartoum.
1882 The Mahdist revolution, non as the Mahdiya; spreads in Kordofan,
A number of priests and sisters of Dilling and El Obeid are taken
Prisoners: some of them for more than 10 years. Church work is completely destroyed.
1885 Khartoum in conquered and destroyed by the Mahdi; Omdurman is the new capital.
1885 A church is started in Suakin.
1890 St. Bakhita is baptised in Italy.
1898 End of the Mahdiya.
1899 Comboni Missionaries, priests and sisters, come back to Omdurman and Khartoum. Catholic Church School reopens.
1901 Church of Lul (Upper Nile)
1902 The Servant of God Bishop A.M. Roveggio dies in Berber
1904 Church of Kayango and Mbili (Bahr of Gazhal)
1905 First government law to control the church. The colonial government divides the country into zones of religious influence: North of 10th Parallel, to Islam; South of that, a zone each to the British Missionary Societies, to Catholics and to the America Mission
1911 The railway, built to support the reconquest of Sudan by Britain, reaches Khartoum on the newly built bridge on the Blue Nile at the Khartoum North
1912 Church of Mupoi (West quatoria)
1913 Wau becomes see of a Bishop ( Ap.Prefecture, 1917 Ap. Vicariate)
1919 Church of Rejaf (Bahr el Jebel)
1920 Church of Torit (Imatong)
1926 The Servant of God Sr. Zeinab Alif dies in Serra de Conti (Italy)
1927 Juba becomes see of a Bishop (Ap. Prefecture, 1951 Ap. Vicariate)
1928 Okaru (Bahr el Gebel), the first minor seminary in Sudan
1928 Start of the first University College in Sudan, former Gordon College
1929 The former Catholic Church School is reorganized as Comboni College (for boys) and Sisters School (for girls) in Khartoum.
1933 Malakal becomes see of a Bishop (Missio sui-juris, 1938 Ap. Prefecture, 1974 Diocese)
1942 Foundation of the first Sudanese Sisters Society, the Sisters of Nazareth, in Wau.
1944 First three Sudanese priests of modern time.
1947 Juba Conference, to decide the future of the South.
1947 Bl. Bakhita dies in Schio (Italy).
1949 Mupoi (West Equatoria) bocomes see of a Bishop (Ape. Prefecture, and in 1974, Diocese).
1952 Foundation of the first Sudanese Brothers Society, St. Martin de Pores, Juba.
1955 First Sudanese Bishop, H.E. Ireneo Dud Wien
1955 Rumbek becomes see of a Bishop (Ap. Vicariate, 1974 Diocese)
1956 Tore (Yei), the first National Major Seminary
1957 Societies Registration Act, 1957. This act was repeatedly amended, and in 1994 it was amended again to control the churches.
1957 All church school in the South are nationalized : they were the only schools on the land
1958 Military Government
1960 El Obeid becomes see of a Bishop (Ap. Vicariate, 1974 Diocese)
1962 Second government law to control the churches; the 1962 Missionary Act.
1964 All expatriate missionaries are expelled from Southern Sudan
1964 Democratic Government
1969 Military Government
1969 Diplomatic Vatican relation (Ap. Delegation) with the Sudan are established
1972 Addis Ababa Agreement; autonomy of South Sudan
1972 Sudan Embassy is established with the Vatican; the Ap. Delegation becomes Nunciature.
1973 The first Permanent Constitution is adopted, as a one party state.
1974 Sudanese Hierarchy; two archdioceses and five dioceses; all Bishops are Sudanese.
1981 Hundred years after Comboni’s death, a Sudanese becomes Archbishop of Khartoum.
1983 Torit becomes diocese.
1983 Promulgation of the Shari a Islamic Law.
1983 End of South Sudan autonomy; - the problem of the displaced revives.
1984 First National Eucharistic Congress
1985 Transitional Military Government.
1986 Yei becomes diocese.
1986 Democratic Government
1989 Military Government
1992 Bakhita is declared Blessed
1993 Pope John Paul II visits the Sudan
1994 Third government law to control the churches; the Miscellanea Amendment Act 1994 (amendment of the Societies Registration Act 1957)
1994 Second National Eucharistic Congress
1996 Bishop Daniel Comboni is declared Blessed
1996 Comboni Year starts – preparation to the Jubilee 2000.
1999 St. Bakhita, canonization in May.
1999 100 Years of the modern Catholic Community in Sudan.
1999 Silver Jubilee of the Sudanese Hierarchy
2003 October 5: Canonization of St. Daniel Comboni
2003 October 21: H.G. the Archbishop of Khartoum, Gabriel Zuber Wako, is created Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church.
2005 April 19: Election of Pope Benedict XVI. The Church of the Sudan joined in the election through the vote of her Cardinal