South Africa's Benedict Daswa to be beatified 13 September 2015

The Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference have announced Friday that Benedict Daswa will be beatified on 13 September 2015 at Thohoyandou Venda in Limpopo, South Africa. The Beatification Mass will be celebrated by Pope Francis’ representative, Cardinal Angelo Amato SDB, the Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. This was announced by SACBC’s Fr. Fr Smilo Mngadi.

Benedict Daswa was born in 1946 in the village of Mbahe and was baptised as a Catholic on April 21, 1963. He trained as a primary school teacher and went on to become principal of Nweli Primary School. In 1980 he married Shadi who converted to Catholicism and they went on to have eight children.

Described as a highly skilled educator and an exemplary husband and father, Daswa was involved in the parish community as catechist, liturgical animator, promotor of works of charity and a builder of justice and peace.

In his private and public life, Daswa took a strong stand against witchcraft, rife throughout the region, because it sometimes led to killing innocent people. A group of men brutally attacked him not far from his home on February 2 1990 and he was praying on his knees when his executioners killed him.

His fame as a martyr soon spread throughout the province and each year, on the anniversary of his death, a growing number of people make a pilgrimage to his grave which is currently located in a small cemetery.

(e-mail: engafrica@vatiradio.va)