Historical Facts of the Diocese of Masvingo

Abstract

The Catholic Church in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) has its commencement in the Zambezi Mission which was assigned to the Society of Jesus affectionately known as the Jesuits by Rome on 7 February 1879 (The Catholic Church in Zimbabwe). Among their first establishments of missions was Driefontein Mission called Guta by the local people. Guta is Afrikaans meaning three fountains named after the initial site prior to its move in 1908 to where the mission is presently located (Driefontein Mission). The Bethlehem Mission Society (SMB) from Switzerland also known as the Bethlehem fathers were the second after the Jesuits to evangelise in Fort Victoria (now Masvingo). The First Swiss Bethlehem fathers arrived in Southern Rhodesia in October 1938 after an invitation by Bishop Aston Chichester, SJ who was in charge of the Vicariate of Salisbury (now Harare). They were entrusted to the area which was separated from the Apostolic Vicariate of Salisbury to become the Apostolic Prefecture of Fort Victoria from which Gwelo (now Gweru) diocese was formed in 1955 after the establishment of the hierarchy in Zimbabwe on the 1st of January (SMB Zimbabwe). A part of it was then separated to erect the Diocese of Masvingo in 1999. Hence, the historical facts of the two dioceses of Gweru and Masvingo are intertwined