Léon Livinhac
|
Léon-Antoine-Augustin-Siméon Livinhac M. Afr. |
|
|---|---|
| Superior General of Missionaries of Africa (1890-1922) | |
 |
|
| Installed | 26 November 1892 |
| Term ended | 12 November 1922 |
| Predecessor | Charles Lavigerie |
| Successor | Paul Voillard |
| Other posts |
|
| Orders | |
| Ordination | 12 October 1873 by Charles Lavigerie |
| Consecration | 14 September 1884 by Charles Lavigerie |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
13 July 1846 Buzeins, France |
| Died | 12 November 1922 (aged 76) Maison-Carrée, Algeria |
| Nationality | French |
| Denomination | Catholic |
Léon-Antoine-Augustin-Siméon Livinhac (13 July 1846 - 12 November 1922) was a Catholic priest who established the church in what is modern Uganda and became head of the White Fathers (Society of the Missionaries of Africa). He oversaw a major expansion of the missionary society that coincided with the European colonial annexation of most of Africa.
Léon Livinhac was born on 13 July 1846 in the parish of Buzeins, in the Aveyron department of the south of France, one of three children of a farmer. His father, Antoine Simon Livinhac, died when he was two years old. His mother, Marie Aimée, died when he was five. He was raised by his grandmother and his aunts. He suffered from poor health as a child, but was an excellent and industrious scholar. He attended primary school at Saint-Geniez-d'Olt from 1855 to 1860, then entered Saint Denis, the diocesan college at Saint Geniez. He entered the Sulpician major seminary of Rodez in October 1867, received the tonsure in May 1869, minor orders in June 1870 and was ordained to the diaconate in May 1872.
In February 1873 Livinhac applied to Archbishop Charles Lavigerie, the founder and head of the Society of the Missionaries of Africa. He began his novitiate at the White Fathers house at Maison Carrée, near Algiers, in April 1873. Archbishop Lavigerie ordained him as a priest of the White Fathers on 12 October 1873. Although he had not completed his novitiate, he was immediately appointed vice-rector, bursar and professor of dogmatic theology of the White Fathers' major seminary, the scholasticate. On 7 April 1874 he took his oath as a missionary, and on 12 October 1874 was elected as a member of the society's General Council. At that time there were 43 fathers and 9 brothers in the society. His first missionary appointment was in February 1875 in Kabylie, to the east of Algiers. The missionaries had to act with great care, since the French colonial authorities were deeply suspicious of proselytizing activity that could disturb the peace. In August 1875 he was recalled to become rector of the scholasticate.
In March 1878 Livinhac was made leader of the first Catholic missionary expedition to equatorial Africa. The group of ten missionaries left Algiers on 21 April 1878 and reached Uganda on 17 February 1879. They were based on the shore of Lake Victoria, but traveled widely in the region by foot or by dugout canoe. Livinhac and other missionaries established the church in Buganda, part of modern Uganda. Livinhac studied the local Luganda language, and prepared a dictionary and a grammar.
...
Wikipedia