HISTORY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN ZANZIBAR

Setting Foot in Pemba:
An interesting account of the early mission is found in the Diary of St. Patrick's
Blackrock - Dongoni - Pemba. With the legal status of slavery having been abolished in the Islands, there were two missions started almost simultaneously on Pemba. One was by the Quakers, the other by the Universities Mission. It was believed that nothing had been done on Pemba and this was true while slavery existed. With the changed situation. Christians began to think of the spiritual freedom of these freed slaves.
                     

There were two or three shambas (land property) for sale and Fr. Schmidt fixed his eye on one located on the south side of Chake-Chake Bay. Known as Dongoni, it comprised about 300 acres along with Junvini. Dongoni was left with only an overseer. So much was earned from the shamba that the mission incurred no expense.

Then in October 1898 Bishop Allgeyer charged Fr. Schmidt with opening a station at Dongoni. He left for Dongoni from Zanzibar on 12th December with three young families and two mission boys. They arrived on the 14th but found to their dismay that the chalice had been left in Zanzibar. They could only hope that they might have Mass for Christmas.

On the 18th the people living on the shamba were invited to appear at the mission. They numbered 45 to 50. All were liberated slaves and had been put there by Mr. Jarler, the Sultan's commissioner at Pemba. Fr. Schmidt explained to them the object of his coming, that it was for their spiritual good. All promised to attend his instruction and they became faithful Christians. On the eve of Christmas a messenger arrived from town with the hoped for chalice. All Christians would attend. It was a festive day for the new mission which Bishop Allgeyer chose to name St. Patrick's Blackrock.

Ministering from Dongoni:
Across the water, in Chake Chake. there was a small Chapel, St. Francis Xavier. Some 3 or 4 Goans, British government officials, the representative of the Universities' Mission, and the Quakers also lived in the area. All were favorably disposed to the mission and Fr. Schmidt was an invited guest on all sides. A larger community of Goans had settled at Wete in the north of the island where they had a Chapel constructed in 1897 and dedicated to The Immaculate Heart of Mary.

While giving service at the Peninsula and at Chake Chake, the Spiritans found that a Chapel was needed at Mkoani, the port town. Land was acquired for this purpose from the British Government but this Chapel, St Theresa of the Child Jesus, has been closed for some years, but now is opened. The Goan community, staunch in the faith introduced to them by the Portuguese missionaries to India, remain a strong part of the Church today although their numbers have decreased constantly since the time of the revolution when their properties were seized and many were killed..

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