Church Roman Catholic Church Ordination July 15, 1950 | In office 1969 - 1973 Previous post Bishop Name Placidus Nkalanga | |
Born June 19, 1919 (age 105) Ruti, Tanzania ( 1919-06-19 ) | ||
Placidus Gervasius Nkalanga, OSB (June 19, 1919 – December 18, 2015) was a Tanzanian Prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He was a monk of the St Maurus & St Placidus Hanga Abbey in Hanga, Ruvuma Region, Tanzania, a Benedictine monastery of the Congregation of Missionary Benedictines of Saint Ottilien. He lived there for 42 years, from his resignation from the bishopry in 1973 until his death in 2015.
Biography
Born in Ruti, Tanganyika, Nkalanga was ordained a priest on July 15, 1950. He was consecrated on May 21, 1961 by Pope John XXIII after being appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Bukoba and Titular Bishop of Balbura on April 18, 1961. The new bishop attended the Second Vatican Council from 1962 to 1965, missing only Session Two running from September 29, 1963 to December 4, 1963. Between February 1966 and May 29, 1969 he served as the first Apostolic Administrator of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kabale in Western Uganda after it was just established in the Ecclesiastical province of Mbarara. In Uganda he was revered notably for his evangelical simplicity and persuasive personality which made him an ideal leader.
On March 6, 1969 Nkalangwa was appointed Bishop of the Diocese of Bukoba, serving as President of the Episcopal Conference of Tanzania from 1969 to 1970. His appointment followed the promotion of the late Cardinal Laurean Rugambwa to Archbishop of Dar-es-Salaam. He remained in this position until his resignation on November 26, 1973 when he joined the Monastic Order of Saint Benedict in Hanga, Songea. On December 18, 2015 Nkalanga died in Peramiho, Songea, a Bedectine abbey in Southwestern Tanzania. At the time of his death he was the oldest living Catholic bishop in Africa and 18th oldest in the world.