Reference is made in John Baur's 2000 YEARS OF CHRISTIANITY IN AFRICA to an Augustinian Friar in Zanzibar who "enjoyed the friendship of the Sultan". Augustinian archives refer to Zanzibar as "the most fruitful mission centre". East Africans associated these Friars with service to the Portuguese traders and military personnel. Whatever else their activities might have been, all came to an abrupt end when Sultan . responding to a call from the people of tacked Zanzibar in 1650, killing many of the foreigners, including Augustinian Friars.

In 1857 the Vicar Apostolic to the Gallas. Guglielimo Maasaja. sent two Capuchins to re- establish the Church in East Africa. The first to come to Zanzibar was Gabriele da Rivalta. However, da Rivalta aroused the suspicions of Sultan Majid by his questions about the mainland and had to leave soon after when the Sultan withdrew his "Letters of Introduction" to local chiefs on the mainland even though the Letters had already been given. He was followed by Leon des Avanches. who, it seems, did some research on pastoral possibilities because in March 1858 he suggested to Propaganda Fide that Zanzibar could be a starting point for missionary work in East Africa.

Later in that same year. Des Avanches also had to leave as a result of a political incident in which the Sultan of Oman was trying to maintain his independence of the vying powers of France and England. In 1822 Britain had obtained a treaty with Sultan Sayyid Said which banned the sale of slaves to India and the French islands in the Indian Ocean. French traders nevertheless continued to get slaves for their sugar and coffee estates. In 1848 slavery was abolished in all French colonies. The islands continued to bring in slaves as "contract workers". When Des Avanches, in May 1858. bought a slave girl in the market in Zanzibar, he was accompanied by an American named Greer captain of a ship from Reunion. He baptized the girl and gave her to the wife of a slave dealer who intended to send the girl to Greer's sister. Des Avanches was accused of violating anti-slavery treaties. His passport and consular protection were withdrawn.

While Reunion had been the catalyst of the trouble in 1858 it now became the starting
point of the Church in East Africa. The Bishop. Armand Maupoint of St.Denis/Reunion, wanted to open a mission station on Zanzibar. The Governor Baron Darracan, seeing this as a way to solve the labour problem by covering recruitment of East Africans with the cloak of religion promised his support. But when Msgr. Armand-Joseph Fava. a Spiritan and Vicar General of Bishop Maupoint came to Zanzibar in 1860 he was greeted warmly by Sultan Majid who was being accused by the Arabs of destroying the economy by signing the treaties abolishing slavery. From the very beginning. Msgr. Fava had a vision of what the mission should be. His plan was to emphasize agricultural and industrial work and his explanation of the plan raised expectations of workshops and trained craftsmen. This attracted the Sultan who then gave his full support to Msgr. Fava.

Having made the necessary preparations, Msgr. Fava went back to Reunion and then
returned on 22nd December with two priests, a French Navy surgeon, three craftsmen, and six Sisters of the Congregation "Daughters of Mary". In a small place named Gulioni there was a spacious residence that had been built in 1864 by a brother of the Sultan. Said-abd-el-Houab. He had often entertained Europeans, among them the famous Livingston who stayed there while preparing for his last great exploration. The Sultan was very fond of the Spiritan Congregation and Fr. Bauer was often his guest.

After the Sultan's death, the property passed to a rich Indian, Taria Topan. and continued to be used as a health spa and resort. It then fell into disuse and because the house and surroundings lent themselves so well to the purpose Msgr. Fava had in mind. he signed a seven-year lease for it on May 16, 1884. Alterations to prepare for its use as a hospital took until the end of July and on August 2nd 1884, the feast of Notre-Dame des Anges, it was blessed by Msgr. Courmont and given the name Our Lady of the Angels.                         A statue of The Virgin was placed in the chapel by seven ladies under the title "Our Lady of Zanzibar". The archives note that "...on the 1st of May 1885 the number of persons who had come to be attended, amounted to two thousand one hundred and ninety-six."

To win acceptance of the people, the missionaries began with social services in a
dispensary and in hospitals. The Sisters visited the sick. Workshops were set up. Because Msgr. Fava had refused the recruitment of ex-slaves for Reunion, he won the trust of all parties. By not seeking at that time to expand the Church into the interior, he also gained the confidence of the Sultan. The Arabs seemed friendly and the Sultan paid frequent visits to the mission. Britain proposed a joint guarantee of territorial integrity of the dominion of the Sultan and a treaty was signed in Paris in March 1862.

Construction of the Cathedral Church was begun in 1867 but was stopped when they
became aware that the site was a Muslim grave yard. There is no record of when the construction was resumed but the first official Mass was offered in the new building in 1897. Still the only Catholic Church in the Town, it was very much respected by the Sultan for the work that was being done.

A modern day sketch of St. Joseph's Cathedral as it appears today!

The Spiritan archives have a paper on Our Lady of the Angels Hospital written by Msgr. De Courmont. a Spiritan who was Vicar Apostolic of Zanzibar. He notes that the population of Zanzibar was growing and that it was composed not only of Arab conquerors and the black slaves but also of people from Madagascar, India, commercial cities of the Parsis, and those who continued to come from Europe. "The population ... reached about 40.000..., i.e. half the total amount of Zanzibar inhabitants." Since some few were Christians, a way was opened for a mission at Mahonda. 36 kms. from town.

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.

Fr. Schmidt, a Spiritan and member of the oldest missionary society in East Africa, did
not want to be left out of the work to be done in Pemba. Consequently, he wrote to Dr. O'Sullivan, British Vice-Consul at Chake-Chake in Pemba to ask about the particulars of the situation and whether the Spiritan mission had any chance of success if they were to settle in Pemba. Although Dr. O'Sullivan's answer was rather discouraging. Fr. Schmidt decided to pay a visit there himself at the end of May 1897. Fr. Schmidt was well received and the following Sunday offered Mass at Dr. O'Sullivan's house, very probably the first on Pemba Island since it is doubtful that a Portuguese priest had ever gone there.

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. On it was a plantation of 800 to 1,000 clove trees and another of as many coconut trees. There was also a small stone house with three rooms. Fr. Schmidt had no authority for buying any land. but on the other hand the Quakers intended to contract for this very same property. So Fr. Schmidt induced his companion, Dr. Spurrier, to make the contract in his name, being almost certain that he would be approved at Zanzibar. Shortly afterward. Bishop Allgeyer arrived at Zanzibar and he did not hesitate for a moment to accept the shamba under   such favorable conditions.

For a year and a half  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.

The next thing to do was to make the old house at Dongoni habitable. Fr. Schmidt took
possession of one of the two rooms that were in good condition. The third room was occupied by keeper of the cloves. A mud house with three spaces was used to serve as a kitchen and store rooms. A second mud house about 300 yards distant was given to the young Christians. With an abundant harvest of cloves expected, the next immediate need was for a boat and a donkey.         

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.

In January 1898 Br. Martial, who had received his obedience for Pemba arrived there.
He installed himself in the little chapel until a new room could be completed. Although nothing could be planted because there had been no rain for a considerable length of time, he began clearing out a space where he intended to have a garden. The people of the shamba were principally occupied with cleaning the clove plantations and preparing the ground for new plantations. With the arrival of a dhow from Zanzibar on the 20th of February, bringing timber planks and windows. Br. Martial undertook the work of construction. It was a slow process since they had only one mason. However, on this big peninsula the Fathers' House (a one-storey building) was still erect until the roof was removed and the house collapsed in 1988. The foundations of the Chapel and other buildings are left. So, too, are some coconut trees, cashew, and mango but little trace of cloves.

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. Some few Goans lived there also. Land was acquired for this purpose from the British Government but this Chapel. St Theresa of the Child Jesus, has been closed now for 25 years.

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..

When the Holy Ghost missionaries moved the short distance across the water to
Bagamoyo on the mainland in 1868. the center of missionary activity moved also. Only vestiges of that early attempt are still visible but Christianity remained up to the present.

While not isolated, yet the geographical position of the islands that make up Zanzibar
largely accounts for its very slow response to a changing world. A still stronger factor lies in the strong religious motives of the Muslim people. Germans before World War I and the British until Independence in 1962 did not have much influence on the life of Zanzibaris.The Church merely maintained its presence, coming under the Prefecture of Kilimanjaro, later under Mombasa. and then under the Archdiocese of Dar-es-Salaam with a Vicar here on the island. In 1963. it came under the Diocese of Morogoro until 1980 when the Diocese was formed under Bishop Bernard Ngaviliau.CSSp. During this time the Church was tolerated in a culture that continues to be Arabic in nature and Islamic in religion.

All over Africa the indigenous peoples were becoming aware of the move for
independence from the colonial powers in Europe: Belgium. Britain. France. Germany, and Portugal. They wanted to rule their own countries. Tanganyika gained its independence from Britain in 1961 and the next year so did Kenya. The change of rule affected the influence of the missionaries in every aspect of evangelization since they were identified with the foreign powers. Both were white and the Africans did not distinguish. To them the ministries of religion and government were the same and in fact, some missionaries were paid by colonial governments and served political interests.

Political parties arose in the struggle for independence. In Zanzibar there were two. One was comprised chiefly of Arab land owners and people of business who had had the opportunity for education and were used to ruling under the British who maintained an indirect rule over the colonies and territories. Britain was ready to give the indigenous peoples independence hut did not prepare them for voting nor see them to have a good leader. They left the situation to resolve itself and the Arabs took over.

The second party was that of the Africans. Supported by other African countries, they
would not accept the Arab rule again and revolted. The leaders were assassinated and Arabs were either killed or escaped to their home countries.

After independence. African countries became aware that they had to seek assistance if
they were to become a State. This required both material and ideological assistance. Africans had always been ruled by Chiefs but now the people had to unite. Kenya. Tanzania, and Uganda formed the East African Community. Zanzibar, even after becoming part of the Union of Tanzania, could not exist without more help. Tanzania turned to the East - to the USSR and China - while Kenya and Uganda turned to the West. Tanzania chose the path of socialism.

In 1967 the government of Tanzania moved to provide free education, health care.
housing, etc. Schools, health facilities, industry were nationalized. This policy of nationalization of church schools and dispensaries, which followed independence, severely hampered the works of education and health care. Without these services, the Church had no social influence, and these constitute the instruments of dialogue. Christians, being so few in number, felt the effects of this policy as the quality of these services deteriorated over the years. The Goan community, no longer having property or jobs, were harassed as an upper class. Many were killed. Since they held British passports, those who could migrated to Commonwealth countries, especially
Canada, and elsewhere.

Having taken responsibilities for all services, the government had also to supply those
services to Africans. The cloves trade was emphasized, and in the late 1960's the government began importing casual laborers from the mainland for work in the coconut and cloves estates. They came in the thousands during the seasons when employment was needed. In the 1970 refugees from Mozambique (and from other countries who were on the mainland), also came to Zanzibar. Very likely the revolutionary government did not realize that most of those comimg would be Christians. Some refugees had in fact been in Zanzibar before and even assisted with the Zanzibar revolution. Many of these were given land by the new government. Many of those who came after the revolution in response to the call for work do not have land and they are the majority. These are the Christians.