Archdiocese of Blantyre
Blantyren(sis)
Metropolitan see · Latin Church · Blantyre, Malawi
Metropolitan archdiocese in southern Malawi, founded in 1903 as the Apostolic Prefecture of Shiré and elevated to an archdiocese in 1959. It is led by Archbishop Thomas Luke Msusa and has suffragans Chikwawa, Mangochi, and Zomba.
The see
- Rank
- Metropolitan see
- Tradition
- Latin Church
- Erected
- 25 April 1959
- Latin
- Blantyren(sis)
- Patron
- Our Lady Queen of All Hearts
- Annuario code
- 001000910
The see in figures
- Catholics
- 3,200,000
- Population
- 5,016,000
- Catholic share
- 63.8%
- Priests
- 201
- Catholics per priest
- 15,920
- Extent
- 9,166 km²
- Catholics per km²
- 349
of the people living within its bounds
Figures as recorded in the register, from the Annuario Pontificio and the see's own published statements. Shares and ratios are computed from the two figures shown beside them.
The bishop
- Archbishop
- Thomas Luke Msusa, S.M.M.
A see whose chair stands empty is recorded as vacant rather than filled with a guess. On what a bishop is, see the bishop.
The cathedral
Our Lady of Wisdom Cathedral stands in Blantyre, the church that holds the cathedra from which this see takes its name.
On what a cathedral is, see the cathedral; every see church on earth is gathered at the cathedrals.
The province of Blantyre
This see is the metropolitan of its province.
The sees of this province:
- Diocese of ChikwawaChikwawa
- Diocese of MangochiMangochi
- Diocese of ZombaZomba
On how the Church is ordered into provinces, see the diocese.
History
Blantyre in Malawi is the seat of a Roman Catholic archdiocese (Latin: Archidioecesis Blantyren(sis)) whose cathedral church is the Our Lady of Wisdom Cathedral, Blantyre. The archdiocese covers 9,166 square miles (23,740 km2), where 1,133,850 Catholics live among a total population of 4,600,000, served by 78 priests and 287 religious. Thomas Luke Msusa SMM currently leads the see.
How to reach it
- Chancery
- Archbishop’s House, P.O. Box 385, Blantyre, Malawi
- Telephone
- 995.610.933
- [email protected]
This see keeps no website of its own, so its chancery is published here: withholding it would protect nothing and leave a reader with nowhere to go. Where a see publishes its own site, the register sends you there instead.
What is kept by invitation
The record above is published because it is public: what this see is, when it was erected, who holds its chair, and where it stands among its neighbours.
The working record is not. The clergy of the see, and the hours of Mass, confession and adoration in the parishes within it, are kept for members, and a person reads every request.
Sources
This record is compiled from the published statements of the see and the references of the Holy See, among them the Annuario Pontificio. On the method, see the keeping of the record. Whoever finds an error is asked, in charity, to write: [email protected].