Hanga Monastery stands out prominently in Tanzania as a unique spiritual institution, based on the Benedictine tradition and accented by an African culture-humanism.  Our community lives according to the Rule of our Holy Father St. Benedict, therefore, our way of life is summed up by the motto “Ora et Labora”, i.e. pray and work.  By adhering to this motto, we see our role in the Catholic Church and Tanzania as being to meet the spiritual and material demands of the people who live here.

 

St. Maurus’ Abbey

at Hanga

Hanga at a Glance    

Background:

 

       Since our foundation in 1956, our community has grown rapidly.  During these 49 years, we have professed a total of 144 monks and new applications for candidacy continue to arrive monthly.  On average we accept 10-20 of these applicants each year and as we continue to grow, our influence as a monastery continues to be felt farther and farther outside of Hanga and even Tanzania.

      

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Short History of Hanga Abbey:

 

       The Hanga Abbey belongs to the St. Ottilien Congregation.  The late Fr. Eberhard Spiess, the Bishop of the Peramiho Diocese, founded the Monastery on January 15, 1957.  The Monastery was founded with the permission to adapt itself according to the African mentality, culture, and way of life, and was to be an “all-African” monastery.

      

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On June 18^th, 1965, after their completing our trial period, the Monastery was approved by the Holy See.  Over the next six years the Monastery gained internal independence under the local Prior, Fr. Gregory Mwageni.  Finally, on October 15, 1971 the Monastery was given full independence under the same leader, but with the title, “Prior Conventualis.”  Since then the community has been officially known as: “COMMUNITAS MONACHORUM BENEDICTINORUM AFRICANORUM – THE COMMUNITY OF THE AFRICAN BENEDICTINE MONKS.”

 

 

The Start of our Independence:

 

                 

      

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other Benedictine Monasteries in Africa:

      

       Apart from Hanga Monastery and her foundation, there are also other monasteries which have been founded by the missionaries of St. Ottilien here in East Africa.  The larger of these communities in Tanzania are Peramiho and Ndanda.  These monasteries continue to be run by the monks of St. Ottilien, but are also receiving young Africans into their Abbeys.  The missionaries of St. Ottilien have also founded monasteries in Kenya, Uganda, South Africa, Congo, and Togo. This is not an exhaustive list of Benedictine monasteries in Africa, due to the fact that there are many Benedictine Convents in Africa which are purely diocesan.

Due to the fact that our monastery is a well known center of genuine Christian life, Christian education and culture in Africa, we are continually being asked to offer our Benedictine services by the Catholic Bishops of Africa.  We earnestly attempt to meet these demands and contribute to the building and strengthening of the Catholic Church in Africa like the first Benedictine Missionaries who evangelized the pagan parts of Europe.  Apart from our mission work in stabilizing Christianity in the pagan parts of Southwest Tanzania, we also attempt to bring development to these areas with the many social services we provide.  These services include education, health care, and employment and are aimed at helping people help themselves.

In order to put this special permission into effect, the Monastery was given a period of ten years to experiment and work at adapting itself to the African way of life.  During this period of time the Monastery was run under four German missionaries from the Benedictine Monastery at Peramiho: Fr. Chrysostomus O.S.B (prior), Fr. Ingbert (formation director), Br. Nonnosus (master builder), and Br Hermann (agronomist). 

During our experimentation period (1957-1965), there were five Benedictine Missionaries of Peramiho living with us in order to orientate us into the monastic life.  In 1965 these missionaries went back to their Monastery of Paramiho. 

 

One of our founders:

Fr. Gregory

On January 2nd, 1994, Fr. Alcuin Nyirenda OSB was elected Abbot.  He was the first African Abbot of the St. Ottilien Congregation of which also the Hanga Abbey belongs.  Fr. Alcuin served our monastery as Abbot for 9 years, at which point Fr. Thaddeus Mhagama was elected to become our 2^nd Abbot.