The Diocese of Lebombo (pt. ''Diocese Anglicana dos Libombos'') is a diocese in the

Anglican Church of Mozambique and Angola The Anglican Church of Mozambique and Angola (IAMA)is the 42nd ecclesiastical province of the world-wide Anglican Communion. Established in 2021, is the newest province to have been erected. Previously the dioceses which constitute this new provin ...

. It is one of the three Anglican dioceses of

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

. This diocese is the most southerly of the three, the others being the Diocese of Niassa and the Diocese of Nampula.

History

The diocese was a result of the British missionary activity in Portuguese Mozambique, in the 19th century. The first bishop nominated of the Anglican Diocese of Lebombo was

William Edmund Smyth William Edmund Smyth (1858–1950) was an Anglican bishop in the last decade of the nineteenth century and the first two of the twentieth. Biography He was educated at Eton and King's College, Cambridge. Made a deacon in 1882 at Ely Cathedral ...

, in 1893, who would be in functions until 1912. Only after the beginning of the war of independence between

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

and the

FRELIMO FRELIMO (; from the Portuguese , ) is a democratic socialist political party in Mozambique. It is the dominant party in Mozambique and has won a majority of the seats in the Assembly of the Republic in every election since the country's first ...

, the diocese would have his first Portuguese language bishop,

Daniel Pina Cabral Daniel Pereira dos Santos de Pina Cabral ( Vila Nova de Gaia, 27 January 1924 – Porto, 23 June 2008) was a Portuguese Anglican bishop. He was the ninth Bishop of Lebombo, Mozambique, from 1968 to 1976.'' Crockford's Clerical Directory 197 ...

, a white European born prelate. Pina Cabral developed friendly relationships with the Roman Catholic bishops of Mozambique and established contact with members of the FRELIMO. He would be in office from 1969 to 1976, shortly after the independence. He was succeeded by the first Mozambican-born black bishop,

Dinis Sengulane Dinis Salomão Sengulane (born 5 March 1946) is a Mozambican Anglican priest. He was the Anglican Bishop of Lebombo, Maputo, Mozambique, from 1976 to 2014. He had an important role in the end of the Mozambican Civil War in 1992 and helped with t ...

, in office from 1976 to 2014. He was succeeded by Carlos Matsinhe.

Structure

The seat of the diocesan bishop is the Cathedral of St Augustine in Maciene in

. The largest city in the diocese is

Maputo Maputo (), formerly named Lourenço Marques until 1976, is the Capital city, capital, and largest city of Mozambique. Located near the southern end of the country, it is within of the borders with Eswatini and South Africa. The city has a popul ...

. The diocese is divided into 6 archdeaconries: Inhambane District, Limpopo, Maciene, Maputo District, Pungoe and Umbeluzi. There are advanced plans for the division of the diocese into three separate dioceses. At the 2012 Provincial Synod of the Church of Southern Africa these plans were first discussed in detail, and as an interim measure two new episcopal areas were to be created in Lebombo Diocese, with two Area Bishops appointed to work with the Diocesan Bishop. The 21st session of the diocesan synod, meeting in October 2015, confirmed these plans, and also stated that the new dioceses would be named Inhambane and Pungue.

List of Bishops

1893-1912 * John Latimer Fuller 1913-1920 * Leonard Noel Fisher 1921-1928 * Basil William Peacey 1929-1936 * Dennis Victor 1936-1948 * John Boys 1948-1952 * Humphry Beevor 1952-1958 *

Stanley Chapman Pickard Stanley Chapman Pickard, OBE (4 July 1910 – 31 March 1988) was the eighth Bishop of Lebombo from 1958 until 1969. He was ordained in 1938 and his first post was as a curate at St Catherine's, New Cross. He became a UMCA missionary, risi ...

1958-1969 *

1969-1976 *

1976-2014 * Carlos Matsinhe 2014-present (consecrated 28 September 2014)

References

Sources

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lebombo, Anglican Diocese of Anglicanism in Mozambique 1893 establishments in Mozambique