Donald Patrick Nestor (6 October 1938 – 10 January 2003) was a British

suffragan bishop A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Anglican Communion, a suffragan bishop is a bishop who is subordinate to a metropolitan bishop or diocesan bishop (bishop ordinary) and so is not normally jurisdiction ...

Lesotho Lesotho ( ), officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a country landlocked country, landlocked as an Enclave and exclave, enclave in South Africa. It is situated in the Maloti Mountains and contains the Thabana Ntlenyana, highest mountains in Sou ...

, a diocese in the

Anglican Church of Southern Africa The Anglican Church of Southern Africa, known until 2006 as the Church of the Province of Southern Africa, is the province (Anglican), province of the Anglican Communion in the southern part of Africa. The church has twenty-five dioceses, of whi ...

from 1979. In 1992 he returned to England to serve as an Assistant Bishop of Blackburn and later in the

Diocese of Durham The Diocese of Durham is a Church of England diocese, based in Durham, and covering the historic county of Durham (and therefore including the part of Tyne and Wear south of the River Tyne, and excluding southern Teesdale). It was created in AD ...

. Towards the end of his life he took

vows A vow ( Lat. ''votum'', vow, promise; see vote) is a promise or oath. A vow is used as a promise, a promise solemn rather than casual. Marriage vows Marriage vows are binding promises each partner in a couple makes to the other during a weddi ...

as a member of the monastic

Society of the Sacred Mission The Society of the Sacred Mission (SSM), with the associated Company of the Sacred Mission, is an Anglican religious order founded in 1893 by Father Herbert Kelly, envisaged such that "members of the Society share a common life of prayer and fell ...

Early life and education

Nestor was born in

Calcutta, India Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, commer ...

on 6 October 1938. He did his high schooling at the grammar school in

Halifax, West Yorkshire Halifax () is a minster and market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale in West Yorkshire, England. It is the commercial, cultural and administrative centre of the borough, and the headquarters of Calderdale Council. In the 15th cen ...

and went from there to

Exeter College, Oxford Exeter College (in full: The Rector and Scholars of Exeter College in the University of Oxford) is one of the Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England and the fourth-oldest college of the un ...

, where he studied theology. He completed his training for the priesthood at The

Queen's College, Birmingham Queen's College was a medical school in central Birmingham, England, and a predecessor college of the University of Birmingham. It was founded by surgeon William Sands Cox in 1825 as The Birmingham Medical School, a residential college for medi ...

Clerical work

In 1965 he was a curate at

Woodkirk Woodkirk is an ancient village between Leeds and Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, England. The parish church is a grade II listed building. It is traditionally the centre of the parish of West Ardsley, but Tingley is now a much larger settlement. ...

for three years, after which he spent four more years in that capacity at Forton, Hampshire. In 1972 he went to Africa where he was chaplain at the universities of

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label=Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalahar ...

and

Swaziland Eswatini ( ; ss, eSwatini ), officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland ( ; officially renamed in 2018), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its no ...

in the period between 1972 and 1979. From 1974 onwards Nestor trained new priests in Lesotho, serving as Warden of Roma Anglican Seminary, Lesotho.

Episcopal ministry

Nestor was elected as a

of Lesotho in 1979. He was well-loved in Lesotho, in part because of his gentle pastoral manner. Lesotho is a very mountainous country and many of the mission stations and settlements he served were accessible only on horseback, causing him to travel great distances in that manner. Nestor became fluent in

Sesotho Sotho () or Sesotho () or Southern Sotho is a Southern Bantu language of the Sotho–Tswana ("S.30") group, spoken primarily by the Basotho in Lesotho, where it is the national and official language; South Africa (particularly the Free Sta ...

and offered encouragement and hope to his parishioners through his teaching. People of all races and faiths welcomed him wherever he went. His work was completed in southern Africa in 1992 and he returned to England, where the

Bishop of Blackburn The Bishop of Blackburn is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Blackburn in the Province of York. The diocese covers much of the county of Lancashire and has its see in the town of Blackburn, where the seat of the diocese is loca ...

invited him to become vicar of

Bretherton Bretherton is a small village and civil parish in the Borough of Chorley, Lancashire, England, situated to the south west of Leyland and east of Tarleton. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 669. Its name suggests pre-con ...

and an Assistant Bishop of Blackburn. He served as the diocesan ecumenical officer, using his experience of working with African churches to good effect. In 2001 Nestor joined the monastic Society of the Sacred Mission in Durham, where he also acted as an honorary assistant bishop in Durham diocese.

Notes and references

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nestor, Donald Anglican bishops of Lesotho 20th-century Anglican Church of Southern Africa bishops 1938 births 2003 deaths Academic staff of the University of Botswana