Joseph Zimmermann ( M.S.F.) (12 December 1923 – 4 December 1988) was a Swiss

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

prelate who served as bishop of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Morombe The Roman Catholic Diocese of Morombe (''Latin: Moromben(sis)'') is a diocese located in the Ecclesiastical province of Toliara in Madagascar. The episcopal see is in the city of Morombe. History On April 25, 1960, Pope John XXIII established th ...

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

. Zimmermann was born in Birmenstorf,

Aargau Aargau, more formally the Canton of Aargau (german: Kanton Aargau; rm, Chantun Argovia; french: Canton d'Argovie; it, Canton Argovia), is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of eleven districts and its capita ...

, Switzerland, and attended the College du Christ-Roi in

Nuolen Wangen is a municipality in March District in the canton of Schwyz in Switzerland. The municipality includes Wangen itself, together with the hamlet of Nuolen. Geography Wangen has an area, , of . Of this area, 64.9% is used for agricultural p ...

. A member of the , he made his first vows in 1945 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1950. In 1955 he began working as a missionary in Madagascar. In 1960,

Pope John XXIII Pope John XXIII ( la, Ioannes XXIII; it, Giovanni XXIII; born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, ; 25 November 18813 June 1963) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 28 October 1958 until his death in June 19 ...

created the

and named Zimmermann its bishop. Zimmermann was the first Swiss member of the Missionaries of the Holy Family to be made bishop. He was consecrated on 23 October by , with Paul Joseph Girouard and as principal co-consecrators. On 20 November he was installed at the cathedral in

Morombe Morombe is an urban municipality (commune urbaine) on the south-west coast in Atsimo-Andrefana, Madagascar. It can be reached by the National road 55 or pirogue from Morondava. It is situated at 283 km from Tulear. An airport serves the town. ...

. As of 1965, the diocese of Morombe contained approximately 121,000 people, 10,000 of whom were Catholic. In 1988 Zimmermann died in office after suffering a fall. His body is buried in Morombe.

References

1923 births 1988 deaths Accidental deaths from falls Accidental deaths in Madagascar People from Baden District, Aargau Roman Catholic bishops of Morombe Swiss expatriates in Madagascar Swiss Roman Catholic bishops 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Madagascar {{Africa-RC-bishop-stub

See also

References