St Léon Minor Seminary of Kabgayi is a Catholic church minor seminary located in
Kabgayi
Kabgayi is just south of Gitarama in Muhanga District, Southern Province, Rwanda, southwest of Kigali.
It was established as a Catholic Church mission in 1905. It became the center for the Roman Catholic Church in Rwanda and is the site of t ...
, Southern province of Rwanda. The school is owned by Kabgayi Diocese of Catholic Church of Rwanda. Established in 1913,
the seminary is the oldest formal school in Rwanda.
The minor seminary of Kabgayi had educated a number of notable people both in the church and the politics. The seminary's alumni
include two former Presidents of Republic of Rwanda, several catholic church bishops, two former Presidents of Rwanda's senate, tens of ministers, several members of the parliament and hundreds of Catholic priests.
Foundation
After the creation of
Apostolic Vicariate of Kivu in 1912,
its first Vicar Bishop
John Joseph Hirth founded Saint Léon Minor Seminary in Nyaruhengeri near Save. The seminary opened in January 1913 with 16 students from Rwaza, Nyundo, Kabgayi and Save. On 4 October 1913, the new established seminary of Nyaruhengeri was transferred to Kabgayi where it has been operating up today.
The first 16 students of the Minor Seminary of Nyaruhengeri then of Kabgayi
are Albert Kanyamudale, Aloys Balitubya, Ignace Ndenzaho, Ferdinand Kabunda, Mercure Bazilake, Boniface Mufuri, Laurent Kirobafi, Ananias Kanyamugenge, Simon Bapfakurera, Laurent Sehene, Albert Ndagijimana, Joseph Binego, Aster Senzige, Velan Majanja and Abraham Aholihisa. On 9 October 1913, new students arrived at Kabgayi to start the first year of seminary.
As of 2012, St Léon Minor Seminary of Kabgayi educated 5078 students.
Notable alumni
As the oldest formal education institution, the influence of St Léon Minor Seminary of Kabgayi is visible in political space and Catholic church of Rwanda. Among the notable alumni include:
* Bishop
Aloys Bigirumwami: First Rwanda Catholic bishop
*
Gregoire Kayibanda: Rwandan politician and former President
*
Juvenal Habyarima: Rwandan Politician and former President
*
Gaspard Cyimana: Rwandan politician and former Minister of Finance
*
Alexis Kagame
Alexis Kagame (15 May 1912 – 2 December 1981) was a Rwandan philosopher, linguist, historian, poet and Catholic priest. His main contributions were in the fields of ethnohistory and "ethnophilosophy" (the study of indigenous philosophical sys ...
: African philosopher, poet, linguistic and Catholic priest
* Ngarambe Francois: Rwanda politician and General secretary of
FRP Inkotanyi
*
Cyprien Rugamba: Rwandan poet and religious leader
*
Bernard Makuza: Rwandan politician, former Senate President and Prime Minister
*
Augustin Banyaga: American born Mathematician
References
Catholic minor seminaries
{{RC-school-stub