BY IRENE LAMUNU
St Joseph’s Minor Seminary, Nyenga celebrated 100 years of existence at a colourful ceremony that was held at the school on 17th March 2024 The celebration began with Holy Mass celebrated by the Pope Nuncio to Uganda, H.E Archbishop Bianco Luigi. The Centennial celebrations
opened with the seminary band playing Uganda, Buganda, Vatican and the Seminary Anthems, while the flags were being raised according to the anthems sung. At 9:30 am, the Nuncio opened the new Centennial Multi-purpose building which is going to house the seminary Library and Computer Laboratory. The Nuncio also planted a tree to mark the 100 years of the seminary.
Shortly after planting the tree, a procession of eight Bishops, over 100 priests all of whom were old boys, four Papal knights, student representatives, lay old boys and seminary staff snaked from the Centennial building past the administration block, down past the
seminary gate to the seminary field where the congregation was waiting in high gear for Mass. The Holy Mass was graced with the presence of
eight Bishops including Archbishop Bianco Luigi, Archbishop of Kampala, Paul Ssemogerere, the host Bishop, Christopher Kakooza of Lugazi
Diocese, Emeritus Bishop of Lugazi Diocese, Mathias Ssekamanya, Bishop of Kotido, Dominic Eibu, Bishop of Masaka, Severus Jjumba, Bishop of Mityana, Joseph Anthony Zziwa, Former Pope Nuncio to Belgium, Emeritus Archbishop, Augustine Kasujja and the Secretary-General,
Episcopal conference, Msgr. John Kauta and hundreds of priests. The government was represented by the Deputy Speaker, Rt Hon.
Thomas Tayebwa and other district politicians from Buikwe district.
The Rector of the seminary, Fr. Eugene Safari revealed that the seminary started organizing the centenary celebrations two years back. When St Joseph’s Minor Seminary started operation in 1923 with Fr. John Reesinck as its first Rector, it had 39 pioneer students. In 1924 when it was officially opened, the population of the students had gone up to 43 students. The seminary has formatted hundreds of priests and laymen who have turned out to be responsible men serving in all capacities from government officials and others in the humanitarian industry. Today, the seminary has a population of 400 students.
During the centenary celebration, the seminary commissioned a new multi-purpose building to house a library and computer laboratory
beating the odds because according to history, Nyenga Seminary endured infrastructural and logistic challenges in its early years. All the
buildings were made of mud and bricks with grass-thatched roofs. Today, the seminary has a mixture of ancient architecture and modern
architecture, the first product of the seminary was seen in 1933.
Six alumni were ordained sub-deacons and five received the tonsure at Nsambya Cathedral. On 16th June 1935, five of the deacons were elevated to priests and today, there are hundreds of priests, both alive and dead who passed through the seminary. After 100 years, the seminary is still going strong with Fr. Eugene Safari as its current Rector. Nyenga Minor Seminary is found in Lugazi Diocese in Njeru Town Council, 69 Km along Kampala-Jinja highway.
