Boniface Lele (14 April 1947 – 9 April 2014) was a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

prelate A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Minister (Christianity), Christian clergy who is an Ordinary (church officer), ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which me ...

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

. He was the

Archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mombasa from 2005 until his health-related resignation in 2013. Before that, from 1995 until 2005, he was the

Bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kitui, a Suffragan diocese of Mombasa. He died on 9 April 2014 as Archbishop Emeritus of Mombasa, Kenya. He was 66 years, one week shy of his 67th birthday.

Early life

Boniface Lele was born on 14 April 1947 at Kitui Diocese in the city of Kyangwithya located in

Kitui County Kitui County is one of the 47 counties of Kenya in the former Eastern Province of Kenya. Its capital and largest town is Kitui. Mwingi is also another major urban centre. The county has a population of about 1.2 million people (as of 2024)Ny ...

, Kenya. After studying

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

and

theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

, he was ordained a priest in December 1974.

Priest

He was ordained a priest of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kitui on 8 December 1974. He served in that capacity until 2 November 1995.

Bishop

Father Boniface Lele was named bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kitui,

, on 2 November 1995. He was

consecrated Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects (a ...

and installed at Kitui on 2 February 1996 by the hands of Jozef Cardinal Tomko, Cardinal-Priest of

Santa Sabina The Basilica of Saint Sabina (, ) is a historic church on the Aventine Hill in Rome, Italy. It is a titular minor basilica and mother church of the Roman Catholic Order of Preachers, better known as the Dominicans. Santa Sabina is the oldest ex ...

assisted by Bishop William Dunne, Prefect of Kitui and Maurice Michael Otunga, Archbishop of Nairobi. On 1 April 2005, he was appointed Archbishop of Mombasa, Kenya. He succeeded Archbishop John Joseph Njenga who retired the same day. He served there until 1 November 2013, when he resigned and became the Archbishop Emeritus of Mombasa, Kenya for health reasons. He died on 9 April 2014, from a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

at the age of 66, five days before his 67th birthday. He was buried on 22 April 2014 inside a

grotto A grotto or grot is a natural or artificial cave or covered recess. Naturally occurring grottoes are often small caves near water that are usually flooded or often flooded at high tide. Sometimes, artificial grottoes are used as garden fea ...

carved out of a coral rock beneath the ''Holy Ghost Cathedral Mombasa'' in

Mombasa Mombasa ( ; ) is a coastal city in southeastern Kenya along the Indian Ocean. It was the first capital of British East Africa, before Nairobi was elevated to capital status in 1907. It now serves as the capital of Mombasa County. The town is ...

. The chief celebrant of the final

requiem mass A Requiem (Latin: ''rest'') or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead () or Mass of the dead (), is a Mass of the Catholic Church offered for the repose of the souls of the deceased, using a particular form of the Roman Missal. It is u ...

was John Cardinal Njue, Archbishop of Nairobi and chairman of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB).

References

Succession table

(19 October 1956 - 2 November 1995) (25 October 1988 - 1 April 2005)

External links