Antonin Guillermain (1 January 1861 – 14 July 1896) was a Catholic missionary who was Vicar Apostolic of Northern Nyanza in what is now

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

from January 1895 until his death in July 1896.

Early years

Antonin Guillermain was born on 1 January 1861 in

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

, France. He became a novice of the

White Fathers The White Fathers (), officially known as the Missionaries of Africa (), and abbreviated MAfr, are a Roman Catholic society of apostolic life of pontifical right (for men). They were founded in 1868 by Charles-Martial Allemand-Lavigerie, who w ...

on 3 September 1883, and was ordained as a priest on 23 September 1887. His first assignment was as personal secretary to Cardinal

Charles Lavigerie Charles Martial Allemand Lavigerie, M. Afr. (31 October 1825 – 26 November 1892) was a French Catholic prelate and missionary who served as Archbishop of Carthage and Primate of Africa from 1884 to 1892. He previously served as Archbishop o ...

, the leader of the society. He was then assigned to missionary work in Central Africa.

Missionary

Guillermain left Marseille on 17 July 1888 destined for

Zanzibar Zanzibar is a Tanzanian archipelago off the coast of East Africa. It is located in the Indian Ocean, and consists of many small Island, islands and two large ones: Unguja (the main island, referred to informally as Zanzibar) and Pemba Island. ...

, with Léonce Bridoux, Vicar Apostolic of Tanganyika, and five other missionaries. He was to remain in Zanzibar, replacing a missionary who had been assigned to Nyanza. He went on to Nyanza in September 1890, where he was assigned to the

Rubaga Lubaga is a hill in Kampala, Uganda's capital and largest city. The name comes from the Luganda word ''okubaga'', describing a process of "planning" or "strengthening" a structure while constructing it. For example, ''okubaga ekisenge'' means t ...

mission, near

Kampala Kampala (, ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,875,834 (2024) and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kampala, Kawempe Division, Kawempe, Makindy ...

. He was briefly held prisoner during the 1892 civil war between supporters of the Anglicans and the Catholics. At the end of May 1892 he and two other missionaries founded the mission of Notre-Dame de l'Equateur at

Buddu Buddu is a county (Ssaza) of the kingdom of Buganda in what is now Uganda. Location Buddu lies on the northwest shore of Lake Victoria in the Central Region of Uganda. Buddu is divided from the rest of the kingdom of Buganda by the wide and swa ...

, opposite the large island of Sissé in the north of

Lake Victoria Lake Victoria is one of the African Great Lakes. With a surface area of approximately , Lake Victoria is Africa's largest lake by area, the world's largest tropics, tropical lake, and the world's second-largest fresh water lake by surface are ...

. Shortly afterwards he returned to Rubaga.

Bishop

The Apostolic Vicariate of Victoria Nyanza was divided into three parts in 1894. Bishop John Joseph Hirth took the Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Nyanza, the English

Mill Hill Missionaries The Mill Hill Missionaries (MHM), officially known as the Saint Joseph's Missionary Society of Mill Hill (), is a Catholic society of apostolic life founded in 1866 by Herbert A. Vaughan. History The society was founded in 1866 by Herbert A. ...

took the eastern part, called the Apostolic Vicariate of Upper Nile, and Antonin Guillermain was assigned the western part, called the Apostolic Vicariate of Northern Nyanza, now the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kampala. On 12 January 1895 Guillermain was appointed Titular Bishop of Thabraca and Vicar Apostolic of Northern Victoria Nyanza. Guillermain moved the seminary from Rubaga to Kisubi on Lake Victoria in 1895. He was ordained as bishop on 28 October 1895. He died on 14 July 1896. His unexpected death was caused by a

Viral hemorrhagic fever Viral hemorrhagic fevers (VHFs) are a diverse group of diseases. "Viral" means a health problem caused by infection from a virus, " hemorrhagic" means to bleed, and "fever" means an unusually high body temperature. Bleeding and fever are comm ...

. The next year Henri Streicher was appointed his successor.

References

Sources

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Guillermain, Antonin 1861 births 1896 deaths 19th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Uganda White Fathers priests French expatriates in Uganda Roman Catholic bishops of Kampala