Franziskus Xaver Hennemann S.A.C. (27 October 1882 – 17 January 1951), was a

Titular Bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

in South Africa.

Biography

Franziskus Xaver Hennemann, also known as Francis Hennemann, was born in Germany in Holthausen (

Schmallenberg Schmallenberg (; ) is a town and a Luftkurort, climatic health resort in the Hochsauerlandkreis, High Sauerland District, Germany. By area, it is the :de:Liste der 100 flächengrößten Städte und Gemeinden Deutschlands, third biggest of all cit ...

). The son of a tradesman, he visited the school in Fredeburg (Schmallenberg). On 24 January 1907 he was ordained a priest for the

Pallottines The Pallottines, officially named the Society of the Catholic Apostolate (), abbreviated SAC, is a Society of Apostolic Life of Pontifical Right for men in the Roman Catholic Church, founded in 1835 by the Roman Catholic priest Saint Vincent Pa ...

. On 16 July 1913

Pope Pius X Pope Pius X (; born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto; 2 June 1835 – 20 August 1914) was head of the Catholic Church from 4 August 1903 to his death in August 1914. Pius X is known for vigorously opposing Modernism in the Catholic Church, modern ...

appointed Hennemann Titular Bishop of Coptus and ordered him coadjutor of the seriously ill

Vicar Apostolic A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pre ...

of Cameroon, Heinrich Vieter. On 7 November 1914 he was appointed Vicar Apostolic of Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Yaoundé. After all German missionaries were expelled from the former German colonies in Africa following

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, Hennemann was sent to South Africa in 1922 to become the prefect of the Cape of Good Hope Central District Vicariate, which covers today’s Roman Catholic Diocese of Oudtshoorn. On 14 September 1922, the ship Wangani arrived in

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

harbour. Among the passengers were Hennemann and eight of his confreres. In 1933 he was appointed Vicar Apostolic of the Cape of Good Hope Western District Vicariate, which later became the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cape Town. On 2 September 1948, Hennemann issued a letter, addressed to all the clergy of his diocese, in which he condemned the newly-elected Nationalist government's

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

policy as "noxious, unchristian and destructive". Hennemann retired on 12 November 1949, and was succeeded by Bishop (later Archbishop and Cardinal) Owen McCann. He died at the age of 68 on 17 January 1951 in Cape Town and is buried in the St. Mary's Cathedral, Cape Town.Gcatholic.org: Metropolitan Archdiocese of Cape Town
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Publications

Author

*''Sieben Jahre Missionsarbeit in Kamerun'', Zeitfragen aus der Weltmission, 1918 *''Zwei Grundfragen afrikanischer Missionsarbeit'', ZM 9, 1919 *''Die religiösen Vorstellungen der heidnischen Bewohner Süd-Kameruns'', Ehrengabe dt. Wiss., Franz Fessler (Hrsg.), 1920 *''Werden und Wirken eines Afrikamissionars. Erlebtes und Erschautes.'', Pallottiner Verlag Limburg an der Lahn, 1922

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hennemann, Franziskus 1951 deaths Roman Catholic anti-apartheid activists White South African anti-apartheid activists South African anti-apartheid activists Pallottine bishops German Roman Catholic missionaries Roman Catholic missionaries in Cameroon 1882 births People from Hochsauerlandkreis German colonial people in Kamerun Roman Catholic missionaries in South Africa 20th-century Roman Catholic titular archbishops German emigrants to South Africa 20th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in South Africa Roman Catholic bishops of Cape Town Roman Catholic bishops of Yaoundé