The Saint Charles Borromeo Major Seminary of Nyakibanda is 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 ...

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as cle ...

near to

Butare Butare (), also known as Huye and formerly known as Astrida, is a city with a population of 62,823 (2022 census) in the Southern Province of Rwanda and the capital of Huye district. It is the seventh largest town in Rwanda by population. Histo ...

, in the Gishamvu sector of the

Huye District Huye is one of the eight districts (''Akarere'') that make up Rwanda's Southern Province. It has a total surface area of 581.6 square Kilometers. It has thirteen sectors and 77 cells with a total of 508 umudugudus (villages) in total. The district ...

in Southern Province of

Rwanda Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by ...

, below the mountain chain called "Ibisi bya Nyakibanda". It is about from Butare.

Overview

The Nyakibanda Major Seminary was created in 1936. The seminary is under the jurisdiction of the Conference of Bishops of Rwanda, who in turn are under the

Holy See The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...

in Rome, which is represented by the

Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples The Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples (CEP; ) was a congregation (Roman Curia), congregation of the Roman Curia of the Catholic Church in Rome, responsible for Catholic missions, missionary work and related activities. It is also kn ...

. As of 2007 there were 186 seminarians taking the four-year course. As of 2011 the rector was father

Antoine Kambanda Antoine Kambanda (born 10 November 1958) is a Rwandan prelate of the Catholic Church who has been Archbishop of Kigali since 2019. He was Bishop of Kibungo from 2013 to 2018. Pope Francis raised him to the rank of cardinal on 28 November 202 ...

. Kambanda was appointed in February 2006. He replaced Monseigneur Smaragde Mbonyintege, who had been named a bishop.

References

Charles Borromeo Catholic Church in Rwanda

Educational institutions established in 1936 Buildings and structures in Butare Education in Rwanda {{Rwanda-stub