Xavier Johnsai Munyongani (1 January 1950 - 15 October 2017) was a Zimbabwean Roman Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Gweru The Roman Catholic Diocese of Gweru () is a suffragan diocese in the city of Gweru in the ecclesiastical province of Bulawayo in Zimbabwe. History * November 14, 1946: Established as Apostolic Prefecture of Fort Victoria * June 24, 1950: Promot ...

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

from June 2013 until his death in October 2017. He was appointed bishop on 15 June 2013 by Pope Francis. He was installed at

Gweru Gweru, originally known as Gwelo, is a city in central Zimbabwe. It is on the centre of Midlands Province. Originally an area known to the Ndebele as "The Steep Place" because of the Gweru River's high banks, in 1894 it became the site of a m ...

in the Diocese of Gweru on 14 September 2013. He died in office on 15 October 2017 at the age of 67 years.

Early life and education

He was born on 1 January 1950 at Mutero Mission in Gutu District in the Diocese of Masvingo,

Masvingo Province Masvingo, previously named Victoria, is a province in southeastern Zimbabwe. It has a population of 1.638 million as of the 2022 census, ranking fifth out of Zimbabwe's ten provinces. Established by the British South Africa Company, it was one o ...

in the southern part of Zimbabwe. He was the 8th born out of the 10 children in his family. He attended primary schools in Gutu District. He then entered the ''Chikwingwizha Minor Seminary'' in Gweru Catholic Diocese where he attended secondary school between 1967 and 1970. He was then admitted to Chishawasha Major Seminary near

Harare Harare ( ), formerly Salisbury, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of , a population of 1,849,600 as of the 2022 Zimbabwe census, 2022 census and an estimated 2,487,209 people in its metrop ...

, where he studied both

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 ...

from 1971 until 1977.

Priest

On 20 August 1977 he was ordained a priest for the diocese of Gweru, by Bishop

Tobias Wunganayi Chiginya Tobias Wunganayi Chiginya (born 5 March 1935 in Hama, Zimbabwe – 14 January 1987) was a Zimbabwean clergyman and bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and overs ...

, Bishop of Gweru. He was

incardinated Incardination is the formal term in the Catholic Church for a clergyman being under a bishop or other ecclesiastical superior. It is also sometimes used to refer to laity who may transfer to another part of the church. Examples include transfers ...

a priest of Masvingo Diocese, Zimbabwe on 9 February 1999. In 2007 he was appointed as the Chaplain of the Zimbabwean Catholics in England and Wales, by the

Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops' Conference The Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops' Conference (ZCBC), established by the Holy See on October 1, 1969, is the episcopal conference of the Catholic Church in Zimbabwe. The statutes of the Conference were approved on March 25, 1981. The ZCBC is a member ...

(ZCBC). He took up that post in June 2008. In 2010,

Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...

conferred upon him the title of

Monsignor Monsignor (; ) is a form of address or title for certain members of the clergy in the Catholic Church. Monsignor is the apocopic form of the Italian ''monsignore'', meaning "my lord". "Monsignor" can be abbreviated as Mons.... or Msgr. In some ...

Bishop

Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

appointed him Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Gweru on 15 June 2013. He was consecrated and installed at Gweru Mkoba Stadium, in

, in the Diocese of Gweru on 14 September 2013. The Principal Consecrator was Bishop

Michael Dixon Bhasera Michael Dixon Bhasera, (born 11 November 1949), is a Zimbabwean Roman Catholic prelate who served as the Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Masvingo, Zimbabwe from 1999 until his resignation in 2022. Before that, from June 1991 until Febr ...

, Bishop of Masvingo assisted by Archbishop

Robert Christopher Ndlovu Robert Christopher Ndlovu was installed as the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Harare on 21 August 2004. Education and career Ndlovu was born on 25 December 1955 at Tshongokwe, Matabeleland, Rhodesia. He was educated at the Marist Brothers Dete i ...

, Archbishop of Harare and Bishop Martin Munyanyi, Bishop Emeritus of Gweru. In 2015 Bishop Munyongani represented the ZCBC at the Synod of Bishops held at the Vatican from the 4th to the 25th October 2015 and presided by Pope Francis. In 2017 Bishop Xavier Johnsai Munyongani was diagnosed with

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

. On 15 October 2017 that cancer killed him while hospitalized at the Avenues Clinic, in the city of Harare, Zimbabwe. He died three months shy of his 68th birthday.

References

Succession table

(11 May 2006 - 28 April 2012)

External links