MISSIONARY BENEDICTINE SISTERS OF TUTZING

1931-33: The first sisters came to the then Portuguese colony of Angola and founded the stations Galangue, Kuvango and Cuchi in the Kuando-Kubango Province, working with the Redemptorist Fathers. Only Cuchi remains today.
1967: Four new missionaries settled in Cazombo, in the Moxico Province located on the upper part of the Zambesi River, where they worked with the Benedictine missionaries from Singeverga, Portugal.
1972: The Serpa Pinta mission, today Menongue, was opened. But in 1975-77, all stations were given up in raging civil war.
1977: Three sisters returned to Menongue; Cuchi was destroyed and Cazombo couldn’t be reached.
1983: The sisters settled in the capitol, Luanda and, in 1998, in the totally destroyed Kuito Bié. Young Angolan women have since joined the community so today there is a promising novitiate in Luanda. The Angolan missions, once a region of the Generalate District, current belong to the Iberian Priory whose seat is in Portugal.

The war destroyed not only the once flourishing, fruitful country with its beautiful cities and all its infrastructure at the cost of many lives, but it left behind much pain and misery in the hearts of the people.

As in all wars, women and children are especially affected.