MALAWI: Saint Kizito Minor Seminary Alumni Lay Wreathes at Resting Place of Late Archbishop Ziyaye

Sam Kalimba

The Association of those who went through St. Kizito Minor Seminary has honoured the soul of late Archbishop Tarcisio Gervazio Ziyaye who until his death was a member of the Association and the Archbishop of Archdiocese of Lilongwe by laying wreaths and rose flowers in the crypt which is in the Chapel of St. John Paul II within the Maula Cathedral.

Mr. Peter Chando, chairperson of the Association said it is the tradition for their association to hold memorial mass service for all the departed in a particular year.

“We normally hold a general memorial mass for those members we lose in a year in November on All Souls Day or there about. However, we thought of celebrating his life in a special way and spiritually,” he said.

Chando also said that the late Archbishop used to attend and celebrate most of the memorial masses that the association arranged.

Before laying of the wreaths, the Archdiocesan Administrator of the Archdiocese of Lilongwe Monsignor Patrick Thawale presided a memorial mass concelebrated with priests from the Diocese of Dedza and Archdiocese of Lilongwe. In his homily, Msgr. Thawale told the congregation in the Maula Cathedral that the late Archbishop Tarcisio Ziyaye knew how to separate character and reputation.

“Saint Paul is urging us to focus on our character and not on our reputation. Character is what you are while reputation is what people say you are. Each one of us must have encountered a different ‘Ambuye’ Ziyaye in our lives. You may have known him differently from the way I knew him. Let us learn from the life of late Archbishop Ziyaye and emulate him who maintained his character well. May this be one of the reasons we are here as we pray for his soul and celebrate his life,” he preached.

After Mass, the priests led the group of the Alumni to Chapel of St. John Paul II where the late Archbishop’s crypt lies. Each of the alumnus present was given an opportunity to lay his wreath or rose flower on the crypt.

The late Archbishop Ziyaye went through St. Kizito where he did his secondary education. He then he joined Kachebere Major Seminary for Philosophy and Social Science and St. Peter`s theological Seminary in Zomba for theological studies. Ordained to priesthood on 14th August, 1977, he was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Dedza on 21st January, 1992; Bishop of Lilongwe on 29th November 1994; and Archbishop of Blantyre on 15th February, 2001.

Upon elevating Lilongwe to archdiocese on 5th July 2013, the late Ziyaye was appointed Archbishop of Lilongwe and was installed on 21st September, 2013.

He died on 13th December and was laid to rest on 19th December, 2021 in the Chapel of St. John Paul II within the Maula Cathedral.

Meanwhile Fr. Silvester Kansimbi of the congregation of the Holy Spirit is writing a tribute book about the life of the late Archbishop Ziyaye.