ZAMBIA, the centenary of Jesuits in Zambia, 2005, Scott 1066a
A rare sight to see: four Jesuits on the same first day cover:
Bishop Paul Lungu, Fr. Joseph
Moreau, Fr. Jules Torrend, and St.
Ignatius Loyola
Fr. Henri Depelchin (1822-1900), who had started St. Xavier's School in Kolkata (Calcutta) in 1859 and in 1871 had gone on to be rector at St. Xavier's College in Mumbai (Bombay), was chosen in 1877 by the superior general of the Jesuits, Fr. Peter Beckx, to lead a dozen Jesuits to the upper parts of the Zambezi River Valley. By May of 1882, half of them had died and Depelchin was recalled to Belgium. But during his four year stay there before eventually heading back to India, he recruited Moreau and Torrend to try once again to establish a mission, and they succeeded.
The Church of the Immaculate Conception, Chikuni
ZAMBIA, 1991, the 5th centenary of Ignatius Loyola's birth, Scott
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ZAMBIA, 2005 the centenary of Jesuits in Zambia featuring Fr. Moreau
and the Immaculate Conception Church at Chikuni, Scott 1065
The stamps above show the old Chikuni church in Southern Zambia, a mission station founded in 1905 by two French Jesuits, Fr. Joseph Moreau, SJ and Fr. Jules Torrend, SJ. Moreau had talked to Chief Monze in 1902, and with his permission took four young men including the chief's son to learn farming in Zimbabwe. They taught him Tonga. In 1905 they returned and as a local plaque reads: "Chikuni was founded under this tree by Fr. J. Moreau S.J. with Haatontola, Jahaliso, Bbinya and Jojo. July 14, 1905." Chikuni is also the location of the Jesuit-run Canisius Secondary School and the Jesuit-run radio station which were established much later. The church was built in 1911 by Fr. Moreau and Br. John Haupt, SJ; only the tower remains today.
St. Peter Claver Church, Kasisi
ZAMBIA, 2005 the centenary of Jesuits in Zambia featuring Fr. Torrend and St. Peter Claver Church at Kasisi, Scott 1065
