The 15^th of January holds a special place on the calendar for Benedictines throughout the world.  This day celebrates the Feast Day of St. Maurus and St. Placid, the first students of St. Benedict.  Our Benedictine community here at Hanga tend to lay more emphasis on this day than most other abbeys though, because St. Maurus is the namesake for our Abbey: St. Maurus’ Abbey.

As the year long celebration of our 50^th Jubilee continues to unfold, this years’ Feast Day of St. Maurus marks the golden anniversary of the profession of the first four monks of Hanga.  Of the three founding monks who are still living, two were in attendance for today’s mass in Hanga; Fr. Gregory Mwageni, who celebrated the mass, and Br. Joseph Kinunda.  They were both recognized for their significant role in the founding of this monastery and their continued commitment to the growth of this Benedictine community.  The remaining founder, Br. Bonaventure Malibiche, was unfortunately unable to attend today’s celebrations due to work commitments in Mbeya.

This year’s Feast Day of St. Maurus and St. Placid was a joyous continuation of our 50^th Jubilee celebrations, which will commence on the 20^th of August this year.

 On Sept. 6th, Hanga Abbey played host to one of Tanzania’s highest-ranking officials, Prime Minister Edward Lowassa.  The reason for the Prime Minster’s visit was to lay a foundation stone at the building site of the new Abbey Guest House, but the visit turned out to be much more.

With an entourage of over 200 government officials, the arrival of the Prime Minister was a sight the likes of which Hanga has never seen before.  A line of over 50 SUV’s crowded the tiny Abbey Drive as the officials made their way to the Guest House building site.  As the officials exited their cars, the monks of Hanga and the sounds of the Seminary Brass Band and the Hanga Choir received them warmly. They then seated themselves at the pavilion for the dedication ceremony.

After the short dedication ceremony and viewing of the Guest House construction, Abbot Thadeus presented a speech to the Prime Minister that touched on the history of the Benedictines in Africa and also the importance of the Guest House’s construction.  Following the Abbot’s speech, the Prime Minister addressed the crowd of 1,000 villagers that had gathered at the building site.

 Apart from praising the Abbey for its dedication to service in Tanzania, the Prime Minster took this opportunity to also address the rising public concern about corn prices in Southwest Tanzania.

During his time at the podium , the Prime Minister introduced the government’s new plan to raise the national price of corn and to also begin buying more corn from this region.  This plan was met by ecstatic applause from the crowd, and the applause only grew louder as he promised to personally donate 5,000,000 Tsh to the Guest House’s Construction.

 After the Prime Minister’s speech, a group of local villagers showed off some of their talents with a demonstration of the region’s traditional dances and songs.  The afternoon came to an end with a lunch inside the Abbey.