The Diocese of Mutare & The Carmelites in Zimbabwe - the Irish ...

swept place. Mel Hill spent his first African Christmas at Mount Melleray on supply and often told of his
Christmas dinner which consisted of two fried eggs!! Mount Melleray was originally known at The Rhino Valley
Farm with 3 000 acres stretching over hills, kopjes and fertile plains or valleys. The farm had been bought by
Bishop Chichester because immediately after the Second World War the government had moved a number of the
African people living in the Makoni-Rusape areas to Inyanga and as there were large numbers of Catholics the
Bishop wished to cater for them. While on a visit to Ireland, some kind benefactor gave the Bishop six hundred
pounds and the Bishop in gratitude called the new Mission, Mount Melleray after the Cistercian Monastery in
Ireland and as a remembrance of the work done by the Trappists in the Eastern Districts of Rhodesia.
Father Kaiback, S.J. founded the mission in 1945. Father was a good and saintly missionary but the world’s
worst builder!! In time all the buildings and sites were found to be unsatisfactory because of white ants and it was
decided to erect permanent buildings on a higher plateau. Father Boehi, S.M.B. from Fort Victoria was drafted in
to help Father Kaiback and Father Boehi writes: “We started immediately with the new school and made furrows
for irrigating the wheat fields. As there was no road to the top of the plateau, we made and build a short cut by
hand almost two miles from the main road which took six weeks to build. The wheat fields yielded a good crop
which nearly paid for the new threshing machine which was driven from the back wheel of a one ton truck. We
also threshed the neighbours grain, altogether over 1 000 bags. To draw water for the Mission, Father Boehi also
built a large water wheel which was twenty five feet in diameter”.
The Presentation Sisters who were mainly Irish but came from India came to Mount Melleray shortly after the
Carmelite takeover. The Presentation Sisters had been working in India for over one hundred years and after
India gaining Independence from England, some of the Sisters decided to come to Africa. Contacts were made
and six Sisters arrived in Rhodesia during 1949.
On arrival at Mount Melleray, the Sisters became aware of the primitive conditions of the place. The Dominican
Sisters were still in residence when the Presentation Sisters arrived and were able to show the new Sisters how to
cope with the difficulties, how to manage and improvise, when to fight and when to give in and laugh!! The
Presentation Sisters began their work by opening a primitive and much needed hospital. Father A. Corbett,
O.Carm., was resident at Mount Melleray at this time. Soon afterwards, Doctor Jim Barnes, his wife and family
came to help in the new hospital and Mel Hill reported at the time that “women have been coming down the
mountain in great numbers drawn by his bedside manner. When the first few women came everything was alright
but when more and more women arrived there was nowhere to put them. There was one male patient in the
men’s hut and he was moved out of this ‘hut’ and put under a tree to make room for the women. Ever since the
tree has been referred to as the men’s ward”!!
Mount Melleray lies directly underneath a mountain called ‘Mousi’, and today Saint Patrick’s High School,
Marist Brothers is just some minutes drive to the left of the mission. The view from the Mission can be
fascinating on a clear and sunny day and the sunsets spectacular.
The Catholic Church in Mutare (1898)
The first resident Priest stationed at Umtali was the Rev. Joseph Ronchi. Father Ronchi arrived in
Umtali during 1898. He stayed in Darlington at the house of a Mr. Sykes. Father acquired two stands
on 5 th Street, between A and B avenues and built a wood and iron house there.
Father Ronchi built a wood and iron Church on the same stands in 1899 and a Mr Richard Leslie
Bell and Martina Agnes Denhan were the first couple to be married in this Church on the 14 th of
February, 1900. Father William Withnell, one of four brother Priests, succeeded Father Ronchi
during February 1907 and started the monthly Mass at Penhalonga the same year.
13