PERAMIHO PRIORY CELEBRATES 120th YEAR OF BENEDICTINE PRESENCE
July 1, 2021 marked the 120 years of celebrating God’s faithfulness to the Priory of Peramiho with the first four missionaries, Sr. Magdalena Hessing, Sr. Mechtildis Dickhoff, Sr. Constantia Mayr and Sr. Valeria Kuhlmann who laid the foundation of the Priory.
With true missionary zeal, they bore patiently the difficulties posed by the tropical climate, unknown diseases, new language and different culture. Despite these, our four pioneer missionaries never wavered in their conviction to work tirelessly for the Church of Tanzania.
They were armed with an inspiration deeply rooted on the Sixth Fundamental Principle of our Father Founder Andreas Joseph George Amrhein:
“For a good marriage it is important that both husband and wife have a similar degree of Christian faith and civilization. The Christian education of women and girls, therefore, is also part of missionary work. However, experience has shown that women can perform this task better than men. For this reason, it is advisable that wherever promising missionary activities take place, both monks and sisters cooperate. The women take special care for the education of women and provide in this way an essential condition for Christian marriages and families”.
These initial thoughts, indeed, moved the four pioneer Sisters to start immediately a hospital and a school.
The unique, memorable and meaningful way of celebrating 120 years of our Peramiho Priory is the sisters’ way of thanking God for His ever faithful love and mercy.