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Name: BAUR, Edouard (Father)

Nee: 'Fr. Etienne'

Birth Date: 23.4.1835 Alsace

Death Date: 29.11.1913 Zanzibar

First Date: 1863

Last Date: 1903

Profession: Holy Ghost Fathers Missionary - brought coffee seeds

Area: Bagamoyo, Zanzibar

Book Reference: Binks, North

General Information:

Binks - from Bura a hundred coffee plants were taken to St. Austin's Catholic Mission, near Nairobi, during 1900. Father Bernard said in a letter of 25th Sept. 1931 - "Coffee was also planted by Dr Charters and Mr John Patterson at Kibwezi at the Scottish Industrial Mission during 1893. Later they also transferred plants to Kikuyu. …"
North - arr. Zanzibar Mission 1863; Superior of mission at Bagamoyo, Feb 1889; after 40 years in EA missions, dep. Zanzibar for Europe 27-4-1903.
Bagamoyo - On June 16, 1863 the first Holy Ghost Missionaries landed in Zanzibar. They were Father Anthony Horner, Edward Baur and 2 brothers Celestine and Felician, all of them from Alsace
Henry J. Koren, Spiritan East African Memorial, 1994: His father had served as an artillery officer under Napoleon, but the son chose to serve God in the Congregation.  He had transferred to it from the senior seminary of Strasbourg and was ordained a priest in Langonnet.  On August 28, 1862 he made his vows and was appointed to the new mission that was to be started in East Africa, the Prefecture of Zanguebar.   Only four days before his profession, the Congregation had decided to accept that mission. Fr. Antoine Homer and the Brothers Felicien Gruneisen and Celestin Cansot together with him constituted the pioneering team for the new venture. To get to his destination, he travelled to Reunion where Fr. Homer had been working for some time and from there the pioneers sailed to Zanzibar. They arrived there on June 16, 1863, and Bp. Maupoint's Vicar General, Fr. Fava handed them the keys to the mission.  As Fr. Baur's name did not sound suitable for use in the new mission, he became henceforth known there and later also elsewhere as Pere Etienne.

With a hospital, staffed by a doctor and Sisters from Reunion, a trade school and an agricultural school and large dormitory structures to house  the many young children ransomed from the slave market, the mission drew widespread attention and admiration among all the nations that had trade relations with Zanzibar or wanted to abolish the slave trade.  The island was ruled by Sultan Seyyid Majid, who gave the mission his full protection and all desirable room to pursue its purpose. From the very start these pioneers saw Zanzibar only as the first step in the great enterprise to evangelize the mainland and to penetrate deeply into the continent. All by itself, the Zanzibar island mission had no future as the island, except for slaves and foreigners, was fully Islamic. When the ransomed children reached marriageable age, Pere Etienne took them along to Bagamoyo, where in 1868 a new mission was opened.  Significantly, he thought, the very name Bagamoyo means "To the heart (of Africa)." It was destined to become famous as the starting point of all inland travellers--missionaries, explorers, hunters, traders and even what we would call today tourists.   Pere Etienne ruled this mission with its schools, plantations, Christian villages etc., while Fr. Homer took care of the Zanzibar establishment and the general affairs of the Zanguebar Prefecture.  Bagamoyo, on the main land, has been justly called "the mother of all the churches in East Africa": directly or indirectly they all owed their origin to Bagamoyo. In 1880, Pere Etienne succeeded Fr. Homer as vice-prefect of the prefecture under the nominal authority of the Superior General as Prefect, until three years later the Holy See appointed Bp. Raoul de Courmont Vicar Apostolic of Zanguebar. There were then central missions in Bagamoyo, Mhonda, Morogoro and Mandera in what was soon to become German East Africa (Tanganyika).  The bishop made Pere Etienne his vicar general for the German-controlled part of his immense vicariate and left him a free hand in its administration, while he himself took care of the British-controlled area known as Kenya. The Arab Revolt against the Germans placed Pere Etienne and his confreres in a delicate position.  They had always had excellent relations with the Arabs; on the other hand, they did not wish to offend the Germans who undoubtedly would be victorious.   Pere Etienne maneuvered so wisely that both Arabs and Germans continued to see him as a friend, even though he wished to remain neutral in the conflict. 

When in 1896 Bp. Emile Allgeyer replaced Bp. de Courmont, he maintained Pere Etienne as his vicar general for Tanganyika.  The Spiritan missions there became the new Vicariate of Bagamoyo in 1906 when Bp. Francois Vogt took over that jurisdiction.  Pere  Etienne could present to him the results of forty-four years of labor:  sixteen solidly established missions as centers of evangelization.  Omitting those already enumerated above, they were Tununguo, Matombo, Mgeta, Kilema, Kibosho, Gare, Rombo and Tanga. In 1910 this vicariate was again divided when under Bp. Joseph Munsch the last five of these missions became the Vicariate of Kilimanjaro. From 1907 on, Pere Etienne devoted himself fully to the originating missions of Zanzibar and Bagamoyo with their manifold works.

We may mention here also his literary activity.  As early as 1867 he let the Protestant mission printshop of Zanzibar produce his Swahili catechism and Swahili book of Sunday Epistle and Gospel readings.  Later the Spiritan mission of Zanzibar had its own printshop, but it was soon transferred to Bagamoyo.   In 1881 it printed his Swahili-French manual.  Articles from his hand appeared in many journals and magazines. He was so highly regarded that governments and societies conferred many honors on him, of which we can name the Order of the Red Eagle and the Order of the Crown given by the German Emperor.  He simply kept the whole collection tied in a bundle in his closet and on Sundays would allow the apprentices who had excelled during the previous week to wear them after breakfast. Worn out by old age, he died and was buried in the mission's community cemetery. "He never deviated from the forward course he had chosen; he thoroughly discussed his undertaking with all concerned; he respected the initiatives of his subordinates, so that they could develop their full potential as capable and happy people; he was wise, friendly, helpful and unconditionally honest and loyal in his dealings with people of every rank and position; and with all the honors bestowed on him, he remained humble and unpretentious."

 

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