Johannesburg, 04 February, 2025 / 9:11 pm (ACI Africa).
At the inauguration of the Catholic Church’s 2025 Jubilee Year in the Catholic Archdiocese of Johannesburg in South Africa, Stephen Cardinal Brislin has highlighted the “good values and morals” that the Blessed Benedict Daswa exemplified throughout his life, and urged the people of God to emulate him.
Blessed Benedict Daswa, a 43-year-old teacher from Limpopo, Northern South Africa, was killed by fellow villagers for his lack of belief in witchcraft, which he considered to be against the teachings of God.
In his homily during the inauguration of the 2025 Jubilee Year in his Metropolitan See on February 1, the Feast Day of South Africa’s first potential saint, Cardinal Brislin highlighted generosity, integrity, and forgiveness as some of virtues that the Blessed Benedict Daswa exemplified.
“It is appropriate that we are celebrating the opening of the Holy Year on the day on which we commemorate Blessed Benedict Daswa, who was a person who served God faithfully and offered up his life rather than commit sin,” South Africa’s newest Cardinal said during the celebration that was held at Christ the King Cathedral of his Metropolitan See.
Blessed Benedict Daswa, he said, “was a man of integrity, a man who had good values and good morals. Maintaining his morals was more important to him than life itself, and so he was willing to lay down his life for what he believed.”