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Important Sudan Church History Dates
37 AD - In Jerusalem, Israel, Baptism of Queen Candace’s minister, by Apostle Philip. The Ethiopian Eunuch formed first Christian (Messianic) Sudanese community in Meroe. This man could be had been Jew of Israel’s decent in Diaspora or Ethiopian African converted to Judaism who in turn converted to Christianity. Acts 8:26-40) The Sudan is the ancient Biblical Ethiopian
54-68 - Nero’s soldiers explore the Nile, apparently up to its sources in Uganda.
284 - First monasteries in Phyle during the persecutions of Decius and Diocletian.
325 - First Bishop of Phyle (1st cataract).
350 - Fall of Meroe by a king of Axum.
450 - Silko, first Christian king of Ibrim
540 - Three Christian Kingdoms( Nubia) exist: Nobatia (cap. Faras), Makuria (Dongola), Alwa (Soba)
543 - Priest Julianus evangelises Faras
569 - Longinus, Bishop of Nobatia, evangelises Soba
622 - The Hijra, beginning of Moslem calendar
638 - Islam in Egypt
652 - The BACT or Pact, an agreement between Christian Kings of Sudan and Moslem leaders in Egypt; it lasted up to 1275
745 - Cyriacus (or Kyriakos), king of Dongola, marches with a Christian army, up to Cairo to free the Copt Patriarch Mikhail kept in prison by the Moslems.
785 - First translation of the Bible in Arabic
835 - Girgis I, king of Dongola, accompanied by his Christian Knights, travels to Baghdad to deal with Caliph al-Mu’tasim on political matters.
1172 - Salaheddin’s army defeats the Christian army of Dongola
1218 - St. Francis of Assisi comes to Cairo to convert the sultan of Egypt.
1275 - End of the PACT (652), Sudanese Christians have to pay the jizia
1317 - The Christian cathedral of Dongola is taken over as a mosque;
1323 - Dongola is ruled by Moslem kings; Christian communities continue to live on the land.
1464 - A Bishop is still at Ibrim
1484 - Joel is a Christian king (chief) at Jebel Adda.
1504 - The Funj Kingdom rises in Sennar
1505 - Soba falls-to the Funj of Sennar (the ruins of the cathedral are still visible at Soba Sharq)
XVIIc - News reach Europe of Portuguese Christians in Roseires coming from Ethiopia; the Vatican repeatedly sends ambassadors to Sennar and Bornu (presuming it could be Kordofan)
1647 - Franciscan missionaries in Swakin
1699 - In Sennar and Eilafun, for about nine years, there are communities of Franciscans.
1821 - Mohammed Ali conquers Sudan for Egypt
1824 - Khartoum is chosen as capital of Sudan
1831 - BI. Daniel Comboni is born in Limone sul Garda (Italy)
1842 - First Catholic school in Khartoum by Fr. L. Montuori CM; the seed of the future Comboni schools
1846 - Khartoum becomes the centre of the new Vicariate Apostolic of Central Africa; Bishop A. Casolani was Appointed as responsible; he resigm before leaving for, Khartoum; after him no bishops are appointed up to 1877.
1850 - Msgr. Knoblecker and missionaries are the first Europeans to reach Jebel Lado (Rejaf).
1853 - A church is started at Gondokoro, short North of Juba.
1854 - A church is started at Abu Koka (Holy Cross of Shambe, Bor)
1857 - Daniel Comboni comes to Sudan for the first time
1862 - A church is started at Kaka, Upper Nile
1862 - The Mission of Central Africa is closed up to 1872; during this period missionaries (Franciscans) are present only in Khartoum.
1865 - First Sudanese priest of modern times, Fr. Bona Youseph Habash, from Blue Nile Prov.
1866 - The first grammar of Dinka and Bari Languages, prepared by the missionaries, is printed at Brixen, South Tyrol.
1869 - BI. Bakhita is born in AI-gossa, Dar Fur
1871 - A church is started in F-1 Obeid.
1872 - Khartoum is reopened to church activities, Fr. Daniel Comboni is responsible.
1874 - A church is started in Berber and Diffing (Nuba Mountains).
1877 - Fr. Daniel Comboni becomes Bishop of Khartoum
1882 - on, known as the Mahdiya;-a number of priests and sisters remain prisoners some of them for more than ten years; church work is destroyed.
1885 - Khartoum is conquered and destroyed by the Mahe- Omdurman is the new capital.
1885 - A church is started in Suakin.
1890 - BI. Bakhita is baptised in Italy
1898 - End of the Mahdiya
1898 - Anglican Missionary Society was established in the Sudan
1899 - Comboni missionaries, priests and sisters, come back to Omdurman and Khartoum. Catholic Church School reopens.
1900 - The United Presbyterians church initiated work in both the north and the south Sudan
1900 - The Evangelical Church of the Sudan (which was linked with the Egyptian Coptic Evangelical Church) emerged in the
1900 - Sudan United Mission (SUM) opened work early in the 20th century, founding the Sudanese Church of Christ.
1901 - Church of Lul (Upper Nile)
1902 - The Servant of God Bishop A. M. Roveggio dies in Berber
1904 - Church of Kayango and Mbili (Bahr el Ghazal)
1905 - First government law to control the church. The colonial government divides the country into zones of religions influence. North of 10th parallel, to Islam; South of that, a zone each to the- British Missionary Societies, to the “Austrian” Catholic Mission, to the American Mission.
1911 - The railway, built to support the reconquest of Sudan by Britain, reaches Khartoum on the newly built bridge on the Blue Nile at Khartoum North
1912 - Church of Mupoi (West Equatoria)
1913 - Wau becomes see of a Bishop (Ap. Prefecture, 1917 Ap.Vicariate)
1919 - Church of Rejaf (Bahr el Jebel)
1920 - Church of Torit (Imatong)
1926 - The Servant of God Sr. Zeinab Alif dies in Serra de’ Conti (Italy)
1927 - Juba becomes sce of a Bishop (Ap. Prefecture, 1951 Ap. Vicariale)
1928 - Okaru (Bahr el Gebel), the first minor seminary in Sudan
1928 - Start of the first University College in Sudan, formerly Gordon College
1929 - The former Catholic Church School is reorganised as Comboni College (for boys) and Sisters’ School (for girls) in Khartoum
1933 - Malakal becomes see of a Bishop (Missio sui-juris, 1938 Ap. Prefecture, 1974 Diocese)
1937 - Sudan Interior Mission entered the country in 1937
1942 - Foundation of the first Sudanese Sisters Society, the Sisters of Our Lady of Nazareth, in Wau.
1944 - First three Sudanese priests of modern time.
1947 - Juba Conference, to decide the future of the South.
1947 - Bl. Bakhita dies in Schio (Italy).
1949 - 1949 Africa Inland Church -The Africa Inland Mission moved into the southern Sudan from what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo
1949 - Mupoi (West Equatoria) becomes see of a Bishop (Ap.Prefecture, and in 1974, Diocese).
1952 - Foundation of the first Sudanese Brothers Society, St. Martin de Porres, Juba
1955 - First Sudanese Bishop, H. E. Ireneo Dud Wien
1955 - Rumbek becomes see of a Bishop (Ap. Vicariale, 1974 Diocese)
1956 - 01 - 01 - Independence of the Sudan; democratic government
1956 - Tore (Yei), the first National Major Seminary
1957 - Societies Registration Act, 1957. This act was repeatedly amended, and in 1994 it was amended again to control the churches.
1957 - All church schools in the South are nationalised: they were the only schools on the land.
1958 - Military Government
1960 - El Obeid becomes see of a Bishop (Ap. Vicariale, 1974 Diocese)
1962 - Second government law to control the churches: the 1962 Missionary Act.
1964 - All expatriate missionaries are expelled from Southern Sudan
1964 - Democratic Government
1969 - Military Government
1969 - Diplomatic Vatican relations (Ap. Delegation) with Sudan are established in Sudan.
1972 - Addis Abeba Agreement; autonomy of South Sudan
1972- The Sudan Council of churches was established
1972 - Sudan Embassy is established with the Vatican; the Ap. Delegation becomes Nunciature.
1973 - The first “Permanent” Constitution is adopted, as a one party state
1974 - Sudanese Hierarchy: two archdioceses and five dioceses; all Bishops are Sudanese.
1981 - Hundred years after Comboni’s death, a Sudanese becomes Archbishop of Khartoum.
1983 - Torit becomes diocese.
1983 - Promulgation of the Shari’a Islamic Law.
1983 - End of South Sudan autonomy; the problem of the displaced revives.
1984 - First National Eucharistic Congress
1985 - Transitional Military Government
1986 - Yei becomes diocese.
1984 Democratic Government
1989 - 06 - 30 - Military Government
1992 - Bakhita is declared Blessed
1993 - Pope John Paul Il visits the Sudan
1994 - Third government law to control the churches; the Miscellaneous Amendment Act 1994 (amendment of the Societies Registration Act 1957)
1994 - Second National Eucharistic Congress
1995 - Jihad, the Islamic Holy War, becomes a strategic practice.
1996 - Bishop Daniel Comboni is declared Blessed
1996 - Comboni Year starts, year of the faith, in the program of preparation to the Jubilee 2000.
1998 - Canonisation of El. Bakhita announced on 21 December.
1999 - 100 Years of the modern Catholic Community in Sudan.
2000 - St. Bakhita.
2005 - Historic Peace Agreement Signed between the South and North Sudan to end Islamic persecution of the Christians in the South
© 2010 Operation Nehemiah. All rights reserved.
37 AD - In Jerusalem, Israel, Baptism of Queen Candace’s minister, by Apostle Philip. The Ethiopian Eunuch formed first Christian (Messianic) Sudanese community in Meroe. This man could be had been Jew of Israel’s decent in Diaspora or Ethiopian African converted to Judaism who in turn converted to Christianity. Acts 8:26-40) The Sudan is the ancient Biblical Ethiopian
54-68 - Nero’s soldiers explore the Nile, apparently up to its sources in Uganda.
284 - First monasteries in Phyle during the persecutions of Decius and Diocletian.
325 - First Bishop of Phyle (1st cataract).
350 - Fall of Meroe by a king of Axum.
450 - Silko, first Christian king of Ibrim
540 - Three Christian Kingdoms( Nubia) exist: Nobatia (cap. Faras), Makuria (Dongola), Alwa (Soba)
543 - Priest Julianus evangelises Faras
569 - Longinus, Bishop of Nobatia, evangelises Soba
622 - The Hijra, beginning of Moslem calendar
638 - Islam in Egypt
652 - The BACT or Pact, an agreement between Christian Kings of Sudan and Moslem leaders in Egypt; it lasted up to 1275
745 - Cyriacus (or Kyriakos), king of Dongola, marches with a Christian army, up to Cairo to free the Copt Patriarch Mikhail kept in prison by the Moslems.
785 - First translation of the Bible in Arabic
835 - Girgis I, king of Dongola, accompanied by his Christian Knights, travels to Baghdad to deal with Caliph al-Mu’tasim on political matters.
1172 - Salaheddin’s army defeats the Christian army of Dongola
1218 - St. Francis of Assisi comes to Cairo to convert the sultan of Egypt.
1275 - End of the PACT (652), Sudanese Christians have to pay the jizia
1317 - The Christian cathedral of Dongola is taken over as a mosque;
1323 - Dongola is ruled by Moslem kings; Christian communities continue to live on the land.
1464 - A Bishop is still at Ibrim
1484 - Joel is a Christian king (chief) at Jebel Adda.
1504 - The Funj Kingdom rises in Sennar
1505 - Soba falls-to the Funj of Sennar (the ruins of the cathedral are still visible at Soba Sharq)
XVIIc - News reach Europe of Portuguese Christians in Roseires coming from Ethiopia; the Vatican repeatedly sends ambassadors to Sennar and Bornu (presuming it could be Kordofan)
1647 - Franciscan missionaries in Swakin
1699 - In Sennar and Eilafun, for about nine years, there are communities of Franciscans.
1821 - Mohammed Ali conquers Sudan for Egypt
1824 - Khartoum is chosen as capital of Sudan
1831 - BI. Daniel Comboni is born in Limone sul Garda (Italy)
1842 - First Catholic school in Khartoum by Fr. L. Montuori CM; the seed of the future Comboni schools
1846 - Khartoum becomes the centre of the new Vicariate Apostolic of Central Africa; Bishop A. Casolani was Appointed as responsible; he resigm before leaving for, Khartoum; after him no bishops are appointed up to 1877.
1850 - Msgr. Knoblecker and missionaries are the first Europeans to reach Jebel Lado (Rejaf).
1853 - A church is started at Gondokoro, short North of Juba.
1854 - A church is started at Abu Koka (Holy Cross of Shambe, Bor)
1857 - Daniel Comboni comes to Sudan for the first time
1862 - A church is started at Kaka, Upper Nile
1862 - The Mission of Central Africa is closed up to 1872; during this period missionaries (Franciscans) are present only in Khartoum.
1865 - First Sudanese priest of modern times, Fr. Bona Youseph Habash, from Blue Nile Prov.
1866 - The first grammar of Dinka and Bari Languages, prepared by the missionaries, is printed at Brixen, South Tyrol.
1869 - BI. Bakhita is born in AI-gossa, Dar Fur
1871 - A church is started in F-1 Obeid.
1872 - Khartoum is reopened to church activities, Fr. Daniel Comboni is responsible.
1874 - A church is started in Berber and Diffing (Nuba Mountains).
1877 - Fr. Daniel Comboni becomes Bishop of Khartoum
1882 - on, known as the Mahdiya;-a number of priests and sisters remain prisoners some of them for more than ten years; church work is destroyed.
1885 - Khartoum is conquered and destroyed by the Mahe- Omdurman is the new capital.
1885 - A church is started in Suakin.
1890 - BI. Bakhita is baptised in Italy
1898 - End of the Mahdiya
1898 - Anglican Missionary Society was established in the Sudan
1899 - Comboni missionaries, priests and sisters, come back to Omdurman and Khartoum. Catholic Church School reopens.
1900 - The United Presbyterians church initiated work in both the north and the south Sudan
1900 - The Evangelical Church of the Sudan (which was linked with the Egyptian Coptic Evangelical Church) emerged in the
1900 - Sudan United Mission (SUM) opened work early in the 20th century, founding the Sudanese Church of Christ.
1901 - Church of Lul (Upper Nile)
1902 - The Servant of God Bishop A. M. Roveggio dies in Berber
1904 - Church of Kayango and Mbili (Bahr el Ghazal)
1905 - First government law to control the church. The colonial government divides the country into zones of religions influence. North of 10th parallel, to Islam; South of that, a zone each to the- British Missionary Societies, to the “Austrian” Catholic Mission, to the American Mission.
1911 - The railway, built to support the reconquest of Sudan by Britain, reaches Khartoum on the newly built bridge on the Blue Nile at Khartoum North
1912 - Church of Mupoi (West Equatoria)
1913 - Wau becomes see of a Bishop (Ap. Prefecture, 1917 Ap.Vicariate)
1919 - Church of Rejaf (Bahr el Jebel)
1920 - Church of Torit (Imatong)
1926 - The Servant of God Sr. Zeinab Alif dies in Serra de’ Conti (Italy)
1927 - Juba becomes sce of a Bishop (Ap. Prefecture, 1951 Ap. Vicariale)
1928 - Okaru (Bahr el Gebel), the first minor seminary in Sudan
1928 - Start of the first University College in Sudan, formerly Gordon College
1929 - The former Catholic Church School is reorganised as Comboni College (for boys) and Sisters’ School (for girls) in Khartoum
1933 - Malakal becomes see of a Bishop (Missio sui-juris, 1938 Ap. Prefecture, 1974 Diocese)
1937 - Sudan Interior Mission entered the country in 1937
1942 - Foundation of the first Sudanese Sisters Society, the Sisters of Our Lady of Nazareth, in Wau.
1944 - First three Sudanese priests of modern time.
1947 - Juba Conference, to decide the future of the South.
1947 - Bl. Bakhita dies in Schio (Italy).
1949 - 1949 Africa Inland Church -The Africa Inland Mission moved into the southern Sudan from what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo
1949 - Mupoi (West Equatoria) becomes see of a Bishop (Ap.Prefecture, and in 1974, Diocese).
1952 - Foundation of the first Sudanese Brothers Society, St. Martin de Porres, Juba
1955 - First Sudanese Bishop, H. E. Ireneo Dud Wien
1955 - Rumbek becomes see of a Bishop (Ap. Vicariale, 1974 Diocese)
1956 - 01 - 01 - Independence of the Sudan; democratic government
1956 - Tore (Yei), the first National Major Seminary
1957 - Societies Registration Act, 1957. This act was repeatedly amended, and in 1994 it was amended again to control the churches.
1957 - All church schools in the South are nationalised: they were the only schools on the land.
1958 - Military Government
1960 - El Obeid becomes see of a Bishop (Ap. Vicariale, 1974 Diocese)
1962 - Second government law to control the churches: the 1962 Missionary Act.
1964 - All expatriate missionaries are expelled from Southern Sudan
1964 - Democratic Government
1969 - Military Government
1969 - Diplomatic Vatican relations (Ap. Delegation) with Sudan are established in Sudan.
1972 - Addis Abeba Agreement; autonomy of South Sudan
1972- The Sudan Council of churches was established
1972 - Sudan Embassy is established with the Vatican; the Ap. Delegation becomes Nunciature.
1973 - The first “Permanent” Constitution is adopted, as a one party state
1974 - Sudanese Hierarchy: two archdioceses and five dioceses; all Bishops are Sudanese.
1981 - Hundred years after Comboni’s death, a Sudanese becomes Archbishop of Khartoum.
1983 - Torit becomes diocese.
1983 - Promulgation of the Shari’a Islamic Law.
1983 - End of South Sudan autonomy; the problem of the displaced revives.
1984 - First National Eucharistic Congress
1985 - Transitional Military Government
1986 - Yei becomes diocese.
1984 Democratic Government
1989 - 06 - 30 - Military Government
1992 - Bakhita is declared Blessed
1993 - Pope John Paul Il visits the Sudan
1994 - Third government law to control the churches; the Miscellaneous Amendment Act 1994 (amendment of the Societies Registration Act 1957)
1994 - Second National Eucharistic Congress
1995 - Jihad, the Islamic Holy War, becomes a strategic practice.
1996 - Bishop Daniel Comboni is declared Blessed
1996 - Comboni Year starts, year of the faith, in the program of preparation to the Jubilee 2000.
1998 - Canonisation of El. Bakhita announced on 21 December.
1999 - 100 Years of the modern Catholic Community in Sudan.
2000 - St. Bakhita.
2005 - Historic Peace Agreement Signed between the South and North Sudan to end Islamic persecution of the Christians in the South
© 2010 Operation Nehemiah. All rights reserved.