Why Benedict Daswa Truly is a Saint
A South African saint could give Catholics a wonderful example of true Christian life. Claire Mathieson examines why Benedict Daswa could fill the role of intercessor for us before God.

? Benedict Daswa recognised the value of cultivating a responsible work ethic inspired by his faith.
Consider the two most important reasons for recognising someone a saint in the Catholic Church: Firstly, the story of the saint inspires our own faith-life in Christ and encourages us to persevere and grow in our faith in the face of challenges which we experience in Southern Africa. Secondly, a saint is an intercessor before God for the needs of the people who are still on the journey of faith in this life.

Benedict Daswa with children at Nweli Primary School where he was principal.
For both reasons, Servant of God Benedict Daswa is an ideal candidate for sainthood and it’s little surprise that he is the country’s leading cause for sainthood currently under review in the Vatican.
In a sense Benedict Daswa is an ideal saint because he showed extraordinary courage of faith in circumstances which millions of Southern African Christians experience in their lives today. His story is still fresh and the issues in his life and death are still with us in Southern Africa, Bishop Joao Rodrigues of Tzaneen told The Southern Cross.
And even though Tzaneen is the diocese that initiated the process and the diocese of Benedict’s home he would be a saint for all of South Africa. Bishop Rodrigues said as a teacher Benedict stood for quality education which went beyond the books and included body, mind and spirit.
Benedict recognised the value of cultivating a responsible work ethic inspired by his faith; he believed in fidelity and commitment to marriage and family life according to the call of Christ; loving service to the needy in our communities giving without receiving and confronting the scourge of superstition and witchcraft with uncompromising faith and truth, the latter leading to his martyrdom.
Therefore his story reflects in one way or another the faith story of millions today in our continent and the more his story is spread and known, the more African Christians can be helped to discern the challenges to their faith and to deepen their faith in the Lord Jesus, Bishop Rodrigues said.
Benedict’s life roughly spanned the apartheid era.
He was born on June 16, 1946 and martyred on February 2, 1990.
Both June 16 and February 2 are key dates in South African history June 16 is a public holiday commemorating the student uprising in Soweto in 1976, while February 2, 1990 was the actual day on which President FW De Klerk announced in parliament [his plans to] release of Nelson Mandela, and the unbanning of the freedom movements, particularly the African National Congress, said Sr Claudette Hiosan FDNSC, promoter for the Daswa cause.
During the apartheid era, with all the suffering and restrictions it entailed for the non-white population, God raised up Benedict Daswa, a member of a small African tribe in a remote part of South Africa, as a great model for us in living our Christian lives, she said.
An Inspiring Life
Sr Hiosan said Benedict is a great intercessor for us in heaven. We can turn with confidence for help in our daily problems and challenges which he also faced over 20 years ago and which we now face in our daily lives. He is truly one of us.
She said that devotion to Benedict is spreading throughout Southern Africa. In the minds of many people today, not only in South Africa, but on every continent of the world, there are people who, having learned about Benedict Daswa, regard him as a person on the way to being officially recognised by the Church as the first South African saint.
The Servant of Gods reach became more evident in February when Polokwane hosted a night vigil. More than 3000 people from around the country attended the service to pray for the sainthood of Benedict Daswa.
The many dioceses represented demonstrated a coming together of many and a justifiable pride in honouring a son of the soil; a local hero of the faith. All this for Benedict Daswa, a South African layman who was a family man, teacher, principal, sportsman, catechist, leader of Sunday services in the absence of a priest, parish pastoral council member, secretary and confidant of the headman and one who was in popular demand as MC at weddings and other local functions, said Sr Hiosan.
Many see themselves in Benedict, she added.
An Example of Ubuntu
Sr Hiosan said Benedict was a man who always acted from the inner freedom of his own integrity, who never compromised his Christian conscience no matter what other people thought or said about him. He was a truly free man before God and the world, one who was never driven by concern for public opinion.
Benedict was not afraid to work and get his hands dirty. He was willing to put in long hours despite the fact, that for a professional man then and today the work was considered to be beneath him.
His kindness and charity were not confined to his family, though it started there, but extended to the entire community a wonderful example of ubuntu which is often talked about but rarely put into practice, said Sr Hiosan.
Village life is often poisoned by jealousies and feuds that divide people and cause total helplessness in the community. Benedict stood for something else.
Benedict Daswa was a good family man. He helped his wife to look after the children, cooked, carried water, washed dirty clothes in the river things rejected out of hand as not befitting a man by a lot of South Africans. Sr Hirosan said. These qualities, and the fact that he was prepared to defend them against all comers, make him a good example of what a Christian husband and father should be. Despite ridicule from his friends and others, Benedict was not afraid to state publicly that he regarded this as an important part of his marriage commitment. This behaviour at home was against the accepted culture.
Sr Hiosan said Vatican II reminded the Church of the universal call to holiness of all the baptised. In other words, through baptism all are called to become saints. This applies to everybody, not just priests and religious, but to all Christians, whether married or single, young or old, rich or poor, black or white. Benedict Daswa understood this call very well and was totally faithful to it during his 27 years as a Catholic culminating in his martyrdom.
She added: His fidelity in doing the small things of everyday life with great love testifies to the power of the Holy Spirit working in the life of anyone who responds faithfully to the grace of baptism. Benedict’s example and intercession with God can be a powerful means of evangelisation and deepening of the faith.
A Call to Holiness
Another key reason why Benedict Daswa could be a saint for South Africa was his stand against witchcraft, a problem identified by the continent’s bishops in the second synod for Africa in 2009.
Benedict Daswa by his life proclaimed, like Elijah and like Christ, you are either with me or against me. Benedict made a decision when he was baptised to reject everything that was not from God. He was faithful to this decision unto death, Sr Hirosan said.
Bishop Rodrigues said it was important to remember that the Catholic Church does not make saints, God does.
The Catholic Church can only recognise a saint after a thorough investigation of his life and death. It is our belief that God made Benedict Daswa a saint and gave him the grace to be able to die for the faith. We just need to recognise this gift of God for the Church in our times. This is what we are praying for so that Gods reign may increase through the spread of the story and intercession of the Servant of God Benedict Daswa.
For Sr Hiosan, Benedict Daswa was able to take from his culture what was good and reject what was bad and he was clear in his own mind as to why he was making those choices.
As a result, he gives South African Christians, and Christians everywhere, a great example of Christian discernment and Christian decision-making two qualities often sadly missing today, she said.
Benedict Daswa, as a true apostle of life, was opposed to witchcraft because it destroyed innocent lives. He is therefore relevant, not only in Africa, but also to the rest of the world in which the culture of death is so strongly promoted.
Bishop Rodrigues said in recognising Benedict Daswa as a saint, Catholics would be able to unite their prayers with his intercession on their behalf and, in this Communion of Saints, Catholics are able to reap the blessings of such an intercession.
In other words, Benedict Daswa becomes an important saintly presence for our region who we can recognise explicitly and to whom we can turn for prayerful help in specific needs which we in faith know he is concerned about and will indeed intercede for us, she said.
This confidence from the Catholics in Southern Africa in Benedict Daswa’s intercession comes from the very fact that he has been through very similar situations and challenges as a son of the African soil of our times.
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