{{short description|none}} [[File:Dakar cathedrale.jpg|thumb|[[Our Lady of Victories Cathedral, Dakar]], seat of the [[Archdiocese of Dakar]]]] {{Catholic Church by country}} The [[Catholic Church]] has been active in Senegal since the 1630s, with an earlier attempt by the Portuguese. An [[apostolic prefecture]] was established in [[Saint-Louis, Senegal]], in 1779. The [[Maronite Church]] is active in Senegal.
==History== ===Organisation=== [[File:Hyacinthe Jalabert.jpg|thumb|right|upright|alt=Photograph of Hyacinthe Jalabert|{{ill|Hyacinthe-Joseph Jalabert|fr}} served as the bishop of Senegambia from 1909 to 1920. During his tenure secularisation rules were relaxed and the first work on the first cathedral in [[French West Africa]] started.]]
The Portuguese unsuccessfully attempted to spread Catholicism in the [[Jolof Empire]]. Members of the [[Order of Friars Minor Capuchin]] established a missionary effort at the [[Petite Côte]] in the 1630s.{{sfn|Jones|1980|p=323}}
The Apostolic Prefecture of Saint-Louis was established in 1779.{{sfn|Foster|2013|p=26}} The [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Libreville|Vicariate of the Two Guineas and Sierra Leone]] was established in 1842. The Vicariate of Senegambia was separated from the Vicariate of the Two Guineas and Sierra Leone in 1863.{{sfn|Foster|2013|pp=26-27}} The [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Saint-Louis du Sénégal]] was established in 1966.{{sfn|Isenjia|2023}}
Funding from the [[Association of the Holy Childhood]] for church activies in Senegal declined in the early 1900s. Funding declined from 40,000 francs per year from 1901 to 1908, to 35,000 francs from 1909 to 1914, and 11,000 francs in 1915.{{sfn|Foster|2013|p=110}} A local branch of the Oeuvre du denier du culte, a public fund for religious services, was established in 1915.{{sfn|Foster|2013|p=111}}
The church in Dakar, which was used by the bishop, was destroyed in 1907, due to the foundation shifting.{{sfn|Foster|2013|p=122}} Bishop {{ill|Hyacinthe-Joseph Jalabert|fr}} launched construction on the first Catholic cathedral in [[French West Africa]] in 1911. The project, [[Our Lady of Victories Cathedral, Dakar|Our Lady of Victories Cathedral]] (also {{lang|fr|Cathédrale du Souvenir Africain}}, <q>African Cathedral of Remembrance</q>), was located in [[Dakar]], and was consecrated on 25 January 1936.{{sfn|Foster|2013|pp=118-119}}
Vatican officials appointed {{Wikidata fallback link|Q69437961}} as the chief executive of the [[Spiritan]] mission in [[Casamance]] in 1938, despite opposition from both Spiritan leaders and Faye himself. [[Pope Pius XII]] allowed Faye, who disliked his job, to retire in 1946.{{sfn|Foster|2013|pp=169; 174-175}} There would not be another black person in the leadership of the Catholic Church in Senegal until [[Hyacinthe Thiandoum]],{{sfn|Foster|2013|p=176}} who came from a Muslim family,{{sfn|Stepan|2012|p=384}} was appointed archbishop of Dakar in 1962.{{sfn|Foster|2013|p=176}}
The [[Maronite Church]] is active in Senegal.{{sfn|Leichtman|2013|p=38}} Lebanese people arrived in Senegal during its time under French rule.{{sfn|Leichtman|2013|p=39}} [[Abbot]] Augustin Sarkis constructed Notre Dame du Liban, the first Maronite institution in West Africa, in Dakar in 1952.{{sfn|Leichtman|2013|pp=35; 47}}
===People=== For the 59 year timeframe between 1758 and 1817, there were no priests in [[Saint-Louis, Senegal|Saint-Louis]] for 44 years and none in [[Gorée]] for 30 years.{{sfn|Jones|1980|p=324}} A mission sent by [[Francis Libermann]] in 1845 established a base in Dakar.{{sfn|Jones|2013|p=26}} Libermann's mission merged with the [[Congregation of the Holy Spirit]] and the Spiritans would oversee the church in Senegal until 1962.{{sfn|Jones|2013|p=27}}
Abbé Lambert, a priest in the 1840s, learned the [[Wolof language]].{{sfn|Jones|1980|p=328}} [[Jean-Pierre Moussa]] became the first black priest in Senegal in 1841.{{sfn|Jones|1980|p=333}} Moussa ministered to former slaves in the area before being invited by Emperor [[Faustin Soulouque]] to serve as a parish priest in [[Port-au-Prince]], where he died on 23 July 1860.{{sfn|Jones|2013|p=79}} {{ill|Prosper Dodds|fr|Prosper Dodds}} was the first Senegalese person to serve as a bishop.{{sfn|Jones|2013|p=1}}
All of the priests in Senegal eligible for service in [[World War I]], 14 of the 41 priests, were mobilised by 7 August 1914. Priests with language skills were taken out of Senegal in 1916.{{sfn|Foster|2013|pp=109-110}}
===Suppression=== A petition from sent from Senegal to London on 22 August 1775, claimed that [[Charles O'Hara]] was attempting to abolish the Catholic Church and preventing proper Catholic burials.{{sfn|Jones|2013|p=25}}
The [[Chamber of Deputies (France)|Chamber of Deputies]] passed a resolution on 22 January 1903, which called for [[Secularism in France|secularism]] to be instituted in the colonies.{{sfn|Foster|2013|p=69}} All of the public schools were secular and nuns were no longer employed at hospitals in Senegal by 1905.{{sfn|Foster|2013|p=74}} Interim Governor [[Joost van Vollenhoven]] cancelled the state salaries for Spiritan clergy in 1907.{{sfn|Foster|2013|p=101}} Bishop {{ill|François-Nicolas-Alphonse Kunemann|fr}} considered moving the headquarters of the church to the British-held [[Gambia Colony and Protectorate]].{{sfn|Foster|2013|p=122}}
On 2 August 1914, Interior Minister [[Louis Malvy]] issued an order to suspend anti-religious laws.{{sfn|Foster|2013|p=100}} The flag of the Fourth Senegalese Battalion was blessed by {{ill|Hyacinthe-Joseph Jalabert|fr}} in 1916.{{sfn|Foster|2013|pp=107-108}} Nuns were employed at hospitals during the [[Spanish flu]] epidemic.{{sfn|Foster|2013|p=103}}
==Education== Members of the [[Brothers of Christian Instruction]] came to Saint-Louis in 1841, and Gorée in 1849. They provided aid to schools in Senegal until being driven out by anti-clerical legislation in 1903.{{sfn|Jones|1980|p=332}}
The [[Fonds d'Investissements pour le Developpement Economique et Social]] was launched in 1946, and its funding resulted in an expansion of [[Catholic school]]s in Senegal.{{sfn|Kantrowitz|2018|pp=223-224}} Enrollment in these schools rose from 1,457 (8.6% of the total student body of Senegal) in 1937, to 3,631 (14%) in 1948, and 21,739 (15%) in 1962.{{sfn|Kantrowitz|2018|p=225}} As of 2021, there were 316 registered Catholic schools in Senegal with around 120,000 students.{{sfn|2021 Report on International Religious Freedom: Senegal}}
==Population== Catholics were a majority of the population in Saint-Louis until the late 19th century.{{sfn|Stepan|2012|p=383}} There were 400 to 500 Lebanese Maronites in 2013.{{sfn|Leichtman|2013|p=47}}
[[Léopold Sédar Senghor]], the first [[President of Senegal]] from 1960 to 1980, was Catholic.{{sfn|Stepan|2012|p=399}}{{sfn|Kantrowitz|2018|p=224}}
==Divisions== * [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dakar|Dakar]] ** [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Kaolack|Kaolack]] ** [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Kolda|Kolda]] ** [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Saint-Louis du Sénégal|Saint-Louis du Sénégal]] ** [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Tambacounda|Tambacounda]] ** [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Thiès|Thiès]] ** [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Ziguinchor|Ziguinchor]]
==Leadership== {{Incomplete list|date=June 2026}} *{{ill|François-Nicolas-Alphonse Kunemann|fr}}, bishop of Senegambia (1880s){{sfn|Foster|2013|p=32}} *{{ill|Magloire-Désiré Barthet|fr}}, bishop of Senegambia (1889–1898){{sfn|Foster|2013|p=46}} *{{ill|Alphonse Kunemann|fr}}, bishop of Senegambia (1900s){{sfn|Foster|2013|p=69}} *{{ill|Hyacinthe-Joseph Jalabert|fr}}, bishop of Senegambia (1909–1920){{sfn|Foster|2013|pp=95; 98}}
==See also== *[[Religion in Senegal]]
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Works cited== {{refbegin|30em}} ===Books=== * {{cite book|last=Foster |first=Elizabeth |title=Faith in Empire: Religion, Politics, and Colonial Rule in French Senegal, 1880–1940 |publisher=[[Stanford University Press]] |date=2013 |url=https://academic.oup.com/stanford-scholarship-online/book/21642 |isbn=9780804786225}} * {{cite book|last=Jones |first=Hilary |title=The Métis of Senegal: Urban Life and Politics in French West Africa |publisher=[[Indiana University Press]] |date=2013 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt16gh6cn |isbn=9780253007056}}
===Journals=== * {{cite journal |last=Jones |first=D. |title=The Catholic Mission and Some Aspects of Assimilation in Senegal, 1817-1852 |journal=[[The Journal of African History]] |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |date=1980 |volume=21 |issue=3 |pages=323-340 |doi=10.2307/181187 |jstor=181187 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/181187 |url-access=subscription}} * {{cite journal |last=Kantrowitz |first=Rachel |title=Catholic Schools as 'A Nation in Miniature': Catholic Civism in Senegal and Benin, 1960-1970s |journal=[[The Journal of African History]] |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |date=2018 |volume=59 |issue=2 |pages=221-239 |doi=10.2307/26846804 |jstor=26846804 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26846804 |url-access=subscription}} * {{cite journal |last=Leichtman |first=Mara |title=From the Cross (and Crescent) to the Cedar and Back Again: Transnational Religion and Politics Among Lebanese Christians in Senegal |journal=[[Anthropological Quarterly]] |publisher=[[George Washington University]] |date=2013 |volume=86 |issue=1 |pages=35-75 |doi=10.2307/41857311 |jstor=41857311 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41857311 |url-access=subscription}} * {{cite journal |last=Stepan |first=Alfred |title=Rituals of Respect: Sufis and Secularists in Senegal in Comparative Perspective |journal=Comparative Politics |publisher=[[New York University]] |date=2012 |volume=44 |issue=4 |pages=379-401 |doi=10.2307/23211818 |jstor=23211818 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23211818 |url-access=subscription}}
===News=== * {{Cite news |last=Isenjia |first=Silas |date=12 January 2023 |title=Pope Francis Accepts Retirement of Catholic Bishop of Saint-Louis Diocese in Senegal |work=[[Catholic News Agency]] |url=https://www.aciafrica.org/news/7436/pope-francis-accepts-retirement-of-catholic-bishop-of-saint-louis-diocese-in-senegal |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250711014359/https://www.aciafrica.org/news/7436/pope-francis-accepts-retirement-of-catholic-bishop-of-saint-louis-diocese-in-senegal |archive-date=11 July 2025}}
===Web=== * {{Cite web |title=2021 Report on International Religious Freedom: Senegal |publisher=[[United States Department of State]] |url=https://www.state.gov/reports/2021-report-on-international-religious-freedom/senegal/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250710234159/https://www.state.gov/reports/2021-report-on-international-religious-freedom/senegal/ |archive-date=10 July 2025 |ref={{harvid|2021 Report on International Religious Freedom: Senegal}}}}
{{refend}}
==External links== * [http://www.gcatholic.org/dioceses/country/SN.htm Giga-Catholic Information] * [http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/country/sn.html Catholic Hierarchy]
{{Africa in topic|Catholic Church in|groupstyle=background-color:gold|titlestyle=background-color:gold}}
[[Category:Catholic Church in Senegal| ]] [[Category:Catholic Church by country|Senegal]] [[Category:Catholic Church in Africa|Senegal]] [[Category:French West Africa]]