Saint Who?
Saints Who Worked in Agriculture
Blessed Benedict Daswa
Martyr († 1990)Feast: February 1
Tshimangadzo Samuel Daswa was born in South Africa in 1946. He was part of the Lemba tribe, which kept many Jewish customs. At seventeen, Daswa became Catholic, taking the baptismal name Benedict. He married and had eight children. A devoted father and husband, he was also a school principal, part of the local government, and a generous member of his community.
“He was open to life, to goodness,” Benedict’s son recalled. “He was a helper, a people’s helper. The whole village depended on his small garden for vegetables. Tomatoes, onions. You name them. Some of the people were even so poor that he would let them have vegetables without money.” He hired poor students to work in the garden, enabling them to pay for their own books and uniforms.
Seeking to provide a wholesome pastime for his students, Benedict founded a soccer team. But after a streak of losses, members of the team voted to improve performance by means of magic. Daswa started a new team, but his opposition to witchcraft bred resentment. After some unusual storms, a tax was levied to pay for a conjurer to find the witch responsible. Daswa refused to pay this tax. He was killed by an angry mob. Immediately hailed as a martyr, he was beatified in 2015.
All-powerful Father, through the prayers
of Blessed Benedict Daswa, deliver us from
the oppression and lies of the occult.
