CATHÉDRALE NOTRE-DAME DES DOULEURS

The stroller curious about religious history and architecture might be interested in visiting the Catholic Cathedral of Our Lady of Sorrows. Located on the site of a small church built in 1909 in the village of Kitovu, now part of Masaka, the cathedral, built in the 1920s to accommodate the growing numbers of faithful, owes its fame to Joseph Kiwanuka, the first Catholic bishop from sub-Saharan Africa, who ministered there from 1939 to 1961. In Masaka, this Ugandan, who was consecrated in St Peter's Basilica in Rome by Pope Pius XII, was particularly active in the development of educational programmes. At the beginning of the 1960s, he left Kitovu district for Kampala where he was promoted Archbishop of Rubaga. The timber, bricks and corrugated iron, the materials with which Our Lady of Sorrows (also known as Kitovu Cathedral) was built, suffered the ravages of time (seismic activity, violent storms, etc.) to such an extent that major restoration work was undertaken in 1998. It was the non-profit association World Monuments Fund that raised the funds needed for this undertaking. On this occasion the roof was redone, the bell tower consolidated and the bricks washed and repointed. The visit to Our Lady of Sorrows, located in the green district of Kitovu (about two kilometres north-east of the city centre), is free of charge.