Benedict Daswa
Catholic martyr (b. 1946, d. 1990)
Feast: 1 February (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
The Vatican record
- 22 January 2015 — Martyrdom recognised (decree list, 2015)
Who they were
Tshimangadzo Samuel Daswa was born on 16 June 1946 in the village of Mbahe, South Africa, the eldest of five children, and was baptised at seventeen on 21 April 1963. He qualified as a teacher in 1973 and became head of the primary school at Nweli; after his wife became a Catholic they married in church.
A husband and father who firmly opposed witchcraft, he refused to take part in a shamanic rite. An ambush was laid for him, and on the evening of 2 February 1990 he was cruelly killed near his home in Mbahe. He is the first Blessed of South Africa.
The miracles
As a martyr, beatified without a miracle.
Why that counted as sanctity
A teacher and father who lived his faith consistently and was killed for refusing to take part in witchcraft.
The cause
Benedict Daswa has been beatified; the cause continues. Favours received, and offers of help, go to the postulation, the office that carries the cause forward: The cause of Blessed Benedict Daswa.
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints - biography: Tshimangadzo Samuel Benedict Daswa
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints — promulgated decrees (causesanti.va), summarised in our own words
- Wikidata Q19288905 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Benedict Daswa (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.