Untitled Document

CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF TANGA

Soni Seminary Secondary School

Soni Seminary started in 1975. At that time, the Diocese of Tanga,was under Rt. Rev. Bishop Maurus Komba. By then, the Diocese had only 3 Diocesan Priests and very few Seminarians in St. Peter’s junior Seminary and Kibosho Senior Seminary. His Excellency Bishop Komba sent Rev. Fr. Gerard Chilambo to start St. Michael Seminary at Soni. St. Michael School was already there since 1953 run by Rosminian Fathers for British children. These children were prepared to continue for further studies in Britain. In 1974 the school was closed, this was coursed by lack of pupils which was forced by change of politics and educational culiculum.

In February 2, 1975, Rev. Fr. Chilambo started the Seminary with 14 pupils. These boys were from Kwai Parish, Lushoto Parish, Gare Parish, Mlingano Parish and St. Anthony Cathedral. Fr. Chilambo as Vocational director, Rector and the only teacher was helped by three sisters from COLU Sisters.
Because of lack of money and teachers Soni Seminary remained as a spiritual center for one year. The Students were taught Religion, English and Singing. Fr. Charles Mhina and Fr. Joseph Mbena are among the first 14 pupils who started Soni Seminary.

From the beginning Rt. Rev. Bishop Maurus Komba made sure that the Seminary grew up and take the required steps to full Junior Seminary.

In 1975 His Excellency Bishop Maurus Komba sent Fr. Martin Maganga and Fr. Egno Ndunguru to Chang’ombe Teachers College Dar es Salam for Diploma course. At the same time he had borrowed one Teacher Mr. Rafael Ndomba from the Government and sent him to Soni Seminary; mean while the processes of registering the school started.
The following year Fr. Maganga and Ndunguru came to Soni Seminary after finishing their studies and Fr. Ndunguru took the leadership of the School as a Rector.

In the same year 1976 Fr. Severine Msemwa who by the time was the Teacher in St. Peter’s Morogoro, increased the number of staff members in Soni Seminary. The staff of Soni Seminary became full and complete in the year 1978 when Fr. Beda Pavel (Benedict), Mr. and Mrs. Thomas, Fr. Oliver Stansfield (Rosminian) and two Sisters from the Congregation of Maryknoll came to Soni. In the same year the Seminary was registered and given this number S. 376 and named “Soni Seminary Secondary School” under the Catholic Diocese of Tanga.

In 1978 Fr. Ndunguru was sent to Dar es Salam University for further studies in teaching. Fr. Maganga took the leadership of Soni Seminary as Rector. After finishing his studies Fr. Ndunguru came back to Soni Seminary as Rector and Teacher up to 1988 when Fr. George Mhuza took his position as Teacher and Rector. Fr. George was coming from Dar es Salam University where he hired his degree in education. He became Rector for 10 years. In 1998 his position was taken by Fr. Fraternus Mbuya. Since 1998 up to 2005 Soni had different leaders who served for a very short time. These are, Fr. Fraternus Mbuya, Gerald Kabarega, Severine Msemwa, Benedict Shemfumbwa and Fr. Thomas Kiangio who started his career since 2005.

The Patron Saint was changed in the year 1979 from Saint Michael to Saint Joseph the Husband of Mary. St. Joseph was prefered due to his role in taking care of the child Jesus so as to take the same role of caring of the young Seminarians in their eary stage of formation. It was also in the same year the first form four did National Exams and came out with good results, which proved that the staff was doing a good job. Since 1979 form four result has been giving hope to the Bishop as well as the faithful of Tanga Diocese. In 1988; Soni Seminary took the first positin National wise in Form IV National Exam Results. More than that, there has been also a lot of development in buildings and in 1996 Soni had students who did form VI exams. These A-level classes were stopped in the year 1998. Now effort is made to bring back A-level classes.
In 1985 His Excellency Bishop Maurus Komba ordained Rev. Deacon John Mahundi into the Order of Priesthood. Fr. John Mahundi is the first fruit of Soni Seminary. This was a happy and luck day to Rt.Rev. Bishop Komba since his dreams came true after waiting for 10 years. After the ordination of John Mahundi in 1985, Soni Seminary has been producing one or more Priests each year. Today Soni Seminary has 35 Priests.