Evangelista Weber

Evangelista Weber (born Gertrud Weber; 26 June 1926 – 11 August 1991) was a Swiss Catholic missionary in the press apostolate in Southern Rhodesia (present-day Zimbabwe) and superior general of the congregation of the Sisters of Saint Peter Canisius.

Life

After completing training as a typographer, Gertrud Weber entered the Sisters of Saint Petrus Canisius in Fribourg in 1953, taking the name in religion M. Evangelista. Founded in 1898 by Maria Wellauer and Jean Evangelist Kleiser, this Roman Catholic congregation had as its mission the proclamation of the Gospel through the dissemination of printed matter (press apostolate). At the request of the Bethlehem Mission Society, Sister Evangelista left for the semi-autonomous British colony of Southern Rhodesia in the spring of 1958, together with two other Canisius Sisters. In the diocese of Gwelo (Gweru), placed under the auspices of the Bethlehem Mission Society, she helped to set up a printing press. For eleven years, Weber worked in Gwelo as a typographer and was the superior of the six sisters devoted to the press apostolate there.

Mambo Press and the press apostolate

Evangelization through the mass media, by means of the creation of a Catholic press, was an essential component of the mission of the Bethlehem Mission Society. In the colonial period, and then in Rhodesia, ruled from 1965 by a racist regime, the missionary publishing house Mambo Press supported African authors, trained journalists, and published the first—and for a long time only—newspaper in the Shona language (Moto). Until its ban in 1974, Moto was an important voice against the oppression of the Black population in the region. As a typographer, Sister Evangelista was not responsible for editorial decisions, but took part in the technical production of the publications and trained local staff in the work of the printing press.

Return to Switzerland

Returning to Switzerland in 1969, Weber was elected superior general of the Sisters of Saint Peter Canisius in Fribourg. After leaving that office in 1974, she remained as an ordinary religious in Fribourg until her death.