St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1960-11-11

Afrieon curdinoI
Is The Subject
Of A Sign Profile

Union City, N. J. - I'm afraid
the Holy Father has made a mis-
take this time" was the reaction
Of Laurian Rugambwa, Bishop of
Rutabo, Tanganyila, when he
learned last March 2 that he had
been made a Cardinal. The story
of this remarkable young African
prelate is told in IL pages of pic
lures and text in the November
issue Of The Sign, national Cath
ole magazine, published here.
Nobody else thought the Pope
had made a mistake, reports Glenn
D. Kittler, author of The Sign art
icle. by nightfall," he writes of
that day, "the wireless station at
Bukoba, thirty miles away on the
western shore of Lake Victoria,
was swamped with cables and
kilograms from people who had
heard the announcement of the
Vatican radio and the BIC. That
evening, hundreds of natives journ-
eyed barefoot through the bush to
Cardinal Rugambwa's house, bring
ing him gifts of fruit, eggs and
chickens"
AT forty-eight," Kittler contin-
ues, Cardinal Rugambwa possess
ses nobility in various forms" In
his native language his name
means the noble one" His bear
ing is described as "impressively
regal" His parents" says the
author, were pagans of noble
lineage. His father belonged to the
Basita tribe from which still come
the chiefs of the Kihanja district.
His mothers tribe were the near
by Bahinda rulers; she was the
niece of a chief and is now the
cousin of one. On entering the
Church, Rugambwa surrendered
his own royal prerogatives, but one
Of his two younger brothers is the
chief of five villages"
The Negro Cardinal likes the
United States. You Americans"
he told Kittler, how much Africa
owes you! This is the part of you
the rest of the world understands
your generosity. When your gov
eminent gives money away, you
are accused of buying friendship.
But generosity is your nature, each
of you, one by one. have seen
it myself, and 1 believe it is why
God has given you so much in re-
turn. I hope you are never dis
Outraged by ingratitude, for then
the spirit of Christian charity
would dim everywhere. You have
no idea what an example you are
to others"
The Cardinal has also seen the
other side of America. In 1857
while visiting the United States,
he was, because of his color, re-
fused service in a white barber
shop in New Jersey. To this ex-
ample Of prejudice, his reaction
was, 1T is all right. I prayed for
the man"
Another incident during that
visit sheds light not only on his
awareness of racial problems but
also on his gentle penetrating wit
1--WE were riding in a New York
taxi one afternoon" HITLER re-
lates, land when we were stopped
by traffic light Rugambwa not
iced several Negroes among the
pedestrians crossing the street.
All he said, there are some of
my people
I'VE had just been discussing
race relations in America, which
he hopefully predicted would i'm
prove once people stopped exager-
ating the accident of individual
, fermentation. l looked at the ped
estrians and said, I understand
there are over a million Negroes
in New York
"A smile tugged at his lips. He
unused, I wonder why they don't
turn white?' Puzzled, l asked him
what he meant Well he said,
when your people come to my
country you turn black"