The Sunday Mail
Zimbabweans and the Catholic Church woke up to the sad news of Father Emmanuel Ribeiro’s death on Thursday. He was a great music composer of church hymns, an author and nationalist. He assisted in the composition of the national anthem and was part of the team that designed the national flag. From serving in many rural parishes during the colonial era, Fr Ribeiro later on dedicated his life to catering to the spiritual needs of many freedom fighters, both those who were serving long prison terms and those who were unjustly condemned to death by the country’s erstwhile colonisers. To get to understand the man, our reporter EMMANUEL KAFE sat down with vicar-general of the Archdiocese of Harare and administrator of the Sacred Heart Cathedral, the very reverend Fr Kennedy Muguti.
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Q: Can you tell us about Fr Emmanuel Ribeiro and how you came to know him?
A: Fr Ribeiro was one of our senior priests in the Archdiocese. We used to see him during the celebration of mass, and, as you are aware, he was a great composer, and each time his songs were sung in the church, if the choir did not sing them properly, he was the man who would then stop the choir and conduct it himself.
We used to appreciate him, wondering how he did his things. When I joined the seminary, he was already working in the parish and I did not have many encounters with him then.
I only first encountered him when he came back from his studies in the United States — that was in 2008 — and I was three years into priesthood. That is when I started to interact with Fr Ribeiro.
We would meet each time we went for our diocese clergy meeting and he would contribute so much as a senior priest. And it was during the same time that I became the vicar-general and we would have many encounters, just like I would meet with other priests.
I had great respect for this man and each time I would call him by his totem, Sinyoro. Although I was very young, he respected me greatly.
Q: How would you describe Fr Ribeiro’s character in and outside the church?
A: Sinyoro was a very humble man; a dedicated cadre, so down to earth. He wanted things to be done properly, and he was a straightforward man. For us youngsters, he had a humorous way of putting it, especially when young priests were not doing things right and he had this expression “vafana munedzungu”, that was his statement, and even with congregants he would say “vatendereri vamwe venyu mune dzungu” — but he was someone who wanted things to be done properly and he was consistent with that.
Q: What kind of legacy does he leave behind?
A: We will always remember him for one commitment: He was a balanced man and was committed. When it came to national issues, he would commit himself and we would wonder how he would balance this with liturgical issues. He was consistent.
He would balance church activities and national duty. Talk of the meetings that we had, he would go for national meetings even using public transport. That was him and we learnt a lot from this man.
Q: What one thing would you miss — at a personal level — about Fr Ribeiro?
A: He was such a humorous fellow and his humour was not provocative, but he had a way really of helping the newly ordained priests, even those already in the ministry, to do things right. I will greatly miss his music. Each time that we would go for choirs, he would be there as a judge and correct the upcoming composers on how to do proper composition of liturgical music.
He would always say there is a difference between liturgical music and secular music. He remains a good example when it comes to composition and I am sure, not only myself, but most of us, will miss his compositions.
It’s a great loss to the church, to the nation, but all the while we think he did his part and we must appreciate that. If you look at the things that he was able to achieve by the grace of God, you wouldn’t want anything more than that. He did his best, if we are to look at the lives that he saved.
Q: Did he ever share with you some of his intimate personal experiences?
A: He shared with me his life stories, particularly when he was a (prison) chaplain. I think that is one area that some people are not saying because they did not get the chance to interact with him, but I stayed with him for about three to four weeks. When he was a chaplain, he would be asked to go and pray for prisoners and for those who were put on death row.
There was an incident that happened some years back. On that particular night, he was called and asked to go and pray for nine people who were supposed to be hung that night, and so he went, baptised some and prayed for some.
When he was on his way back, he composed a song. He said in his mind he was praying for those souls.
We still sing that song in church. When he came back, he told me he had met one of our Archbishops from back in the day and he had turned zombie by what he had encountered, completely confused, he was disoriented by what had happened and even until the time of his death, those experiences remained with him, particularly one where those nine were hung.
It remained with him until his last moments. So those are some of the deep experiences he didn’t want to share. He was not comfortable sharing some of these things. It haunted him.
When people talk about him being a chaplain, they don’t go into the things that really touched him, his inner life — but I think I had an opportunity to share with him things that really haunted him.
