Le Roy, Alexandre (A)

Alexandre-Louis-Victor-Aimé Le Roy was ordained in 1876 and pronounced his religious vows as a Spiritan in 1877. In 1881, after some years as a teacher in his congregation, he was sent to Zanzibar. He made travels of exploration, climbed Kilimanjaro, and founded the mission in Mombasa. His accounts, published in Les Missions Catholiques, were later edited as books, which gave him fame as a great missionary: A travers le Zinguebar (1884), Au Kilimanjaro (1894), Sur terre et sur l’eau (1894). In 1892 he was appointed vicar apostolic of Gabon and ordained a bishop. In 1896 he was elected general superior of the Holy Ghost Missionaries and remained in that position until 1926. Under his leadership, the congregation grew from 500 members to about 1700. He died in Paris on April 21, 1938 (Bona, Lettere II, p. 537, n.2). Camisassa had certainly read Le Roy’s books and so, most probably, had Allamano and Perlo. The copy of Le Roy’s Au Kilimanjaro owned by Camisassa is in the IMC (Consolata Missionaries) library in Turin.

This article, received in 2005, was reprinted with permission from* Christianity among the Nomads: The Catholic Church in Northern Kenya*, by Paul Tablino, © copyright 2004 by St. Paul Communications / Daughters of St. Paul, Nairobi, Kenya.