Thevenoud, Joanny

1878-1949
Catholic Church (White Fathers)
Burkina Faso , Sudan

Joanny Thevevnoud Joanny Thevenoud was a missionary of the Society of Missionaries of Africa (also known as White Fathers [WF]) in West Africa. Born in Serrière-en-Chautagne, Savoie, France, Thévenoud joined the WF and in 1903 left for Mossi, part of the enormous vicariate of the Sahara and Sudan. Disturbed by the lot of women, who were not allowed to come for instruction, he opened a workplace for them in Ouagadougou as a step to their emancipation (1917). In 1921 he was appointed vicar apostolic of the newly founded Mossi Vicariate, serving the Mossi, Gourounsi, and Boussanse peoples, and opened several missions (1923-1946). Hoping for a speedy indigenization of the church, he opened a school for catechists (1923) and a junior seminary (1923) (both still functioning today at Pabré) and a major seminary at Koumi (1933). He founded the local congregations of the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception (1922) and the Brothers of the Holy Family (1946). In 1942 he ordained the first three Mossi priests, saying, “Now I can leave.” Thousands attended his funeral at Ouagadougou.

J. G. Donders, M Afr

Bibliography

“Monseigneur Joanny Thévenoud,” Notices Necrologiques, 1954-1956, Société des Missionaires d’Afrique, Pères Blancs (1957), pp. 9-44.

G. D. Kittler, The White Fathers (1957).

This article is reproduced, with permission, from Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions, copyright © 1998, by Gerald H. Anderson, W. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, Michigan. All rights reserved.